Part 1: Ghettos“The life of a human being, let alone his personal freedom, is a matter of no importance. But the love of freedom is native to every human being and every nation, and cannot be suppressed in the long term. History teaches us that tyranny has never endured. And now we have blood-guilt on our conscience for the dreadful injustice of murdering the Jewish inhabitants.”- Wladyslaw Szpilman
What exactly is a "Jewish Ghetto?"
The term "ghetto" originated from the name of the Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy.The term "ghetto" originated from the name of the Jewish quarter in Venice, Italy. As Germany was able to gain authority over multiple other countries, military authorities assigned urban and sometimes regional Jewish populations in ghettos. Living conditions were miserable. Ghettos were often enclosed districts that isolated Jews by separating Jewish communities from the non-Jewish population and from other Jewish communities. |
first hand experiences of Warsaw ghetto
wladyslaw szpilman
Observing Smuggling for Desperate Residents Inside the Ghetto:
"The afternoon was best for smuggling. The police, exhausted by a morning spent lining their own pockets, were less alert then, busy counting up their profits. Restless figures appeared in the windows and doorways of the blocks of flats along the wall and then ducked into hiding again, waiting impatiently for the rattle of a cart or the clatter of an approaching tram. At intervals the noise on the other side of the wall would grow louder, and as a horse-drawn cart trotted past the agreed signal, a whistle, would be heard, and bags and packets flew over the wall. The people lying in wait would run out of the doorways, hastily snatch up the loot, retreat indoors again, and a deceptive silence, full of expectation, nervousness and secret whispering would fall over the street once more, for minutes on end." On Children smuggling goods inside of the Ghetto: "Their work was just as risky and entailed the same danger to life and limb as that of the adult smugglers. One day when I was walking along beside the wall I saw a childish smuggling operation that seemed to have reached a successful conclusion. The Jewish child still on the far side of the wall only needed to follow his goods back through the opening. His skinny little figure was already partly in view when he suddenly began screaming, and at the same time I heard the hoarse bellowing of a German on the other side of the wall. I ran to the child to help him squeeze through as quickly as possible, but in defiance of our efforts his hips stuck in the drain. I pulled at his little arms with all my might, while his screams became increasingly desperate, and I could hear the heavy blows struck by the policeman on the other side of the wall. When I finally managed to pull the child through, he died. His spine had been shattered." |
On Living Conditions Inside the Ghetto:
"The poor were already severely debilitated by hunger and had no protection from the cold, since they could not possibly afford fuel. They were also infested with vermin. The ghetto swarmed with vermin, and nothing could be done about it. The clothing of people you passed in the street was infested by lice, and so were the interiors of trams and shops. Lice crawled over the pavements, up stairways, and dropped from the ceilings of the public offices that had to be visited on so many different kinds of business. Lice found their way into the folds of your newspaper, into your small change; there were even lice on the crust of the loaf you had just bought. And each of these verminous creatures could carry typhus.An epidemic broke out in the ghetto. The mortality figures for death from typhus were five thousand people every month. The chief subject of conversation among both rich and poor was typhus; the poor simply wondered when they would die of it." Traumatic Conditions: "In the ghetto, there was no way of burying those who died of typhus fast enough to keep up with the mortality rate. However, the corpses could not simply be left indoors either. Consequently, an interim solution was found: the dead were stripped of their clothes – too valuable to the living to be left on them – and were put outside on the pavements wrapped in paper. They often waited there for days until Council vehicles came to collect them and take them away to mass graves in the cemetery. It was the corpses who had died of typhus, and those who died of starvation too, that made my evening journey home from the café so terrible." |
Magda Herzberger
Life in the Ghetto
It was almost intolerable. The German guards were rough and brutal towards us; they used foul language, physical and mental abuse, and torture. Food was distributed to us. Food consisted of half a bread loaf for a family and a bowl of bean soup per person. We had to stand in line to receive it at the assigned distribution locations in the camp. We also had to stand in line to use the outdoor toilets, which consisted of holes in the ground with primitive wooden seats. Sometimes the guards found some enjoyment from singling out a person who was standing in line for the toilet and forbidding the person to use the facility. I remember the day when an old lady was standing behind me, waiting in line. |
The guard pulled her out. She was begging him to let her go because she had an urgent need to use the toilet.
He yelled at her. The poor woman defecated her pants. She was terribly embarrassed and terrified while the German guard made fun of her. We had no running water in the ghetto. Twice a week we were given pails and were accompanied by the armed guards to a water faucet on the outskirts of the city where we filled our pails with water, carrying them back. The water was precious to us because of the shortage. Therefore, we had to use it sparingly. Only a very minimal amount was used for washing our clothing or ourselves. Most of it was reserved for drinking. |
Sequence to bring families to camps
This next portion is coming from a book called, "How Do You Kill 11 Million People?" by Andy Andrews. The book highlights a variety of concerning trends, but also highlights how Nazi Germany effectively manipulated groups of people to willingly go with the regulations that were placed on them (often times came to be extremely harmful).
"An intricate web of lies, to be delivered in stages, was designed to ensure the cooperation of the condemned (but unknowing) Jews. First, as barbed-wire fences were built and placed, encircling entire neighborhoods, (Adolf) Eichmann or his representatives met with Jewish leaders to assure them that the physical restrictions (ghettos) being placed upon their community were only temporary necessities of war. As long as they cooperated, (Eichmann) told them, no harm would come to those inside the fence. Second, bribes were taken from the Jews in the promise of better living conditions. The bribes convinced the Jews that the situation was indeed temporary and that no further harm would occur. After all, why would the Nazis accept bribes if they only intend to kill us and take everything anyway? (pgs. 23-24) ----> |
"Finally, Eichmann would appear before a gathering of the entire ghetto. Accompanied by a group of no more than thirty local men and officers of his own --many unarmed-- he addressed the crowd in a strong, clear voice. According to sworn statements (from court cases much later) these were very likely his exact words:
"Jews: At last, it can be reported to you that the Russians are advancing on our eastern front. I apologize for the hasty way we brought you into our protection. Unfortunately, there was little time to explain. You have nothing to worry about. We want only the best for you. You will leave here shortly and be sent to very fine places indeed. You will work there, your wives will stay at home, and your children will go to school. You will have wonderful lives. We will all be terribly crowded on the trains, but the journey is short. Men? Please keep your families together and board the railcars in an orderly manner. Quickly now, my friends, we must hurry!"
This comforted Jewish families, as the explanation (and presence of a few unarmed officers) which led husbands help their families into the railcars. The containers (railcars) were designed to carry eight cows but routinely packed in at least 100 human beings. (pgs. 24-25)
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"At that moment they were lost. The trains rarely stopped until well inside the gates of Auschwitz." (p. 25)
Citations:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos
Szpilman, Władysław, et al. The Pianist: the Extraordinary Story of One Mans Survival in Warsaw, 1939-45. Picador, 2019.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos
Szpilman, Władysław, et al. The Pianist: the Extraordinary Story of One Mans Survival in Warsaw, 1939-45. Picador, 2019.