2. Life in the Ghettos

3. What is a ghetto? According to Dictionary.com a ghetto is:
“a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominately by members of an ethnic or minority, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships”
A slum is:
“a thickly populated, run-down, squalid part of a city, inhabited by poor people”

5. Ghettos During WWII The Germans established at least 1,000 ghetto’s
The largest of the ghettos was in Warsaw, Poland
More than 400,000 Jews were confined to an area of 1.3 square miles
The ghettos were parts of cities that were:
Often enclosed
Used to confine the Jews while the Nazi’s decided on potential solutions to get rid of them
Keep the Jews separated from other non-Jewish populations within the city

6. Daily Life in the Ghettos
The Germans ordered Jews living in the ghettos to wear a badge or armband identifying themselves as Jews
Jews were often forced to perform work for the Germans
While living in the ghettos, Jews were waiting for to be deported to concentration camps, where they would eventually be killed as part of the Final Solution
Each ghetto had it’s own set of police officers that were instructed to enforce the orders from German authorities
Jewish police officers were under the orders of the police officers of the ghetto and were instructed to carry out orders from the Nazi’s
Those who did not do as they were told were killed without hesitation

8. Resistance Efforts
Some Jews engaged in illegal activities such as: smuggling food, weapons, or medicine into the ghettos
Social gatherings were often thought to be a security threat, and many times Jews were killed and jailed at these events
In some ghettos, Jews formed uprisings and violent revolts against the police officers

9. Purpose of Ghettos
During the Holocaust the ghettos were primarily used as a way for the Nazi’s to:
Maintain control of the Jews
Dehumanize the Jews
Facilitate mass murder