The Kovno Ghetto Jewish Police Force and a Pledge (1941) Replaced by an Oath (1942)

This article addresses historian Dan Diner’s argument for recognition of the Jewish ‘experiential vantage’ point in analysis of the Holocaust. Diner’s concept is important for an inquiry into the actions of the Kovno (Kaunas) ghetto Jewish policemen, as research has largely identified Jewish policemen as privileged functionaries whom ghetto inhabitants hated and feared. To examine this interpretation from the experiential vantage point of Jewish policemen in the Kovno ghetto, this article will compare the August 1941 Jewish ghetto police pledge (written in Lithuanian) to its replacement in November 1942 by the Jewish ghetto police oath (written in Hebrew and Yiddish), to identify what led to the change. Moreover, to identify influences, this article examines the 1924 Lithuanian military oath, which was specific to Jewish soldiers, and the nationalistic 1936 Lithuanian military oath that replaced it. The latter was sworn by every soldier in the Lithuanian military, regardless of ethnicity or religion. This article addresses the following questions: What was the significance of the 1941 Jewish ghetto police pledge and the 1942 Jewish ghetto police oath? What was the significance of how and when the 1942 oath replaced the 1941 pledge?