Ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust

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. Ultimately, they became places to gather and hold people before deporting them to concentration camps.

Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazis established at least 1143 ghettos across Europe.

History

Nazi Germany established its first ghetto in 1939 in Lodz, Poland. 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. 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.)

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

Conditions in the ghettos were terrible. They were often extremely crowded, and there was not enough food for everyone. The largest (the Warsaw ghetto) held more than 400,000 Jews crowded into an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 square km). Starvation was widespread. Contagious diseases spread quickly because of the overcrowding and lack of sanitation. In the winter months, freezing to death was common.

Historians estimate that tens of thousands of Jews starved, froze to death, or died from illness in the Nazi ghettos.

Partial list of ghettos

Partial list of ghettos in the occupied Soviet Union, Germany, and Poland

Open ghettos

In Poland

• Dąbie Ghetto
• Zdunska Wola Ghetto

(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

• Bielefield Ghetto

In Volhynia

• Mainewicze Ghetto
• Tuczyn Ghetto

In Ukraine

In the Kiev District

• Uman Ghetto

In GK Zhytomor

• Gnivan Ghetto

In Eastern Belorussia

• Chasniki Ghetto (liquidated in mid-February 1942, six months after it was established.).
• Beshenkovichi Ghetto
• Ostrovno Ghetto

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Enclosed ghettos

In the Soviet Union

• 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

• Domaczewo Ghetto
• Horochow Ghetto
• Byten Ghetto
• Letichev Ghetto

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Destruction ghettos

In Gomel District

• Parichi Ghetto

In Vitebsk District

• Orsha Ghetto

In Ukraine

In GK Zhytomor

• 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

• Khar'kov Ghetto (known especially for being a very short-lived, makeshift, and very overcrowded ghetto.).

In Crimea

• Dzhankoi Ghetto

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Partial list of ghettos in the Soviet Union

In the Eastern Białystok District

• Pruzhany Ghetto

In the Russian Federation

• 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)

In the Lida District

• Ostryna Ghetto (established in October 1941; 500 Jews from the neighboring village, Nowy Dwor, were also brought into the ghetto.).

In the Nowogrodek District

• 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

In the Volhynian District

• 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

• Proskurov Ghetto
• Medzhibozh Ghetto

GK Zhytomor

• 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)

• 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.).

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Partial list of additional ghettos in Eastern Europe

In Belorussia

• 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

• Warsaw Ghetto (known especially for it's Warsaw Ghetto Uprising)
• Łódz Ghetto

In Lithuania

• Wilno Ghetto
• Kaunas Ghetto
• Siauliai Ghetto

In Latvia

• Liepaja Ghetto

In Ukraine

• Mogliev Podolski Ghetto