Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski - Prior To The "Final Solution"

Prior To The "Final Solution"

Even though the Germans, clearly, were the ones who gave Rumkowski authority, he was still the "sole figure authority in managing and organizing internal life in the ghetto". Rumkowski's power was due to the Nazis, in conjunction with his dominant personality, and the lack of a forceful council. Biebow, at first, gave Rumkowski full power in organizing the ghetto, as long as it did not interfere with his main objectives; complete order, confiscation of Jewish property and assets, coerced labor, and his own personal gain. Their relationship seemed to work perfectly. Rumkowski had more space to organize the ghetto according to his fashion, believing he was creating a better ghetto life, while Biebow sat back, reaped rewards, and had Rumkowski do all the dirty work. In trying to keep Biebow happy, he obeyed every order with little inquiry, provided him with gifts and personal favors. Of his willingness to cooperate with the German authorities, Rumkowski is said to have boasted in a speech "My motto is always to be at least ten minutes ahead of every German demand."

Because of the confiscation of cash and other belongings, Rumkowski proposed the idea of a new form of currency specifically for the ghetto - the ersatz. This new currency would be used as money, and using this alone, a person could buy food rations and other necessities. This proposal was considered arrogant and illustrated Rumkowski’s lust for power. The currency was, therefore, nicknamed by ghetto inhabitants as the "Rumkin". It also dissuaded smugglers from endangering their lives to get in and out of the ghetto.

This was all because Rumkowski felt that full cooperation with the Nazis would improve their chances of survival. He also felt that smuggling would "destabilize the ghetto with regard to the prices of basic commodities". He needed to have full control of the ghetto economy. This further showed his arrogance.

Rumkowski was extremely serious about his position as Judenrat. He admitted to being a "Communist and a Fascist," confiscating property and businesses that were still being run by private owners. "He began to organize and take over all areas of life". This was very difficult to do. He had to build everything on his own - all from within the confining walls of the ghetto. With the help of his assistants, he maintained order and established numerous departments and institutions that dealt with all of the ghetto's internal affairs, from housing tens of thousands of people, to distributing food rations. Welfare and health systems were also set up. They formed seven hospitals, seven pharmacies, and five clinics, employing hundreds of doctors and nurses. Although it was a great effort, many people could not be helped due to the shortage of medical supplies allowed in by the Germans.

Rumkowski worked extremely hard to establish an education system. Forty-seven schools were in service, schooling 63% of school-age children. There was no education system in any other ghetto as advanced as Łódź. He even "intervened and imposed his control in fields outside the realm of those essential to survival." For example, he set up a "Culture House," where cultural gatherings, including plays, orchestra, and other performances could take place. He was very involved in the particulars of these events, involving himself with hiring and firing performers and editing the content of the shows. He, as well, became integrated in religious life. This integration deeply bothered the religious public. For example, since the Germans disbanded the rabbinate in September 1942, Rumkowski began conducting wedding ceremonies, altering the marriage contract (ketubah).

Although there were negative feelings toward Rumkowski, he still managed to build a strong establishment and organized industry in Łódź, in a relatively short period. Because of this order, more efficient and fair distribution of rations and other services could take place. He believed that any decisions to be made, were best made by himself, without consulting anyone.

"...he understood everything best and that only his way was correct and just... He treated the ghetto Jews like personal belongings. He spoke to them arrogantly and rudely and sometime beat them".

Due to Rumkowski's harsh treatment, and stern, arrogant personality, the Jews began to blame him, and unleashed their frustration on him, instead of the Germans, who were beyond their scope of blame. The most important display of this frustration was a series of strikes and demonstrations between August 1940 and spring of 1941. Led by activists and leftist parties against Rumkowski, they abandoned their work and went to the streets handing out fliers:

...Brothers and sisters! turn out en masse to wipe out at long last, with joint and unified force, the terrible poverty and the barbaric behaviour of the Kehilla representatives toward the wretched, exhausted, starved public... The slogan: bread for all!! Let's join forces in war against the accursed Kehilla parasite...

Rumkowski would not allow these demonstrators to get away easily. With the help of the Jewish police, they violently dissolved them. On occasion, the Nazis themselves came in to break up the commotion, which usually resulted in murder. The leaders of these groups were punished by not being allowed to work, which in effect meant that they and their families were doomed to starvation. Sometimes the strikers and demonstrators were arrested, imprisoned, or shipped off to labor camps. By the spring of 1941, almost all opposition to Rumkowski had dissipated.

Rumkowski implemented industry into the ghetto from the very beginning. Because most of the Jews in the ghetto were of lower classes, laboring for the Germans was the only means of supporting themselves. In the beginning, the Germans were unclear of their plans for the ghetto, for the arrangements for the "Final Solution" were still being processed. For that reason, the first few months the Nazis had no motive to help the ghetto out with Rumkowski's labor agenda. However, once they realized, by the summer of 1940, that their original plan of liquidating the ghetto by October 1940 could not take place, they began to take Rumkowski's labor agenda seriously Forced labor became a staple of ghetto life, with Rumkowski running the effort. His slogan, "Labor Is Our Only Way" defined his belief. He said in a speech on February 1, 1941:

...I accepted the role of leading normal life at any price. The goal will be attained primarily by full employment. Therefore, my principal slogan was to provide work for as many people as possible...

He, without a doubt, believed that work would save them. In another speech he said, "...Work is my coin... In another three years the ghetto will be working like a clock...". "By the end of 1941, labor not only covered the costs of the ghetto's upkeep but also generated huge profits for the Germans".