Jewish community

Industry — the largest and most important section of the Judenrat was the Industry Department. They oversaw Jewish productivity, which rendered the ghetto prisoners still useful to the Nazis. As long as this useful- ness continued, the Jews had a chance to live. The Industry Section created a large number of factories, including a cobblery, a clothes factory, a knitwear ...

made. Commands were given on pain of death. The Nazis demanded that their orders be carried out to the letter; no deviation, however minute, was permitted. Since the German authorities frequently changed, their replacements would often impose new standards in the ghetto, sometimes contradicting those of their predeces- sors. Things that had been satisfactory to one adminis- tration became unacceptable to the next. The Judenrat and the Jewish community it represented found them- selves in a constant uphill battle to appease the whims of the Nazi masters. ...