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Ghettos: Beginning of an End . The Boy from the Warsaw Ghetto. Judenrein Action. Organization and Planning . Beginning as early as Nov. 1939, 78,000 Jews were forced into Soviet territory. At Chelm , 1800 were forced to cross the river by swimming, only 400 survived. In Germany .
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Ghettos: Beginning of an End The Boy from the Warsaw Ghetto
Judenrein Action Organization and Planning • Beginning as early as Nov. 1939, 78,000 Jews were forced into Soviet territory. • At Chelm, 1800 were forced to cross the river by swimming, only 400 survived
In Germany • Jews were re-assigned homes • Jews living in the country were moved to the cities • Ghettos were not walled or fenced in • Mass deportation began in 1941, • Moved to Polish ghettos, primarily Lodz
Forced “Resettlements” • Polish ghettos opened in 1939 • Warsaw, Lodz, Cracow, Lublin and Lvov • Physical boundaries marked by gates, fences
WHAT IS A GHETTO? In a modern sense of the term, a ghetto is an overcrowded urban area often associated with a specific ethnic or racial population. In the context of Holocaust studies the term refers to the restricted quarter of many European cities in which Jews were required to live; "the Warsaw ghetto"
Organization in the Ghettos • Judenrat Jewish Council of Elders • Made up of community leaders • Urged fellow Jews to be hopeful, peaceful • Decreased chance of resistance • Leaders who didn’t follow orders were brought into submission through blackmail
Organization in the Ghettos • Judenrat organized: • Schools, hospitals, orphanages • Fire brigades • Raised taxes to pay for all activities • Jewish police force (sometimes worse than Nazis) • Established soup kitchens • Made sure donations from outside were distributed fairly
Life in the Ghetto • Nazis would hold many responsible for acts of few • Death for all infractions • Had curfews, wore stars • Men and women had to report for forced labor • Typhus, malnutrition, poor sanitation, hypothermia (in winter) • Rumors everywhere about future
Life in the Ghetto • Work permits for factories meant you might survive longer • Only workers got ration cards • Escape was possible, but where to go? • Polish people would often turn Jews in from fear of Nazis
Jewish Leaders Adam Czerniakow MordekaiChaimRumkowski • Head of Judenrat in Warsaw ghetto • Kept diary, tried to act in a fair manner • Committed suicide at beginning of liquidation of the ghetto • Head of Judenrat in Lodz • Dictatorial, seen as a collaborator w/Nazis • “Give me your children” speech
For Evil or Good? • Some evidence of favoritism for members of Judenrat families, friends • Nazis were able to effectively deflect hatred and blame to Jewish leaders • Younger Jews who wanted to resist ran up against tradition (respect community leaders) • Many did what they could to save lives
The Warsaw Uprising • On April 19, the first night of Passover, Nazi soldiers arrived in the ghetto to deport more Jews. • They were greeted with pistol shots, molotov cocktails and hand grenades.