October 2, 1940. The was the date that the Warsaw Ghetto opened its home of hatred to the Jews. The ghetto was officially sealed off on November 15-16, 1940.

        No one was allowed out and the harsh punishment for breaking this rule was death! Just getting out was very hard though because the security in the ghetto was very tight. Plus there were only fifteen gates leading to the outside.

        Ten foot brick walls surrounded the three square mile ghetto and were topped with broken glass and bob wire. There were about 300,000 people living in the ghetto at this time (most of whom were Polish Jews).

        The Jews also had tons of things they couldn't do! All Jews (over the age of twelve) were forced to wear the star of David on their sleeve. The things they couldn't do included not being able to earn more than 500 zloty a month, bake bread, get to a

Orphans in the Warsaw ghetto starving to death.      

     

 
place by train or trolley bus, own gold or jewelry, or work at a government institution. These were just some of the things the Jews couldn't do just because they were Jewish!!!
      

The Nazis wanted to keep the Aryan side and the ghetto completely separate. To make sure that this happened they ordered that a wooden bridge be made connecting   the two parts of the ghetto.

 

 Children were often sent to the Aryan side of the wall to try and smuggle food to the ghetto( Some adults managed to bribe the guards.   

       People were constantly dying. The main causes of death was starvation and disease. In just three months 50,000 people died of hunger and sickness.

       Disease filled the ghetto's air and killed a little more than 10% (about 43,000) of the ghetto's population! Towards the beginning of the ghetto's existence there was a bad disease called "Yellow Spot Fever" ( which was mainly carried by ticks). Typhus was another very bad disease in the ghetto and was mainly spread by lice. It started to do so in 1942.

        Starvation was also a huge problem. Jews got one bowl of soup a day which wasn't nearly enough! Children were also killed by adults that were hungrier than them. Some people managed to bribe the guards.

        Parents still tried to get their children an education despite the terrible conditions.

          About 6,000 people died in one month! The dead were stripped of their clothing so it could be sold on the streets.

        The deportation of the Jews from the ghetto to the extermination camps began in July and ended in September. In that time period about 300,000 people were sent to Treblinka Extermination Camp!!! No one believed that the extermination camps were real but (sadly) they were!
       
 
 

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
 

Hans Frank (a Nazi governor) said " I ask nothing of the Jews except that they disappear."  

 
       ZOB ( Jewish Fighting Organization) emerged in October of 1942. ZOB was mainly made up of around 1,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. They stole many of the weapons they had and even made some of them with other stuff they had. They planed to resist the last deportation.

       On January 18, 1943 the Nazis returned to the ghetto to finish collecting the Jews, but were surprised when the rest of the Jews fought back!
  Jurgen Stroop was a German official that led the liquidation of the ghetto.  After fighting for a little while the Germans left. The Germans did not plan on the Uprising taking a whole month and a half. Especially Himmler (who was the one that gave the order to destroy the ghetto).

       Jurgen Stroop (who led the Nazis) that he should just burn down the whole ghetto instead of trying to fight the Jews and losing men.

       On April 22nd fire smothered the ghetto with fire! Forcing most of the to jump from the buildings. After the Jews jumped, even with their     bones broken, they still tried   to crawl to safety.

 

 Mordecai Anielewicz led the ZOB in its resistance.
 
       On May 16, 1943 the Jews lucky streak ran out and the Germans located the center of ZOB! Quickly after that they ejected it with lots of poisonous gas. Some of  the people tried to find ways to get out, but many failed. 75 out of all 1,000 of them survived the terrible gassing and burning!!!

       The last of the ghetto (The Great Synagogue) was blown up on May 16th of 1943!

       Over all everyone lost something! The Jews had around 56,100 killed (not mentioning the hundreds of thousands that were killed during the Holocaust outside of the ghetto) ,while  the Germans had a lot less. They only had 16 killed and 85 wounded.

        There were only about  six survivors that survived the 1943 Warsaw ghetto Uprising.

        Bibliography

                  The burning of the Warsaw ghetto.