Ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust
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Ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust were places where Jews and others (like Roma people) were forced to live, separate from everyone else.
The Nazis used ghettos to confine, segregate, persecute, put to forced labour, starve, mistreat, deport, and kill people during the Holocaust.[1] [2] Ultimately, they became places to gather and hold people before deporting them to concentration camps.[2][3]
Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis established at least 1143 ghettos across Europe.[3]
History
changeNazi Germany established its first ghetto in 1939 in Lodz, Poland.[3] Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis and their collaborators established ghettos all across Europe. They stretched as far west as Amsterdam in German-occupied Netherlands; as far north as Pushkin in partially German-occupied Russian SFSR; as far east as Krasno-Vostochnyi, also in partially German-occupied Russian SFSR; and as far south as Kalavyrta in partially German-occupied Greece.
The last ghetto to exist was the Theresienstadt "camp-ghetto" in the town of Terézin, in German-occupied Czechia.[4] It was liberated on 8 May 1945, while the Nazis were liquidating the ghetto. (Liquidation involved deporting everyone in the ghetto, shooting anyone who resisted, and destroying the ghetto.)[3]
Historians have different opinions about how many ghettos existed in Nazi-occupied Europe. There were some smaller, lesser-known, obscure, and rare ghettos that may not have been remembered after the war. (These include Voikovshtadt Ghetto in Kerch Raion, Crimea, and three little-known ghettoes in Stavropol Krai, Russia: the Krasno-Vostochnyi, Georgiyevsk, and Kislovodsk Ghettos.) There may still be ghettos whose names and locations have been forgotten.
Conditions
changeConditions in the ghettos were terrible. They were often extremely crowded, and there was not enough food for everyone.[3] The largest (the Warsaw ghetto) held more than 400,000 Jews crowded into an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 square km).[2] Starvation was widespread. Contagious diseases spread quickly because of the overcrowding and lack of sanitation.[3] In the winter months, freezing to death was common.[3]
Historians estimate that tens of thousands of Jews starved, froze to death, or died from illness in the Nazi ghettos.[3]
Partial list of ghettos
changePartial list of ghettos in the occupied Soviet Union, Germany, and Poland
changeOpen ghettos
changeIn Poland
change(Note: In the town of Radziejow, (back then Warthegau), Jews from this town were forced to live in a certain part of the town, during the German occupation from 1939 to 1945, without any physical barrier seperating them from the rest of the outiside world, but that certain part of the town where they were forced to live in, is not actually considered as a ghetto.).
In Germany
changeIn Volhynia
changeIn Ukraine
changeIn the Kiev District
changeIn GK Zhytomor
changeIn Eastern Belorussia
change- Chasniki Ghetto (liquidated in mid-February 1942, six months after it was established.).
- Beshenkovichi Ghetto
- Ostrovno Ghetto
Enclosed ghettos
changeIn the Soviet Union
change- Riga Ghetto
- Glebokie Ghetto
- Mir Ghetto
- Mir Castle Ghetto (established in May 1942; the residents of the Mir Ghetto had to live in a new ghetto established within the Mir Castle, presumably for better security of the Jewish residents.).
- Daugavpils Ghetto
Ghettos in which only part of the Jewish population (of the place) were forced to live in
changeDestruction ghettos
changeIn Gomel District
changeIn Vitebsk District
changeIn Ukraine
changeIn GK Zhytomor
change- Samgorodok Ghetto (lasted from mid-May 1942, to shortly before the beginning of June, when it was liquidated. Thus this is an good example of a destruction ghetto.).
In Eastern Ukraine
change- Khar'kov Ghetto (known especially for being a very short-lived, makeshift, and very overcrowded ghetto.).
In Crimea
changePartial list of ghettos in the Soviet Union
changeIn the Eastern Białystok District
changeIn the Russian Federation
change- Il'ino Ghetto (liberated early by the Red Army on January 25, 1942, thus saving 200 Jews from likely to almost certain death/murder.).
In the Generalkomissariat (GK) Wiessruthenien (Western Belorussia)
changeIn the Lida District
change- Ostryna Ghetto (established in October 1941; 500 Jews from the neighboring village, Nowy Dwor, were also brought into the ghetto.).
In the Nowogrodek District
change- Korelicze Ghetto (in operation from February to May 1942; after it's liquidation, the Jews from the Korelicze Ghetto and the ghettos from it's surrounding rayony were brought into the ghetto of the town of Nowogrodek.).
- Nowogrodek Ghetto
GK Volhynia-Podolia
changeIn the Volhynian District
change- Krymno Ghetto (formed only in May 1942; and liquidated at the start of September.).
- Vysock Ghetto (existed for only some six weeks.).
In the Podolian District
changeGK Zhytomor
change- Berdichev Ghetto (a large ghetto largely liquidated after just a few weeks.).
- Zhytomor Ghetto (also a large ghetto which was also largely liquidated after just a few weeks.).
- Zhornishche Ghetto
- Brailov Ghetto
- Kalinovka Ghetto
- Chelmnik Ghetto
In Distrikt Galizien (Eastern Galicia)
change- Bobrka Ghetto (Formed on 1 December 1942. Jews from neighboring villages and towns had been brought to the town of Bobrka in August 1942, just prior to a large deportation to Bełżec.).
- L'vov Ghetto (There actually happen to be some discrepancies between survivor accounts and German sources of when exactly was the ghetto even established.).
Partial list of additional ghettos in Eastern Europe
changeIn Belorussia
change- Minsk Ghetto (established on 19 July 1941; and liquidated in July 1944; about 100000 people were held in the ghetto.).
- Grodno Ghetto (about 25000 people were held in the ghetto)
- Shklov Ghetto
- Białystok Ghetto
- Smilovitsky Ghetto
In Poland
change- Warsaw Ghetto (known especially for it's Warsaw Ghetto Uprising)
- Łódz Ghetto
In Lithuania
changeIn Latvia
changeIn Ukraine
changeRefereces
change- ↑ "Why did the Nazis develop ghettos? – The Holocaust Explained: Designed for schools". 1933-09-13. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Ghettos". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 "Nazi Germany and the Establishment of Ghettos". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
- ↑ "Theresienstadt". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-09-09.