“The Ghettos”

Holocaust PowerPoint #5

Why no Jewish Resistance?

• Ghettos were not a new invention– Existed back in Middle Ages– Been confined several times before in

history• Hitler believed Jews were a “cancer”

that needed to be destroyed– Strong Jews who could survive and

spread Judaism must be killed• Jews were not fighters by nature; few

owned guns

• Community and family were very strong in Jewish culture– Thought reason was a way to convince

the Nazis– Thought by cooperating the SS would

ease up

• Jews were too scattered in isolated towns to put up resistance.

The Order to Move• Little warning, came

early in the morning• Could only take one suitcase• Homes and valuables had to

be left behind; scavengers came in and stole unattended property

• At the ghetto, family was assigned a room (12 to 20 people in one room)

• No privacy, few toilets, little food, streets filled with beggars

• Jews began to develop a system of schools, newspapers, and cultural and religious organizations

• Underground libraries sprang up; ghetto orchestras secretly performed

• Religious life went on despite Nazi efforts to stop it– Rabbis had to alter some of the rules

concerning non-Kosher food or clothing options

Government• Judenrat was the Jewish

government that took orders from the Nazis

• People were the only thing not in short supply in the ghetto

• Lodz– Mordechai Rumkowski (leader) wanted

to keep Nazis happy at all costs– Believed if ghetto was productive the

Nazis would leave them alone– In 1942 Nazis began “resettling” Lodz

Jews, sending them to Chelmno death camp

– Rumkowski told parents to give him their children

– He was killed in August 1944

• Warsaw, Poland– The largest ghetto (400,000 Jews)– Adam Czerniakow (leader)– Made little effort to stop smuggling– Begged the Nazis to let children go

free; this was denied and he killed himself

• Kovno– Located in Lithuania– 30,000 Jews left in this ghetto after

many were killed beforehand; 10,000 Jews were killed by Anti-Semitic Lithuanians

– Dr. Elchanan Elkes (leader)– Tried to protect his people– In 1943 he was taken away and by

1945 only 2,000 Jews were still alive• By 1943, the Nazis were determined to

bring the Final Solution to a close

Daily Life in the Ghettos

• Forbidden to leave the ghetto without a permit

• Worked 10-12 hours of hard labor a day

• Starvation– Bread (14 oz.) Meat

Products (4.5 oz.) Sugar (1.75 oz.) Fat (.9 oz.)

– Approximately 220 calories a day

– Killed approximately 500 a week

• The Cold– Temperatures could drop to

20 below (Warsaw, Poland)– Warm clothing was taken

away– Did not provide them with

enough kerosene, coal, or wood

• Disease– Breeding grounds for bacteria

• Limited sanitary facilities• Sewage pipes froze and burst• Little soap and water

available– Typhus, a disease directly

connected with overcrowding and filth, took by far the greatest number of people