The “Working Group”
The “Working Group” was a small group of Jewish activists in Slovakia who, working under the Judenrat, sponsored rescue operations. Theirs were underground activities not only vis-à-vis the authorities but also with respect to the official Jewish leadership. The group's membership was very dive...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
1994
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| In: |
Holocaust and genocide studies
Year: 1994, Volume: 8, Issue: 2, Pages: 164-201 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The “Working Group” was a small group of Jewish activists in Slovakia who, working under the Judenrat, sponsored rescue operations. Theirs were underground activities not only vis-à-vis the authorities but also with respect to the official Jewish leadership. The group's membership was very diverse; the leaders were Gisl Fleischmann, a Zionist activist, and Michael Dov Weissmandel, an Orthodox rabbi. After finding themselves unable to prevent deportations in the spring of 1942, they bribed Slovakian officials and German advisor Dieter Wisliceny to halt the deportations. The achievement of a moratorium on deportations in autumn 1942, for which they credited their subventions, prompted the Working Group to launch a unique rescue operation: the attempted rescue of all of European Jewry by means of ransom. This attempt, known as the Europa plan, failed. Throughout these operations, they toiled unflaggingly to establish communications with Slovakian Jewish deportees in Poland, send them relief, and bring their plight to the knowledge of governments and Jewish organizations abroad. In early 1944, they assumed official leadership of the judenrat. |
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| ISSN: | 1476-7937 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Holocaust and genocide studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/hgs/8.2.164 |