The term useful Jew was used in various historical contexts, typically describing a
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...
useful in implementing an official authority's policy, sometimes by oppressing other Jews.
* In 1744,
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
introduced the practice of limiting Jewish population to a small number of the most wealthy families, known as "
protected Jew
''Schutzjude'' (, "protected Jew") was a status for German Jews granted by the imperial, princely or royal courts.
Within the Holy Roman Empire, except some eastern territories gained by the Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries (e.g. Brandenb ...
s" (''Schutzjuden''). The first-born son in such families inherited this
privilege; other children were considered useless by the authorities and had the choice of either abstaining from marriage or leaving.
* Following the establishment of the
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement (russian: Черта́ осе́длости, '; yi, דער תּחום-המושבֿ, '; he, תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, ') was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 19 ...
by
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
, only "useful Jews" (russian: полезные евреи) were allowed to live outside the Pale; these included Jews such as wealthy first-rung merchants (russian: купцы первой гильдии), persons who had received
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
,
cantonist
Cantonists (Russian language: кантонисты; more properly: военные кантонисты, "military cantonists") were underage sons of conscripts in the Russian Empire. From 1721 on they were educated in special "canton schools" (К ...
s (after serving their full term in the army), and some other categories.
* In the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, Jewish members of the
Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public
The Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public (russian: Антисионистский комитет советской общественности, ''Antisionistsky komitet sovyetskoy obshchestvennosti''; abbreviated AZCSP russian: АКСО) w ...
were colloquially known as "useful Jews" or "pocket Jews" (russian: карманные евреи), implying their corruption by high positions in the state
hierarchy
A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important ...
.
[The infamous AZCSP (in Russian)]
Prepared by Moscow Bureau for human rights. Contains excerpts from June 6, 1983 AZSCP press-conference from the press-center of Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (sem40.ru)
See also
*
Chaim Rumkowski
Chaim Mordechaj Rumkowski (February 27, 1877 – August 28, 1944) was the head of the Jewish Council of Elders in the Łódź Ghetto appointed by Nazi Germany during the German occupation of Poland.
Rumkowski accrued much power by transformin ...
, a Jew who collaborated with the Nazis
*
Court Jew
In the early modern period, a court Jew, or court factor (german: Hofjude, Hoffaktor; yi, היף איד, Hoyf Id, קאַורט פאַקטאַר, ''Kourt Faktor''), was a Jewish banker who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European, main ...
*
Jewish Question
The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other "national ...
*
Schutz-Jude
''Schutzjude'' (, "protected Jew") was a status for German Jews granted by the imperial, princely or royal courts.
Within the Holy Roman Empire, except some eastern territories gained by the Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries (e.g. Brandenb ...
*
Self-hating Jew
Self-hating Jew or self-loathing Jew, transliterated in Hebrew as auto-antisemitism, is a term which is used to describe Jews whose views are perceived as antisemitic. The concept gained widespread currency after Theodor Lessing's 1930 book ('' ...
*
Shtadlan
A ''shtadlan'' ( he, שַׁדְלָן, ; yi, שתּדלן, ) was an intercessor for a local European Jewish community. They represented the interests of the community, especially those of a town's ghetto, and worked as a "lobbyist" negotiating w ...
*
Stella Kübler
Stella Ingrid Goldschlag, also known as Stella Kübler-Isaacksohn and Stella Kübler (10 July 1922 – 26 October 1994) was a German Jewish woman who collaborated with the Gestapo during World War II, operating around Berlin exposing and deno ...
*
Uncle Tom
Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. The character was seen by many readers as a ground-breaking humanistic portrayal of a slave, one who uses nonresistance and gives his life to protect ...
*
Useful idiot
In political jargon, a useful idiot is a term currently used to reference a person perceived as propagandizing for a cause—particularly a bad cause originating from a devious, ruthless source—without fully comprehending the cause's goals, a ...
*
Kapo
A kapo or prisoner functionary (german: Funktionshäftling) was a prisoner in a Nazi camp who was assigned by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) guards to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks.
Also called "prisoner self-administrat ...
*
Judenrat
A ''Judenrat'' (, "Jewish council") was a World War II administrative agency imposed by Nazi Germany on Jewish communities across occupied Europe, principally within the Nazi ghettos. The Germans required Jews to form a ''Judenrat'' in every c ...
*
Anti-Zionist Jews
*
Jewish Bolshevism
Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an anti-communist and antisemitic canard, which alleges that the Jews were the originators of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and that they held primary power among the Bolsheviks who led the revo ...
Notes
{{Reflist
Disabilities (Jewish) in Europe
Social groups