Key Points
Establishment
Soon after the Nazi defeat of Poland and the establishment of the General Government territory of occupied Poland In the fall of 1939, the first anti-Jewish decrees were issued. The Jews were forced to wear a white armband with a blue Star of David and economic measures against them were taken that led to the unemployment of most of the city’s Jews. A Judenrat (Jewish council) was established under the leadership of Adam Czerniakow, and in October 1940 the establishment of a ghetto was announced. On November 16, the Jews were forced inside the area of the ghetto. The Warsaw Ghetto was established in November 1940 when the Nazis ordered the confinement of the Jewish population of Warsaw into a designated area of the city. Although a third of the city’s population was Jewish, the ghetto stood on just 2.4% of the city’s surface area At its height, as many as 460,000 Jews were imprisoned there, in an area 1.3 square miles, with an average of 9.2 persons per room, barely subsisting on meager food rations. The wall around it was 3 m (9.8 ft) high and topped with barbed wire. Escapees were shot on sight.
Living Conditions
The living conditions in the ghetto were dire. Overcrowding was extreme, with families often crammed into small rooms. Basic necessities such as food, water, and medical care were scarce. Many residents suffered from malnutrition and disease. This meager food supply by the German authorities usually consisted of dry bread, flour and potatoes of the lowest quality, groats, turnips, and a small monthly supplement of margarine, sugar, and meat. As a result, black market economy thrived, supplying as much as 80% of the ghetto's food. In addition, over 250 soup kitchens opened; they served at one time as many as 100,000 meals per day. Men, women and children also took part in smuggling and illegal trade, and private workshops were created to manufacture goods to be sold secretly on the "Aryan" side of the city. Foodstuffs were often smuggled by children alone, who crossed the ghetto wall by the hundreds in any way possible, sometimes several times a day, returning with goods that could weigh as much as they did.
Cultural Life
The walls of the ghetto could not silence the cultural activity of its inhabitants, however, and despite the appalling living conditions in the ghetto, artists and intellectuals continued their creative endeavors. Moreover, the Nazi occupation and deportation to the ghetto served as an impetus for artists to find some form of expression for the destruction visited upon their world. In the ghetto there were underground libraries, an underground archive (the “Oneg Shabbat” Archive which recorded daily life in the ghetto and buried writings and other artifacts in steel boxes and milk cans for posterity), youth movements and even a symphony orchestra. Books, study, music and theater served as an escape from the harsh reality surrounding them and as a reminder of their previous lives. Jewish organizations continued to provide education, cultural activities, and social services. Theater performances, art exhibitions, and recreational programs were held, showcasing the resilience of the Jewish community. Most of these schools were illegal.
Deportations
In the summer of 1942, at least 254,000 ghetto residents were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp under the guise of "resettlement in the East." For eight weeks, the deportations of Jews from Warsaw to Treblinka continued daily via two shuttle trains: each transport carrying about 4,000 to 7,000 people crying for water; 100 people to a cattle car. The first daily trains rolled into the camp early in the morning, often after an overnight wait at a layover yard; and the second, in mid-afternoon. In the last two weeks of the Aktion ending on September 21, 1942, some 48,000 Warsaw Jews were deported to their deaths. The last transport included the Jewish Ghetto Police involved with deportations and their families. In October 1942, the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) was formed and tasked with opposing further deportations. It was led by 24–year–old Mordechai Anielewicz. The ŻOB organized armed resistance which culminated in armed insurrection in April 1943.
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The uprising began on April 19, 1943, during Passover. Armed with a limited supply of weapons, Jewish fighters engaged in fierce battles against heavily armed German troops. Although the uprising lasted nearly a month, it was ultimately crushed, and the ghetto was systematically destroyed. Following the suppression of the uprising, the Nazis deported the remaining Jewish residents of the ghetto to concentration and extermination camps. By the end of the war, almost all the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto had been murdered.
Liberation and Memorialization
Warsaw was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1945. After the war, the site of the ghetto became a symbol of Jewish resistance and suffering. Today, the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews commemorate the history and experiences of the Jewish community in Warsaw.
