The Ghettos "During the Holocaust, the creation of ghettos was a key step in the NAZI process of separating, persecuting, and destroying Jews." -Holocaust Volume 1
The ghettos were created to separate the Jews from the general population and to hold them in one place so they are easily accessible to the German officers. Once at a ghetto, Jews are forced to live in conditions unlike they've ever experienced. Many were crammed into homes and flats where they began to feel the first comings of the conditions at the concentration camps. Food and resources were found at by markets or abandoned buildings as all ghettos were a sectioned off part of a town or city that was most populated by Jews. Some ghettos were made by abandoned buildings with add ons to those. Most families bartered for food and giving some jewelry or money. As Jews were forced into ghettos, giving up most of what they owned, they were also forced to wear a yellow Star of David and walk in the middle of the street. Many ghettos did not last very long. Some lasted a few days yet some lasted years. A few hundred people spent the whole time of the war living in a ghetto. |
Ghettos and Their Inhabitants
Amsterdam 1939 to 1943: 100,000 Jews Krakow, 1941 to 1945: 15,000 Jews Grodno, 1941 to 1943: 10,000 Jews Lodz, 1942 to 1942: 205,000 Jews Warsaw, 1940 to 1943: 400,000 Jews Riga, unknown: 43,000 Jews Rir, unknown: 2,500 Jews |