Ghettoisation

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Ghettoisation
....during the Second World War.
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By Des Quinn and Martin Williams
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In an attempt to separate the Jews from Aryans
within Nazi occupied Europe the Nazis forced them
into walled off areas known as ghettos. Once
inside the Jews had little chance of escape. They
relied on the Nazis for everything for food,
work and even the right to live. Conditions
within the ghettos were awful and many people
simply starved to death or were struck down by
illness. Those who did survive were eventually
rounded up and sent to concentration and death
camps when the ghettos were liquidated.
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People were forced to swap and exchange goods in
order to survive. This barter system meant
that many Jews had to give up their belongings in
an attempt to buy food and clothing. The
streets were filled with children dressed in
rags, crying and dying of hunger.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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Image courtesy of Des Quinn
Some of the luckier children smile for a German
Officer
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Image courtesy of Des Quinn
While their parents queue for food and to have
their work permits signed and papers checked.
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In an attempt to make the Jews feel that at least
some aspects of normal life existed within the
ghettos the Nazis allowed postcards to be written
to relatives and friends who lived elsewhere
within Europe. This tolerance was just for
show however. The Nazis had no intention of
allowing the Jews to have contact with the
outside world. When the cards were posted
within the ghetto the Nazis collected them,
bagged them and either stored them in warehouses
or simply destroyed them.
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Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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The longer the ghettos were in existence the more
intolerable life became for the
inhabitants. Confrontations with German soldiers
were common with the penalty for answering back
often being physical bodily harm or
execution. The penalty for smuggling food into
the ghetto was the same.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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As more and more Jews entered the ghettos the
harder it became for the Nazis to control the
people who lived there and to stop illness and
disease from spreading. The Jews also began to
realise that they would never be released and so
escape attempts increased. The Germans therefore
planned to get rid of the Jews once and for all.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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The inhabitants of the ghettos were rounded up
and their names checked off on an official
list. Those who hid from the soldiers were
hunted down and many were shot. This was the
liquidation of the ghettos. Once the Jews had
been herded together the buildings were torn down.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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Many people were put on lorries and others were
made to walk. With few possessions they made
their way under armed escort to the train
stations where cattle trucks waited to transport
them to an even greater nightmare -either
concentration, or death camps.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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Image courtesy of Des Quinn
Special Groups who had murdered Jews as the
German Army swept into Poland and Russia were now
given the task of sifting through the remains of
the ghettos in search of Jewish survivors that
soldiers had missed.
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This was the beginning of the end for many of
Eastern Europes Jews. Once on board the trains
bound for the camps there was no way to escape
the extreme hardships and death that was to come.
Image courtesy of Des Quinn
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Image courtesy of Des Quinn
We should never forget what happened to these
brave people. This was a dark and terrible
episode in human history and one that all
generations to come should be made aware of so
that nothing like it ever happens again.
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It is estimated that over 6 million Jews and
Undesirables lost their lives in Concentration
Camps between 1939-1945.