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To some Chaim Rumkowski was a man of immense courage. To others he is simply a traitor; a Jew who worked with the Nazis and assisted them in the Final Solution. When the Nazis began herding Polish Jews into ghettoes, the Jews faced a terrible reality. How do you cope with an enemy that is hell bent on your destruction? How do you ensure that thousands of people all living together with scarce resources don’t just descend into anarchy?  Chaim Rumkowski in the ghetto in Lodz took on that task by becoming the leader of the Council of Elders.Rumkowski firmly believed that there was hope. He felt he could turn the Lodz Ghetto into a haven of Jewish culture. It could, he thought, become a thriving community with businesses, factories, social services and even schools. He did a deal in which his people would provide labour to the Nazis in exchange for food. And it worked. But inevitably there was a price. Rumkowski had to confiscate all property and coerce the able bodied into forced labour. Many grew to hate him. The result though was that the Lodz Ghetto lasted two years longer than had been expected. Undoubtedly some owe their lives to its prolonged existence. But it wasn’t enough for Rumkowski. He was deported to Auschwitz in 1944 where he and his family died.