Warsaw Ghetto Research Paper

The bulk of the 30,000 remaining residents were hidden away in their prepared bunkers and in the ZOB headquarters. Despite having running water and electricity, these shelters had no escape. The few Jews that were not in hiding, about 1,500 fighters, opened fire on the Nazis with a smorgasbord of weapons killing German officers, destroying tanks, and preventing reinforcements from entering the ghetto (Berenbaum). The ZOB was granted a seemingly miraculous reprieve when the Germans retreated for the night. Unfortunately their reprieve was short lived, the Germans came back the next day with flamethrowers and gas in an effort to get the Jews to withdraw from their bunkers. The day after that the Nazis decided to burn the nearby buildings which sucked the oxygen from basements and bunkers, causing many people to suffocate to death. In spite of this, the resistance held out for a month, 27 days longer than the Nazis expected. The charismatic leader of the organization, Mordecai Anielewicz along with many of the remaining fighters took their lives to avoid capture. However, 20,000 Jews managed to escape from the ghetto. To the Jewish people the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was nothing less than revolution.

When the Nazi's called for more people to report for deportation, the ZOB handed out leaflets describing the horror that awaited those who left. The night before the deportation of factory workers was to occur, the ZOB burned down the factory and machinery. On January 18, 1943, SS troops surrounded the Ghetto and began to march in. The ZOB replied with gunfire. In a battle that lasted three days, 50 German soldiers were killed or wounded. Even though ZOB casualties had been high, the Germans retreated. From this brief show of ability and force, the ZOB earned respect and received more outside support including 49 more revolvers, 50 grenades, and some explosives from the Polish Underground. With a group of 1,000 fighters, the resistance created teams of ten, usually 8 men and 2 women, who fought together. Half of the members of each team had their own arms. Following the insurrection, Himmler ordered the SS Brigadier General in charge of operations at the Warsaw Ghetto, Jurgen Stroop, that "the roundups in the Warsaw Ghetto must be carried out with relentless determination and in as ruthless a manner as possible. The tougher the attack, the better. Recent events show just how dangerous these Jews are."

was a World War II ghetto established by the Nazi German authorities for Polish Jews

70 years ago (Ochayon) a new Ghetto was established. The Germans built Ghetto’s to hold Jews before they could take them out to a camp. They could be taken to a Death camp, Work camp, or a concentration camp. All the camps had a different reasons for different Jews. The Ghetto was located in Warsaw, Poland and became the largest Ghetto in Europe. It was opened in September, 1939 (“Ghetto”). The German soldiers created it in Warsaw for a certain reason. Usually people think that the Germans build Ghetto’s to take up space in a town. Because Warsaw had the largest Jewish population in Europe pre World War II (Ochayon), they held Jews throughout Poland (“Ghetto”).

Holocaust ghettos; these are the over looked places where the Jews, in Nazi controlled lands, awaited their future.

When people think of the word ghetto today they think of an impoverished area of a city. The ghettos of World War II have a similar but nonetheless different definition. The ghettos of World War II were small parts of cities sectioned off to keep Jews in a confined area before eventual extermination. The Jews held there were more than just impoverished like today’s residents of ghettos. They were starved, beaten, and overworked. Ghettos were seen as just a step to Hitler’s final solution, or the extermination of Jews from Nazi occupied territory. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest ghetto in Nazi occupied Europe. It held 400,000 Jews in 1.3 square miles. From the Warsaw Ghetto only 11,500 Jews survived. The Warsaw Ghetto was a place that

However, this would all change due to the brave individuals in one Ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto was home to nearly 445,000 in 1941 and measured about 1.3 square miles (Meed). This Ghetto was by far one of the largest in population during the Holocaust. The Warsaw Ghetto was eventually going to be “liquidated” as nearly 1,000 Jews were loaded on trains to be liquidated each day (Goss). Throughout 1942 the Warsaw Ghetto was slowly “liquidated” and by the end of that year, it left 55,000 Jews in that camp nearly 80% of the Ghetto's original population (Goss). Many who were left in these Ghettos were without their family and all alone. Guilt spread and many felt responsible for not saving their loved ones. This guilt would turn into resistance and lead to the creation of groups such as ZOB, which translates to the Jewish Fighting Organization, and ZZW, which translates to the Jewish Military Union. These organizations gathered weapons to fight back against the Nazi regime. By 1943 Nazi officials ordered the transfer of 8,000 more residents of the Warsaw Ghetto. This would lead to the very first resistance in January of that year. When guards came to collect Jews, many openly attacked these guards and even hid so as not to be taken. By the end of four days, the guards left with only 5,000 Jews. This was seen as a success for those who lived there and spread the idea of resistance

The city of Warsaw, Poland, was flourishing in Jewish population and culture. It had a successful economy and was the ideal place to live in Poland until German forces invaded it on September 29, 1939. This led to the construction of the ghetto. The Jews inhabiting the ghetto were instructed to wear white armbands with a blue

They had also enlisted for help in the Polish military underground movement, they had obtained a large amount of firearms and flammable explosives from this organization. As the Nazis called for an operation to liquidate the Jews, the organizations were ready to fend off the German troops. However, they did not succeed. The Nazi troops started going through all of the Ghettos buildings to force all of the Jews out of hiding. As for in that period of time approximately three-hundred thousand Jews were murdered or deported to the Treblinka death

On October 12th 1940, the Germans made a proclamation to establish a ghetto in Warsaw. The proclamation said for all jewish residents of Warsaw to move into a designated area, which German authorities sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. A wall of over 10 feet high, secured with barbed wire and

The ghetto’s were 1.3 square miles and were packed full of Jews not allowing them much room. They were mostly set up in cities where Jews were already living. The Germans usually chose the most run down part of these cities to hold the Jews in. The ghettos were surrounded by barbed wire fences and gates, which were occupied by guards during curfew.

The Holocaust was a horrible time for many people, but it was worse for the Jews. They had to live in towns where they were not wanted and when the war began they had to go into hiding or they would be captured and murdered. Jews that did not escape in time, or those who were found in hiding, were sent to ghettos before they were sent to concentration camps. One of these ghettos was the Warsaw Ghetto.

Throughout the summer of 1942, nearly 300,000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. During this summer, a resistance organization known as the Z.O.B. was formed. It was headed by the 23 year old Mordecai Anielewicz, and was comprised primarily of young men. The deportations halted in September, and the Z.O.B. began collecting whatever weapons they could manage to smuggle into the

(Warsaw) The German authorities closed Jewish schools, confiscated Jewish-owned property, and conscripted Jewish men into forced labor and dissolved prewar Jewish organizations. (Warsaw) On October 12, 1940, the Germans decreed the establishment of a ghetto in Warsaw.(Warsaw) The decree required all Jewish residents of Warsaw to move into a designated area, which German authorities sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. (Warsaw)The ghetto was enclosed by a wall that was over 10 feet high, topped with barbed wire, and closely guarded to prevent movement between the ghetto and the rest of Warsaw.(Warsaw) The population of the ghetto, increased by Jews compelled to move in from nearby towns, was estimated to be over 400,000 Jews. German authorities forced ghetto residents to live in an area of 1.3 square miles, with an average of 7.2 persons per room.(Warsaw) The Jewish council offices were located on Grzybowska Street in the southern part of the ghetto.(Warsaw) Jewish organizations inside the ghetto tried to meet the needs of the ghetto residents as they struggled to survive.

In addition to non-violent resistances, some groups showed more effective and immediate results through direct revolt towards the Holocaust. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was one of the largest revolts. Jews were forced into walled ghettos where eventually, the Germans transported large numbers of people from the ghetto into “labor camps” but always ended up being just a place where Jews were killed. In Warsaw, during the beginning, the revolt started out small, however, the uprising grew and was the largest and symbolically the most important Jewish resistance as it inspired other urban uprising in ghettos. “...Jewish Fighting Organization had about 600 volunteers; the Jewish Military Association had about 400, and there