The Warsaw Ghetto had officially opened on October 2, 1940. Every single non-Jewish being had been moved out by October 30th.  The Warsaw Ghetto residents were sealed from the outside world by brick and cement. Walls were 10 feet tall and topped with barbed wire and broken glass.  The walls were closely guarded by Polish Nazi officers. Everyone was nervous, because they were scared they would break a rule and get shot. No one could have talk to there friends that were Aryans, because if they did they were shot on sight. This was just the beginning. They were often beat if they didn't listen to orders right way or if they asked question with out being asked a question first.
Before the ghetto opened all Polish Jews went into a panic from the information about Chelmno gassing Jews. Some also went into panic because of the fact that more and more gassing centers were opening.  Some received secret information that Jews were lied to and told that they were going to take showers and were put in a chamber ,but instead gasses ,such as Zyklon B, were poured in to the chambers. Others were told that they were going to go to "educational" camps, but were taken to ghettos or concentration and death camps. Jews were lied to and taken away from there families and friends.
   
The ghetto only took up 2.4% of the total area of  Warsaw, but held over 30% of the population plus many more.  Jews were told that they were going to live in ''Jewish Residential Quarters" and they would be a decent and quiet place to  live and raise their children.  The ghetto was made to hold the Jews until they were shipped out to camps.  The ghetto contained about 250,000 people and only 100,000 housing units.  Up to 7 families in one home meant for 1 family.  The walls in the houses became green and slimy and carried diseases from families there before.  Life really was a terrible as it seemed.
 
Residents of the ghetto got less than 10% of proper daily nutritional requirements.  Jews were only allowed 180 grams of bread a day and 220 grams of sugar a month.  They were only allowed 1kg. of jam and honey as well.  People snuck food through fences, gates, sewers, and homes close to or on the boarder walls.  Many six year old boys were sent over the wall to get food.  They would grab packages from pedestrians and eat the contents while they ran.  Meats and cheeses were very rare and expensive to buy.  People sometimes died in fights over a small portion of food.  Children were killed by adults for food. If caught with outside food you were immediately shot. Many personal belongings were traded for little amounts of  food. Yet, while all this Chaos went on loving, caring parents still found time to educate their children.

  

After many of the Jews were sent out to camps there was a rebellion. It was the night of  January 18, 1943. The residents remaining at the ghetto formed a group called Z.O.B. Which in Polish means Zydowska Organizacia Bojowa which in English translates to Jewish Fighting Organization.  The Z.O.B. held off the Nazis for about a month or about 4 weeks while the Nazis took over the entire rest of Poland in the same amount of time.  In the beginning of the fight the Nazis quickly lost, by 2a.m. there was not a single live Nazi left in the ghetto, but  they came back with much more ammunition. Everyone in the ghetto was quiet the only noise was the air-bombs. When the Nazis come back they killed many Jews. They burnt down the synagogues, torched the hospitals, and shot everyone in bed as well.  After the fight the ghetto was burning with flames and people were burnt alive,  others died of lack of oxygen because of all the smoke fumes.  Broken glass covered the streets. 
 
The Nazis torched the entire entire ghetto.  The ghetto was completely destroyed by May 16, 1943.  This story made history for being the first major uprising against the Nazis by a ghetto.  May 16, 1943 was the day the confinement of Jews had ended.  Roughly  56,000 Jews were captured and about 7,000 shot, the rest sent to death camps and immediately killed.

 

Savana Van Vleck

7th Social Studies

Rossville Jr. High

Holocaust Projects

2004

Bibliography