The German authorities forced the Judenrat of each ghetto to recruit a Jewish police force. Even though the Jewish police existed to help carry out German policies, young Jewish men were usually willing to join. Many had been led to believe that their families would be spared from deportation if they joined. Others were attempting to avoid slave labor drafts. Still others wanted some power.
In some ghettos, members of the Jewish police were active in Jewish resistance. Some used their information about future deportations to hide people or to help them escape from the ghetto. Others were also able to smuggle arms into the ghetto for planned uprisings. For the most part, however, the Jewish police played a tragic role in the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust. Responsible for helping round up their fellow ghetto residents for deportations, they realized only too late that they and their families would ultimately share the same fate.
