Warsaw+Ghettos

Warsaw Ghettos  There is not much left of the Warsaw ghetto but it was a big part of time in our history. They were recognized to surround Jews into a very small area. During the construction the Nazis built it, but the ghetto was designed by General Hans Frank who was a German governor. Its construction started on April 1st, 1940 and finished later that year. It was also made to cut all Jews from the outside world and then later on they were to be sent to concentration camps which was even poorer than the ghettos.  In the ghettos on October 12th, 1940 Germans announced the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto which required all Jewish citizens of Warsaw to an area separated from the other part of Warsaw. The ghetto was walled by a 10 foot high wall with barbed-wire at the top and guards in and out surrounding to prevent any Jews from escaping. There was over 400,000 Jews having to fit in 1.3 square miles, nothing further and small apartments that could fit around 7-8 people per room.  While not in their rooms they were starved, beaten, sick, and humiliated severely. On average a Jew living in a ghetto would receive at a high of 1,125 calories a day! So they needed to smuggle and ration food to stay healthy. Some people couldn’t get all the food they needed and just died because of starvation. The Nazis would just walk around doing whatever they wanted to Jews like shaving off their hair, put buckets on their heads, dance, and even to wash the ground for no reason. And a Jew couldn’t say “no” because they know they would probably get beaten, spit on, or yelled at.  Finally on May 16th, 1943 the revolt ended, and 56,000 Jews were captured, 7,000 were shot, and the remainder were deported to concentration camps which isn’t any better than the ghettos.  There is almost nothing left of the ghettos today, but a few pieces of history like Prozna buildings and streets. Pieces of homes and walls. They put some more artifacts in the museum of the Polish Jews that’s all monuments and to some people horror. Seeing these things is touching for people sensitive to the Jewish history.