Anda di halaman 1dari 5

Elkins 1

Bonnie Elkins

Mr. Neuburger

English Comp. 101-121

9 May 2011

Research Paper

Rounding up Jews – Ghettos

News reports in the 1920‟s through the 1950‟s were sporadic. Nightly news

discussed daily happenings in regional areas. Seldom did information travel around the

world to be reported on the nightly news. Antisematism was not accepted or recognized

by the nation, or the world. The Holocaust opened the eyes of the world to the horror that

can and does propagated against select people.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) stated in the

“Holocaust Encyclopedia – Ghettos” that the term “Ghetto” was first heard in the 1500‟s

when Venetian authorities ordered the Jews segregated. When World War II broke out

the Germans established Ghettos to segregate political prisoners from the common

population. A political prisoner was anyone the Nazi‟s considered a threat to the German

Reich. Jewish people were forced into ghettos to segregate and control their movement

until a solution could be found and implemented remove the Jewish people from

Germany. (USHMM)

According to USHMM – “Types of Ghettos,” the ghettos were established with

limited housing and no electricity or heat. The most common of the three types of ghettos

was closed camps. Closed ghettos had walls or barbed wire enclosures that restricted the

movement of Jews. Starvation, poor housing, and disease were frequent causes of death
Elkins 2

in the closed ghetto. Open ghettos were areas controlled by curfews with established

restrictions placed on anyone coming or going from the ghetto. The open and closed

ghettos were found in German occupied Poland and the occupied Soviet Union. The

destruction ghettos found in German occupied Soviet Union and Hungary were organized

for deportation of Jews. Anyone sent to a destruction camp was deported or shot within

two or three weeks. (USHMM-Ghettos)

In Yad Vashem – “The Ghettos,” an order was sent out to outline the

incarceration of Jews. The poorest neighborhoods were sealed to segregate the Jewish

people from their neighbors and friends. Starvation and disease were prevalent among the

Jews during the incarceration. If disease and starvation did not kill them, forced labor,

deportation or simply being shot did. More than one thousand ghettos were used in

Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe. When the Jews were forced into the labor camps

their possessions were confiscated and they were forced to wear identification badges

while they were forced to work for the German war machine. Given little food and forced

to stand in the weather in harsh conditions, the Jews spirit refused to be crushed. (YV -

The Ghettos)

Lodz ghetto in Poland was the second largest concentration camp according to

Yad Vashem in the article “Lodz Ghetto”. This ghetto was established in 1940 as a forced

labor camp. Children and adults were sent to work for the German Reich until they died

from starvation. Lack of food and unsanitary living conditions brought about the death of

half of the Lodz camp. Half of the deaths at the Lodz camp were caused by poor living

conditions, the rest of the Jews were killed by the Germans in the camp or deported to

killing camps. (YV – Lodz Ghetto)


Elkins 3

„Daily Life in the Camp” is an article in the Yad Vashem web site that describes

the living conditions of the camp. Daily roll call was mandatory, and every morning and

evening the Jews were forced to stand in grueling heat or freezing cold for hours while

the Germans took their time attending to role call. Hours at forced labor followed by

hours standing in varying bad weather took there toll on the Jewish population. After the

day was done the Jewish people attended to their own needs. The Jewish people actively

participated in illicit activities to sustain their life. Food must be smuggled into the camp

to help sustain the inhabitants while classes were held for the children, religious

ceremonies were performed and life continued for the Jewish people. Normal activities

helped maintain the Jewish culture and give them hope for the future. (YV – Daily Life in

the Camp)

Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia was a sight of a propaganda campaign for the

German Reich according to Yad Vashem article “Theresienstadt,” The Germans realizing

that the nations were actively pursuing information about the Jewish captives arranged a

propaganda campaign to confuse the world about the conditions of the concentration

camps. The overpopulation of the camp was sent to the killing camps for extermination,

and the camp was readied for the commission to inspect. Flowers were planted,

businesses were set up and people were chosen to talk to the commission. Everything was

made to look as if the Jewish people were treated respectfully by the Germans. A film

was made and released to the world to present the human conditions at the camp. When

everything had settled down after the film was released, all the inhabitants of the Ghetto

were rounded up and sent for extermination. (YV – Theresienstadt)


Elkins 4

Mitchell Bard tells about the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. In 1942 the Germans

ordered the Jewish council to make a list of 300,000 inhabitants to be deported to death

camps. The Jews were loaded on trains and transported to their death. The Jews left at the

camp choose to fight back. The resistance was formed; weapons were smuggled into the

camp while prepared for the next attempt at deportation. In 1943 the Germans again

returned to deport the last of the Jews to the killing camps. The resistance met the

Germans with a hand full of guns and homemade bombs smuggled in to the camp. The

Germans retreated and left the Jewish people with the first sense of victory in many

years. The resistance made additional plans for when the Germans would return.

Training began, tunnels were dug, and more objects were smuggled into the camp and

preparations were made for War. The people in the Warsaw camp banded together to

fight for their lives. (Bard)

In addition, Bard states the Warsaw inhabitants planned for when the Germans

returned. The day the Germans returned they brought 2000 soldiers, tanks and flame

throwers to overthrow the resistance. The fighting began with a vengeance, with the

Jewish population fighting for their lives. When the Germans realized the Jews would not

give up without a fight they decided to burn down Warsaw ghetto. The resistance held

them off the Germans for 28 days before the Germans captured the Jewish headquarters.

When the fighting was over the Germans deported everyone that was left to the killing

camps for extermination. The Germans persecution of the Jews continued until the end

of World War II in 1945. (Bard)

Today‟s society is based on the past, present, and future conflicts. With modern

multi-media available it is common for daily happenings around the world to be on


Elkins 5

internet instantly and the nightly news. All the trials and tribulations of daily life can be

seen and heard in minutes. The internets availability could have stopped or changed the

Jewish Holocaust, Japanese would not have successfully bombed Pearl Harbor and the

war in Iraq might have been stopped. Learning from past events paves the way for change

in the future. The Holocaust should have never happened.

Work Cited

Bard, Mitchell. "Warsaw Ghetto Uprising." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. Web. 29

Apr. 2011.

"Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. HOLOCAUST

ENCYCLOPEDIA, 06 Jan. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

"Types of Ghettos." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 06 Jan. 2011. Web. 29

Apr. 2011.

Vashem, Yad. "Theresienstadt - Yad Vashem." Web. 01 May 2011.

Vashem, Yad. “The Ghetto – Daily Life in the Ghetto- Yad Vashem.” Web 01 May 2011.

Vashem, Yad. “The Ghetto – Lodz Ghetto- Yad Vashem.” Web 01 May 2011.

Vashem, Yad. "Warsaw Ghetto - Yad Vashem." Web. 01 May 2011.

Anda mungkin juga menyukai