Figure 1.--Here Jews from Plonsk, a town 50 miles northwest of Warsaw, are carring their meager personal belongings as they were being deported to one of the ghettos being established in the major cities. Source: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Zydów Polsce 1939-1945. Poland. No. 65.

Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Security Police, ordered that all Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia be isolated and concentrated in ghettos (Sepember 21, 1939). This did not take place immediately because of the level of organization involved. The Jews were to be concentrated in ghettos set up in in Poland's larger cities. The NAZIS used Jewish neighborhoods in the major cities for the major ghettoes (Warsaw , Lódz, Kraków, Lublin, and Lvov). Hans Frank was the leading NAZI Jurist. He was made the commander of the Government General, the area of NAZI controlled Poland not annexed by the Reich. He implemented Heydrich's orders. The ghettos were a key part of the evolving NAZI plan of dealing with Jews. From the NAZI perspective there were various advantages. 1) Once confined in ghettoes the Jews could be easily forced to work as slave labor. 2) Their consumption of food and goods could be restricted to help avoid war time shortages in Germahny. 3) As they were concentrated and separated from the general Polish popultion, future actions could be nore easily conducted. Here the NAZIs may hve originally been thinking of deportation east, but this soon turned to mass murder. The decession to establish the ghettos appears to have been taken befor the decssion to commit genocide, but once that decession was taken the concebntration made the killing opperation easier. 4) The process of stripping Jews of their property could be completed. The Jews were foirced out of their homes and required to hand over valuables as they entered the ghettoes. NAZI propaganda maintained that Jews were genetic carriers of various diseases (particularly typhus) and thus there were public health considerations. The German people were told that the Jews were natural enemies of the Reich and Aryan race and thus encarcerating the Jews was a nececessary war-time measure.

Historical Background

Ghetto is an Italian term originationf in Venice (16th cntury). It was the term used to describe the Jewish quarter of the city. Jews were required to live here. Here the Jews could be restricted and medieval regultions more easily applied to them. This approach gradually spread to other Italian states and eventually to central and eastern Europe. It was less common in Western Europe because Jews has been expelled from most of Westrn Euripe.

Heydrich's Role

Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Security Police, ordered that all Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia be isolated and concentrated in ghettos (Sepember 21, 1939). We do not know precisely what his ultimate goal was. He had direct access to Hitler. Killing may have been on their minds from the beginning. This we do not know. There is no record of their conversations and the orders were not given. We know that because the NAZI heierarch debated for somne time what to di with the Jews. We do know that Heydrich was a key plsyer in the Holocaust. It was Heydrich who would later convene the Wanseee Conference (January 1942). The project of killing Polish Jews was even naned cafter him--Operation Reinhard. A moderating factor here was that France was not yet defeated and this may have well kept them from taking the final decesion. At any rate, the process of gheotization proved more complicated than anticipated. As a resulkt, it did not take place immediately because of the level of organization involved. Hans Frank was the leading NAZI Jurist. He was made the commander of the Government General, the area of NAZI controlled Poland not annexed by the Reich. He implemented Heydrich's orders.

Purpose

The ghettos were a key part of the evolving NAZI plan of dealing with Jews. Within the Reich, Hitler was somewhat constrained as to actions against Jews, because thdey could not be carried out descretely outside of public view. In occupied Poland there were no constraints. From the NAZI perspective there were various advantages of ghettoization. 1) Once confined to the ghettos, actions against the Jews could be taken away from public view. There was no longer a free press in Poland so even outside the ghetto, there was very little reporting reaching the international press. Within the ghetto, virtually nothing leaked out. 2) Ghetoization fcilitated the lucrative process of stripping Jews of their property. The Jews were forced out of their homes and required to hand over valuables as they entered the ghettoes. Whatever they managed to sneak in was soon expended in the need to purchase food and other itemnss in the blck market. 3) Once confined in ghettoes the Jews could be easily forced to work as slave labor. And the slave labor could be used to support the war effort. This proved very profitablr to the SS. It is the primary reason why some NAZI leaders did not want Jews under their control killed. 4) Ghetoization also enable the NAZIs to restrict consumption of food, clothing, and other consumer goods. And authorities profited by diverting some of the inadequste rations set. Low rations was in part a simple desire to punish Jews, but it had had various pratical advantages. It helped avoid war time shortages in Germany. It also affected the heath of the ghetto Jews, increasing 'nantural' mortalities. 5) As the Jews were concentrated and separated from the general Polish popultion, future actions could be nore easily conducted. There was not need to expend resources to collect and hunt down Jews. They were a captive population vulnerable to what ever the NAZIs decided. Here the NAZIs may have originally been thinking of deportation east, but we do not know precisely what Hitler's pre-War intentions were. What ever they were, very soon after the opportunity presented itself, Hitler ordered mass murder. The decession to establish the ghettos appears to have been taken before the decssion to commit genocide, but once that decession was taken the concentration made the killing opperation aelatively simple matter. easier.

Adjustment

Despite the deplorable conditions, the Jews managed to adjust to the situation. For one thing, they were protected from the violence they were subjected to by NAZI zealots. There was cinsiderable unorganized street violence. The Nazis for their part were apparently surprised at the ability of Jews to adapt themselves to the terrible conditions in the ghettoes. In particular they had thought that more would die, both from the inadequate nutrition and sanitary facilities as well as from suiside out of dispair. Governor General Frank at a meeting of NAZI occupation in Krakow (the capital of the Government General) (August 24, 1942). He remarked "By the way, I wish to state that we have sentenced 1,200,000 Jews to death by starvation; the fact that the Jews are not dying from hunger will only serve to speed up enactment of further anti-Jewish decrees."

NAZI Propaganda

NAZI propaganda used various arguments to justify the ghetoization of Jews, a revision to medieval practices. Jews in Germany were being concentrated, but there were no formal ghettoes. The NAZIs maintained that Jews were genetic carriers of various diseases (particularly typhus) and thus there were public health considerations. There was also security arguments. The German people were told that the Jews were natural enemies of the Reich and Aryan race and thus encarcerating the Jews was a nececessary war-time measure. As access to the ghettoes was tightly controlled. The NAZIs limited the information available to the public about ciondituions in the ghettos. The oublic was not told that the Jews in the ghettoes were essentially being starved.

Individual Ghettos

The NAZIs established Ghettos in major Jewish population centers throughout their occupation zone (western Poland) in Poland almost immediately after invading Poland (September 1939). The largest ghetto was in Warsaw. Other important ghettos were established in Lódz, Kraków, Lublin, and Lvov. The core of each was pre-War Jewish neighborhoods. The NAZIs established some other ghettos after the Operation Barbarrosa invasion of the Soviet Union which included eastern Poland and the Baltic Republics. These ghettos were, however, much more transitory than the original ghettos in western Poland. Each of these gehettos has their own well documented and tragic story.

Sources

Gilbert, Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century Vol. 2 1933-54 (William Morrow and Company, Inc.: New York, 1998), 1050p.

Created: May 23, 2004
Last updated: 11:45 PM 3/10/2013