Ghetto of Warsaw

The Ghetto of Warsaw was most important Ghetto Juif of the Second world war. Located at the center of Warsaw, it was created in 1940 and practically destroyed in May 1943 after the insurrection of its occupants against the Nazis.

Be a prelude to

In September 1939, the German army attacks then occupies the Poland. As of October, the first ghettos are created to gather the Juifs there. That of Warsaw gathered to 380.000 people (in 1939, there were 1.300.000 inhabitants in Warsaw of which 380 000 Jews). The city is taken by the German army at the beginning of the war on September 30th, 1939. Hitler itself comes to parade in Warsaw on October 5th, 1939. As of the winter 1939-1940, the Nazis start to persecute the Jews: obligation to carry an arm-band with the star of David, identification of the Jewish stores on their windows, obligation to return the radios, prohibition to travel by train (November 1939). Soon, one gathers the Jews of Poland in closed districts: ghettos. There is initially a ghetto with Lublin and with Łódź. The ghetto of Warsaw is created the October 12th 1940 (day of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippour). Then there are those of Cracow, of Częstochowa, Kielce, Lwów. These ghettos are in fact only the anteroom of the camps of death.

Situation

The ghetto is formed by the center of the town of Warsaw. The ghetto is initially composed of two parts, the large ghetto connected to the small ghetto by a bridge out of wooden. It is surrounded on 18 kilometers of walls of several meters in height with barbed wire. The dimension of the ghetto made approximately: 2000 square meters.

Organization

The management of the ghetto is delegated to the “Jewish council” ( Judenrat ) by the occupants. These same occupants employ the labor of the ghetto for the needs for the army and establish many workshops and factories in the Jewish district. The Jüdisher Ordnungsdienst , or organizes Jewish is charged to maintain the order.

In the ghetto

The living conditions in this ghetto were inhuman. Initially, it is too small to accommodate all the Jews of Warsaw and the surrounding villages. Much very lost while arriving in this closed district. And then, it, or almost is badly not supplied in food and fuel. As of the winter 1940 - 1941, the hunger and the cold are made feel. Many are then those which organize small traffics with outside. Some of these traffickers will leave there sometimes their life while trying to bring food in the ghetto. But in spite of that, death is current. It is not rare to find corpses in full street. A cart then passes to collect the bodies, which are counted then buried in a common grave.

Deportation

In summer 1942 begins the " repopulation towards the est" , which is in fact only the deportation towards the camp of Treblinka, which is located only at some 80 kilometers of Warsaw. The first wave of deportations towards the camps of death brings back the population of the ghetto to 70 000 inhabitants. The raids are done day like night, as well in the dwellings as in the factories, where it is easier to stop the Jews. Those are then led towards Umschlagplatz, from which the trains leave leading them towards Treblinka. The majority of the Jews stopped in the ghetto of Warsaw will never return.

Insurrection

Rising began on April 19th 1943, started by 400 risen of ŻZW ( Jewish Military Union ) led by Dawid Moryc Apfelbaum and Paweł Frenkel and approximately 40 combatants of ŻOB (Jewish Organization of combat) under the orders of Mordechaj Anielewicz. During the engagements approximately 7.000 residents of the ghetto were killed, 6.000 were burned alives or gauzes during the total destruction of the district, the Germans off-set the survivors in the Death camp of Treblinka and the camps of work of Poniatowa, Trawniki and Majdanek.

The psychological impact of the insurrection of the ghetto of Warsaw was very important. Resistance stronger than was envisaged by the Germans, even if the exit were certain considering the imbalance of the forces - My denies chcemy ratować życia. Żaden Z nas żywy Z tego denies wyjdzie. My chcemy ratować ludzką godność ( We do not want to save our life. Nobody will leave alive from here. We want to save human dignity ) - Arie Wilner (pseudo Jurek ) soldier of ŻOB .

Memory of the world

Since 1999, the files of the Ghetto of Warsaw were classified by UNESCO on the Liste Memory of the world , which counts the documents of the documentary inheritance of universal interest, with an aim of ensuring their protection.

See too

Insurrection of Warsaw of 1944
Shoah
Heinz Auerswald, police chief of the ghetto
Adam Czerniaków, president of the the Jewish Council of the ghetto.
Mordechaj Anielewicz, one of the principal leaders of the insurrection.
Emanuel Ringelblum, historian and clandestine archivist of the ghetto, with the head of the project Oyneg Shabbos .
Władysław Szpilman, the Pianist, former boarder of the ghetto, which attended the insurrection of the window of a nearby apartment.
Martin Gray, writer, former boarder of the ghetto.
List Memory of the world

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