Warsaw Ghettos

The Beginning

The ghettos were for the Jews

The first ghetto was formed in October 1940

The ghettos were in Warsaw, Poland

Warsaw was the capital of Poland

About 400,000 Jews were sent to live in the ghettos

The Ghettos

By November, the ghettos were closed off by a wall with barbed wire on the top

About 7.2 people lived in one room

After more Jews were sent to live there the rooms got even more crowded

The ghetto was divided into two sections, North and South

The ghetto took up about 2.4 of the city’s land

Conditions

Life was tough in the ghettos, and later they got worse

People began stealing food to bring into the ghettos

The poor had nothing to eat so they began to starve

After starving for weeks the poor Jews died

The dead bodies would be all over the streets

This began to bring disease in the ghettos

Families had to strip their dead family members clothes so they could sell them for money and food

The daily food ration was about 181 calories

Smuggling the food into the ghetto was very risky and many people lost their lives

Many of the Jews were demanded to do things

Some were demanded to kill their families or lose their own lives

Disease Spreads

Disease spread because of the dead corpses laying all over the roads

It was estimated that 6,000 Jews died every month

Disease also spread because of very poor sanitation

The German troops didn’t care to help the Jews with the sanitation problem so it just more to die

Rebellion

After living in the ghettos for years, Jews began to rebel

In 1942 the Jews began to rebel, this is none as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Some of the Jews started the group called Z.O.B (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa)

They wanted the Jews to resist going onto railroad cars

The ghetto fighters used guns causing the troops to retreat

Shots were fired everywhere at the Jews by the German troops

Doctors were put in prison for helping the hurt Jews

Many say the uprisings were started because Jews still living in the ghettos found out that the Jews sent to the death camps were killed

They found out that they were killed by gas chambers and burning the bodies

About seven thousand died fighting or hiding in the ghetto during the uprising

The uprising left a huge destruction on the ghetto, buildings torn and burnt down

Liquidation

By January, the Jews were training to defend the ghetto

The Jews caused the German troops to withdrawal on April 19, 1943

The remaining Jews were sent to labor camps

Although, many labor camps turned into death camps

Many Jews hid so they wouldn’t be taken away

The Jews hid in abandoned buildings and they hid in the ruble from burnt down buildings

At the time of liquidation about 100,000 residents died of starvation and disease

The Jews were getting deported from the ghettos

Many ran and hid while others were sent away

Importance

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is still important today

Everyone remembers that event because it shows that Jews finally stood up for themselves

They took control and tried their hardest to fight off German force

BibliographyHistory of the Warsaw Ghetto." Scrapbookpages.com – a Web Site for Tourists and Armchair Travelers. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/warsawGhetto/Introduction.html>.

Holocaust Survivors. 25 Mar. 2010. <http:// www.holocaustsurvivors.org/cgi-bin/data.show.pl?di=record&data=encyclopedia&ke=117>.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&Moduleld=10005069>.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, by Marek Edelman." CPCW: The Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing. 25 Mar. 2010.<http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/Holocaust/warsaw-uprising.html>.

Warsaw Ghetto | Warsaw Life." Warsaw Life | Warsaw Travel Guide | Restaurants Shops Pubs and Apartments Warsaw Hotels | Poland. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.warsaw-life.com/poland/warsaw-ghetto>.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/uprising1.html>.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - Photos from the Stroop Report." Scrapbookpages.com - a Web Site for Tourists and Armchair Travelers. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/warsawGhetto/warsawGhettoUprising.html>.