The Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden, (National Representation) of German Jews, was the central organisation of German Jewry under the Nazi regime. When the Nazis came to power, German Jewry did not really have a comprehensive organisation of representational nature. Only in September 1933 was this inclusive, federative representative agency established, composed and empowered to cope with German Jewry's grave existential problems under the new totalitarian regime. The organisation was headed by Rabbi Leo Baeck, but the motive, spirit, and force were provided by its director, Otto Hirsch. Alongside them was an administration that represented the main political and religious organisations. The Reichsvertretung aspired to embrace all aspects of German Jewish internal affairs and to represent the community as such vis-a-vis the German authorities and Jewish organisations outside Germany. Its main fields of activity, arranged by the Zentralausschuss der Deutschen Juden fuer Hilfe und Aufbau (Central Committee of German Jews for Relief and Reconstruction) were:
a.
Education, including the promotion and expansion of Jewish schools, and extensive adult education activity.
b.
Vocational training and retraining for the growing number of Jews who had lost their means of livelihood, and primarily to prepare them for emigration.
c.
Welfare services for the rising population of the needy and for nursing homes, hospitals, and related institutions. Jewish welfare increasingly had to compensate for the rescinding of support by local government welfare authorities.
d.
Economic assistance, including the establishment of labour exchanges and loan funds.
e.
Emigration, handled by the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden (German Jews' Aid Society) and, with respect to emigration to Palestine, by the Palestine Office.
Extensive cultural activity was promoted by the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden (Cultural Society of German Jews), which remained autonomous until late 1941. The Reichsvertretung's intensive operations, which enabled German Jews to cope with the grim effects of state discrimination and persecution, relied heavily on Jewish welfare associations around the world but, foremost, on the volunteering spirit and mutual assistance of German Jews themselves.
In its contacts with the authorities, the Reichsvertretung sought to safeguard the physical and moral existence of German Jewry, and considered itself competent to respond to major anti-Jewish events such as the Nuremberg Laws and the spate of terrorism in the summer of 1938. Although it was not recognised under law, the authorities recognised the Reichsvertretung de facto as the sole representative of the Jews in Germany vis-a-vis the Reich government. After the legal status of the kehillah (Jewish community organisation) was nullified, the Reichsvertretung reconstituted itself as a national kehillah of sorts by forming "a national association of Jews in Germany", The Reichsvereinigung. In July 1939, the regime officially recognised this organisation, which was placed under Gestapo supervision, thus empowering it to be active in emigration, education, and welfare. From then until 1943, the Reichsvereinigung, was the only organisation in Germany that dealt with Jewish survival. The last of its leaders, including Rabbi Leo Baeck, were deported to Theresienstadt in the first half of that year, and it was officially abolished in July.
Some scholars regard the organisation's work as an expression of the will to preserve and foster the authentic character and basic values of German Jewry even under the totalitarian and racist regime. As such, they consider its activities "spiritual resistance." For others, however, precisely these aims were illusions and, indeed, a tragic error, which may perhaps have prevented sufficient emphasis from being placed on emigration efforts that could have saved lives.
