The Warsaw Ghetto Research Paper

The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in Europe occupied by Nazi during World War 2. It was created in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, on October 16, 1940 and was only 3.4 square kilometres wide with a wall that extended over 10 feet high with barbed wire. Over 400,000 Jews were forced to live in this ghetto. Life in the Warsaw Ghettos was horrific and many people died. This was due to people receiving poor food rations, little healthcare with the spread of disease and Nazi brutality.

Firstly, rations given to Jews given in this ghetto were next to nothing. On average, a Jewish person living in the ghettos received 186 calories a day and German soldiers occupying the ghettos had 2,613 calories per day. Jewish people living the ghettos often had to rely on their children to smuggle food from outside the ghetto by trading jewellery that the Nazi failed to find, for food and medications. Children were small enough to fit through barbed wire or small tunnels dug under the wall. They would often carry supplies that weighed more than their own body. If a person was caught smuggling food, they were beaten or killed. Although smuggling was a horrible thing to be caught doing, it kept the death rates in the ghettos from steadily increasing.

Secondly, lack of healthcare caused many diseases to run rampant through the ghettos.

When the ghetto was established, there was an outbreak of yellow spotted fever which occurred from ticks after which an organisation called TOZ (Society for the Protection of Health) was created. Due to the organisation, deaths by yellow spotted fever had fallen, but an epidemic of typhus spread through the ghetto and was easily caught because of large amounts of people cramped in a small space. In 1941, the death rate was an average 6,000 people per month. An approximate 100,000 people were killed due to starvation and disease by

1942.
Finally, Nazi brutality caused many Jewish deaths. Apart from giving Jewish people poor rations and little healthcare, they tortured and beat Jewish people for no reason. In July 1942, the Nazi began deporting Jews from the ghetto to the Treblinka death camp. On July 28, 1942 the Jewish Fighting Organization was created to fight against deportations. By September 12, 1942 the Nazi had deported over 265,000 Jews to Treblinka and killed 35,000 in the ghettos. There were about 70,000 people left in the ghetto. On 18 January, 1943 the ZOB began resisting the Germans. This was known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Since the Jewish people didn’t have armour or much manpower, they were overpowered quickly and the Jews decided to create underground bunkers and tunnels. After a month of fighting, the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue which signalled the end of the uprising. On April 19, 1943 the Germans began burning down the ghetto to force Jews out of their bunkers and hiding places. After the destruction of the ghetto, only about 56,000 Jewish people remained and 7,000 of these people were sent to Treblinka and the remainder worked in labour camps. 13,000 Jews were killed during the uprising and 300 Germans.
In conclusion, Life in the Warsaw ghettos was indeed horrific because of poor food rations, little healthcare and German brutality.