1. Holocaust PowerPoint #5
“The Ghettos”
Holocaust PowerPoint #5

2. Why no Jewish Resistance?
Ghettos were not a new invention
Existed back in Middle Ages
Been confined several times before in history
Hitler believed Jews were a “cancer” that needed to be destroyed
Strong Jews who could survive and spread Judaism must be killed
Jews were not fighters by nature; few owned guns

3. Community and family were very strong in Jewish culture
Thought reason was a way to convince the Nazis
Thought by cooperating the SS would ease up
Jews were too scattered in isolated towns to put up resistance.

4. The Order to Move Little warning, came early in the morning
Could only take one suitcase
Homes and valuables had to be left behind; scavengers came in and stole unattended property
At the ghetto, family was assigned a room (12 to 20 people in one room)
No privacy, few toilets, little food, streets filled with beggars

5. Underground libraries sprang up; ghetto orchestras secretly performed
Jews began to develop a system of schools, newspapers, and cultural and religious organizations
Underground libraries sprang up; ghetto orchestras secretly performed
Religious life went on despite Nazi efforts to stop it
Rabbis had to alter some of the rules concerning non-Kosher food or clothing options

6. Government
Judenrat was the Jewish government that took orders from the Nazis
People were the only thing not in short supply in the ghetto
Lodz
Mordechai Rumkowski (leader) wanted to keep Nazis happy at all costs
Believed if ghetto was productive the Nazis would leave them alone
In 1942 Nazis began “resettling” Lodz Jews, sending them to Chelmno death camp
Rumkowski told parents to give him their children
He was killed in August 1944

7. Warsaw, Poland
The largest ghetto (400,000 Jews)
Adam Czerniakow (leader)
Made little effort to stop smuggling
Begged the Nazis to let children go free; this was denied and he killed himself
Kovno
Located in Lithuania
30,000 Jews left in this ghetto after many were killed beforehand; 10,000 Jews were killed by Anti-Semitic Lithuanians
Dr. Elchanan Elkes (leader)
Tried to protect his people
In 1943 he was taken away and by 1945 only 2,000 Jews were still alive
By 1943, the Nazis were determined to bring the Final Solution to a close

8. Daily Life in the Ghettos
Forbidden to leave the ghetto without a permit
Worked hours of hard labor a day
Starvation
Bread (14 oz.) Meat Products (4.5 oz.) Sugar (1.75 oz.) Fat (.9 oz.)
Approximately 220 calories a day
Killed approximately 500 a week

9. The Cold Disease Temperatures could drop to 20 below (Warsaw, Poland)
Warm clothing was taken away
Did not provide them with enough kerosene, coal, or wood
Disease
Breeding grounds for bacteria
Limited sanitary facilities
Sewage pipes froze and burst
Little soap and water available
Typhus, a disease directly connected with overcrowding and filth, took by far the greatest number of people