JEWISH GHETTOS

Think about this question. How are you different from the people around you? You may say that some people have freckles and you don't. You might say that your eyes are blue and your friend's eyes are green. You might also say that you’re a different gender. Now imagine this.

THESIS

• Just because your eyes are blue, or just because you’re a boy, you have to be separated from everyone else. During the early years of the Holocaust, Jews were moved into ghettos across Europe, to separate them from the German population.

HISTORY OF GHETTOS
Ghettos were not a Nazi invention, in fact, they were created in the Medieval times. In 1791, Catherine the Great made the Pale of Settlement in Western Russia, in which Jews were moved into.

Although they were given the title "Ghettos", these settlements were no different from other cities. Living conditions were great and the Jews could live happy lives there. It wasn't until the Holocaust that Jews were given horrible living conditions and very limited supplies.

GHETTO CONDITIONS
When the Jews were relocated into ghettos across Europe, the conditions of those ghettos were horrendous. Jews were forced into these ghettos to separate them from the "Pure German" population. Many of these ghettos didn't have running water or any type of cleaning supplies, so the sanitation of the ghettos was terrible.

Many Jews died in the ghettos from diseases, which raved through the ghettos at that time. The ghettos were very small, and with such a big amount of Jews coming in, 7-10 people were crammed into one room. Most ghettos were made to be temporary, which meant many buildings were deteriorating and making living in them very dangerous.

With such a big population, food rations were very limited. A Jew would get one good meal's worth of food and would be expected to make it last a week. Many children would risk their lives and try to sneak out of the ghetto to get food and supplies for their families. Nearly 1,000 of these ghettos were established during the Holocaust.

TYPES OF GHETTOS
There were three types of ghettos: closed ghettos, open ghettos, and destruction ghettos. Closed ghettos were closed of by walls or fences with barbed wire. This was the most common ghettos throughout the Holocaust. These ghettos were primarily in German-occupied Poland and Soviet Union.

Open ghettos had no walls or fences, but had guards patrolling the perimeter. These ghettos were less common than the closed ghettos, and they only existed in Poland, Soviet Union, and Transnistria.

Destruction ghettos were tightly sealed off, so no one could get out. These ghettos only existed for about 2-6 weeks before all the Jews inside the ghettos were shot or deported. Destruction ghettos were located in Soviet Union(especially in Lithuania and Ukraine), as well as Hungary.

THE WARSAW GHETTO
The Warsaw Ghetto was the biggest ghetto during the time of the Holocaust. Its population of Jews was second only to New York City. German troops took control of Poland on September 29, 1939, and three months later they closed all Jewish-owned businesses, schools, etc.

On October 12,1940, all Jews in Warsaw were moved into a ghetto, which was enclosed with a wall 10 feet high topped with barbed wire. The Nazis gave the Jews inside the ghetto very little food, only a 1,125 calorie intake a week. 83,000 Jews died in the ghetto because of starvation.

The rest of the Jews died of disease or deportations to death camps. Many Jews resisted deportation from Warsaw. Jews armed themselves with smuggled weapons and they fought back against the German troops, but they were defeated in the end.

The Lodz Ghetto was located about 75 miles southwest of Warsaw , and was the second largest ghetto during the Holocaust. German troops occupied Lodz on September 1,1939, and on early February 1940, Germans established the ghetto and about 160,000 were forced inside.

Since Lodz was a key industrial center, many Jews hoped that if they worked hard inside the ghetto, they would not be deported into death camps.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, and Jews were deported to death camps, though not in large numbers, like the Warsaw Ghetto. The Lodz Ghetto was one of the last remaining ghettos during the Holocaust, lasting all the way to 1944.

THE END