Tyler Pontello

Honors English 9
Ms. Schmidt
Feb. 24, 2018
An Annotated Bibliography: The Ghettos
“Barbarity and Ghettoization.” Jewish History, Jewish History.Org,

www.jewishhistory.org/destruction-of-european-history/. Accessed 24 February 2018.

The first step in isolating the Jewish population was to mark them with the yellow Star of David.

This made it harder for Jews to leave the ghetto and/or the country. The role of the

Judenrat was important. This was the Jewish- led council that oversaw everything in the

ghetto and reported back to the Nazis. It is stressed about how indispensable the

individual members were. If they did not follow up on Nazi orders, they were often killed

and replaced. Also, it was common that said person’s family was killed instead. The

sheer cruelty that the Germans showed towards the Jews was unbelievable. A standout

section of the page was: “This too was part of the great German cruelty: exploiting the

humanity of the victims.” Most of this torture was used to find out where valuables were

being held. In review, this is a very good source that provides more insight into the

terrible way in which the people in the ghettos were treated, whether they held authority

or not. The ghettos were often set up in the slum parts of town, with minimum or lower

needs of survival. The Nazis intentionally constructed it in such a way that it was badly

overcrowded. There would never be enough supplies to keep everyone, let alone many

inhabitants alive. Jews were subject to starvation, malnutrition, disease exposure to

elements in some of the harshest winters in Europe – and random terror.

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“Ghetto.” Yad Vashem (World Holocaust Remembrance Center), Yad Vashem,

www.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206286.pdf. Accessed 24

February 2018.

It is stressed that most ghettos had separate management, and that they were each unique. The

first section states how many Jews died in the ghetto from lack of proper nutrition. Also,

there is no evidence that Nazi leadership intended the ghettos to become what they did.

Most likely, ghettos were instituted separately by local officials. Each ghetto is unique in

three different ways: how and when it was set up, how it was sealed off from the rest of

the city, and how it was governed. For example, the first ghetto in Poland was established

in 1939, and ghettos were still being organized in Hungary as late as 1944. Some smaller

ghettos only lasted a few days, their purpose being to round up the people in smaller

towns and villages before sending them to the camps. The larger ghettos, like those of

Warsaw and Lodz, Poland, were larger and more complex in every sense. The Warsaw

ghetto was surrounded by an 11- mile wall, and at its peak held 445,000 people. These

larger ghettos were more organized and guarded more heavily. They had Jewish

governing bodies, police force, and required distribution of food stamps. Most of these

were good for food amounting to about 184 calories, or a mere 7.5% of the minimum

daily requirement. This is one reason why so many people did not live past the ghettos.

To substantiate for this, some turned to the black market to buy food, thus keeping them

and family members alive. However, two problems stand out with this. The first is the

obvious negative consequences. If you were caught, you would most likely be killed. The

second problem stopping most people was that it was expensive. Most families were too

poor to buy black market goods and/or already had their savings taken away from them.
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The ghettos varied in terms of how they were blocked off. Some ghettos, like the original

Piotrkow Trybunalski ghetto, was not fenced off or guarded for two years, until in 1941 a

decree was issued prohibiting ghetto residents from leaving without permission. In

contrast, others had tall barbed wire fences made from wood, and sometimes even brick.

“Ghettos.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial

Museum, www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005059. Accessed 24

February 2018.

The first sections include key facts along with the origins of the term “ghetto.” It says the ghettos

were only designed to be temporary, with some only lasting for days or weeks. Another

important fact states that most ghetto inhabitants were killed, died from poor living

conditions, or sent to concentration camps. The first ghettos were established in Venice in

the 16th century, in which the authorities encouraged Jews to live in a set Jewish

neighborhood. The next segment contains information on Nazi created ghettos during

World War II, and how they played a part in Hitler’s Final Solution. German authorities

organized the first ghetto in Poland in October of 1939. The largest ghettos were those

located in the Polish cities of Warsaw and Krakow. This article also includes three

paragraphs on the resistance movements in the ghettos throughout Europe. The largest of

these took place in Warsaw ghetto in the spring of 1943. Ghetto residents and even

Jewish councilmen often smuggled food and goods in and out, necessary to keep people

alive. Unlike some other sources, the website has a section for the Ghettos in Hungary.

The ghettoization began there in 1944, quite some time later then that of its eastern

counterparts. The Budapest ghetto was the only one to be liberated, happening in January
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of 1945 when the Red Army occupied the city. This is a strong source with extensive

information on Holocaust topics. It includes two paragraphs on Hungarian ghettos, which

is where Elie Wiesel, the author of the acclaimed book Night once lived.

“The Jewish Ghettos: Separated from the World.” Facing History and Ourselves, Facing

History, www.facinghistory.org/holocaust-and-human-behavior/chapter-8/jewish-

ghettos-separated-world. Accessed 24 February 2018.

Historians estimate that there was in total around 1,100 ghettos in total throughout Europe during

the Holocaust. No two ghettos were the same; some were only a street or two, others, like

the Lodz ghetto, were mini-cities within cities. Daily life in the ghettos included anxiety

about being deported to concentration camps, or finding enough food for the family. In

some ghettos, such as that of Lodz, Poland, it was nearly impossible to survive for long

periods of time. This was due to it being nearly impossible to smuggle food and medicine

in and out, because there were armed guards at all entrances around the clock. There are

several first-hand accounts about life in the ghetto. One is from a diary written by a girl

living in the crowded Lodz ghetto in 1942, witnessing people being deported all the time.

She says, “There is no justice in the world, not to mention in the ghetto. Right now, they

are deporting people on welfare. People are in a state of panic. And this hunger. A

struggle against death from starvation. Life is terrible, living conditions are abominable,

and there is no food.” This is a summary of the state of constant fear and unknowing that

people in the ghettos lived in. Another part of the diary entries tells how the terrible

experiences tore families apart. “But since the chairman gave out these zacierki to be

cooked, why can’t I have some? I became very upset and cursed
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my father. What have I done? I regret it so much, but it can’t be undone. My father is not

going to forgive me. How will I ever look him in the eyes? He stood by the window and

cried like a baby. Not even a stranger insulted him before. ““We would be a happy

family, if I didn’t fight with everybody. All the fights are started by me. I must be

manipulated by some evil force. I would like to be different, but I don’t have a strong

enough will. There is nobody I can talk to. Why isn’t there anybody who would guide

me, why can’t anyone teach me? I hate my sister. She is a stranger to me. God, show me

what is right.” This is just one of the many examples of the hardships caused by the

existence of the ghettos and the Holocaust.

Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux,

2017. Accessed 22 February 2018.

Night by Elie Wiesel is perhaps the best firsthand account of the events surrounding the

Holocaust. Wiesel was just a boy when he and his family were taken from their home in

the village of Sighet, Transylvania (now Romania). He writes about his experiences in

the ghetto, his deportation to Auschwitz, death marches and transfers to other camps, and

finally being liberated in 1945. Wiesel’s home in the village was encompassed by the

Sighet ghetto. Since it was on a corner, the rear windows were sealed and blocked off. He

also recalls giving the extra rooms in the house to family members who had been driven

out of their homes. In the beginning, most people felt that the ghetto wasn’t a bad thing,

but more like an area to live among Jews, among brothers. No longer would they feel the

prejudice by others in the community. He says there were still unpleasant moments, along

with the occasional man being pulled out to work for the Germans. Wiesel’s father was a

member of the Jewish council in Sighet, so he was always updated as to the status of the
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ghetto. Wiesel often studied Jewish religious works along with friends, as they were not

attending school. He says most people thought they would remain in the ghetto until the

Red Army occupied the territory. All was well enough until one day Wiesel’s father was

summoned to a special meeting of the Jewish Council. The result was that the Sighet

ghettos were to be liquidated within a few days, its inhabitants moved out. They were all

filled with a sense of fear as multiple signs of change appeared, such as Gestapo (Nazi

secret police) members arriving. Wiesel also talks about a very sad realization. The night

before he was moved, there was someone knocking on a rear window. Only many years

later had he figured out that it was a friend of his father’s, coming to tell them to leave

with him. By the time they got the window open, he was gone. The next day, they packed

their belongings, not knowing where they were about to embark to.