By Des Quinn and Martin Williams
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In an attempt to separate the Jews from Aryans
within Nazi occupied Europe the Nazis forced them
into walled off areas known as ghettos.
Once inside the Jews had little chance of escape.
They relied on the Nazis for everything – for food,
work and even the right to live.
Conditions within the ghettos were awful and many
people simply starved to death or were struck
down by illness. Those who did survive were
eventually rounded up and sent to concentration
and death camps when the ghettos were
‘liquidated’.
People were forced to
swap and exchange goods
in order to survive.
This ‘barter’ system
meant that many Jews
had to give up their
belongings in an attempt
to ‘buy’ food and
clothing.
The streets were filled
with children dressed in
rags, crying and dying of
hunger.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
Some of the ‘luckier’ children smile for a German
Officer…
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
While their parents queue for food and to have
their work permits signed and papers checked.
Image courtesy of D
es Quinn
In an attempt to make the Jews feel that at least
some aspects of normal life existed within the
ghettos the Nazis allowed postcards to be written
to relatives and friends who lived elsewhere within
Europe.
This tolerance was just ‘for show’ however. The
Nazis had no intention of allowing the Jews to have
contact with the outside world.
When the cards were posted within the ghetto the
Nazis collected them, bagged them and either
stored them in warehouses or simply destroyed
them.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
The longer the ghettos
were in existence the
more intolerable life
became for the
inhabitants.
Confrontations with
German soldiers were
common with the penalty
for answering back often
being physical bodily
harm or execution.
The penalty for smuggling
food into the ghetto was
the same.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
As more and more Jews
entered the ghettos the
harder it became for the
Nazis to control the
people who lived there
and to stop illness and
disease from spreading.
The Jews also began to
realise that they would
never be released and
so escape attempts
increased.
The Germans therefore
planned to get rid of the
Jews once and for all.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
The inhabitants of the
ghettos were rounded up
and their names checked
off on an official list.
Those who hid from the
soldiers were hunted
down and many were
shot.
This was the ‘liquidation’
of the ghettos. Once the
Jews had been herded
together the buildings
were torn down.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
Many people were put
on lorries and others
were made to walk.
With few possessions
they made their way
under armed escort to
the train stations where
cattle trucks waited to
transport them to an
even greater nightmare
-either concentration, or
death camps.Image courtesy of Des Quinn
‘Special’ Groups who had murdered Jews as the German Army swept into Poland and Russia were now given the task of sifting through the remains of the ghettos in search of Jewish survivors that soldiers
had missed.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
This was the
beginning of
the end for
many of
Eastern
Europe’s Jews.
Once on board
the trains
bound for the
camps there
was no way to
escape the
extreme
hardships and
death that was
to come.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
We should never forget what happened to these brave people.
This was a dark and terrible episode in human history and one that all generations to come should be made aware
of so that nothing like it ever happens again.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
It is estimated that over 6 million Jews and ‘Undesirables’ lost their lives in Concentration Camps between 1939-
1945.