The Jewish Councils were a historically unique group of Jewish people who were chosen as ghetto leaders within Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. The Jewish Councils, or Judenrate, acted as the administrative body inside the ghettos but were primarily chosen by the Nazis to carry out Nazi mandates as quickly and efficiently as possible. The Judenrate were often required to make life and death decisions about the fate of their constituents. This thesis discusses whether moral responsibility could apply to the Councils considering their extreme suffering in forced captivity. Two types of ethics were chosen to analyze the actions of the Councils. Aristotle's virtue ethics and the utilitarian point of view are used to determine moral responsibility. Aristotle's view is that a person's character will determine whether or not he or she will do the 'right' or 'moral action. The utilitarian view is that an action is morally 'good' when we can accomplish the greatest amount of 'good for the greatest number of persons. Both ethical approaches have something to say about the Councils' choices. In the end, both approaches support the case for assigning moral responsibility regardless of the conditions in which the Judenrate found themselves.
