The Judenrat

After reading "The End of the World", I became interested by the creation of the Judenrat. The few Jewish people who were chosen to follow orders by the SS to kill other Jews are people that I don't fully understand. It is clear that the Jews in the camp were desperate to live one way or the other, and that can explain a lot of the attempts to flee and even the suicides. The creation of the Judenrat is a clear tactic of the Nazis to force Jewish against their own people. By doing this, the Nazis were able to establish complete control over the people of the camp. They were able to turn people against each other and do basically whatever they say. This complete control though was due to the fact that the prisoners were so desperate to survive. Though it may seem weird that they would help the enemy, it is most likely that we would all do the same thing if put in that situation. It was those people that did try to help, like the messenger lady and some of the Judenrat, that used this 'powerful' position to good use. Though they weren't able to save everyone, they were able to deviate the system in one way and save hundreds of people. If I were put in that position, I am now exactly sure what I would do just because it is such a big responsibility. Were these people able to perform these positions because they were able to create distance between themselves and the other Jews? Or was it just because they were so desperate to survive? The conditions in the camps were so bad that it truly does make sense why people were willing to kill others of their culture.