The Warsaw Ghetto
Kirsten Fedorko
What was the Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw ghetto was the largest Of all of the Jewish Ghettos ran by the Nazi while they occupied Europe during WWII. It was established in the polish capital somewhere between October and November 16 in 1940. Before it was turned it was attacked with air strikes and fighting while they invaded Polamd. Warsaw was the town and it was rate inside of it and it had no contact with the outside world.It had a area of roughly 1.5 miles and had at least 400,000 Jews who all had to wear a symbol which was a star to allow others to know that they were Jewish. It's construction was ran by Govenor General Hans Frank on April 1 1940. It was surrounded by a wall that was 9 almost 10 feet tall and even more protection with barbed wire at the top of it and men sitting around with heavy artilerary. Many people died within the camp because of the bad conditions like Diseases, Starvation. They would have an average of 7.2 people per room. Many people would come for a week or a day and then be sent to a different camp or Treblinka extermination camp.
The Warsaw Ghetto Walls
The 10ft high wall that kept all of the Jews in Warsaw. It had barbed wire on top of it and also many men guarding it with heavy artilerary. It made people feel like they were not human and Made them feel like objects " we are segregated and seperated from the world and the fullness thereof, driven out of the society of the human race (unknown)".
Warsaw Ghetto food line
Many people could not even afford food. You were put on a allowance and had to share it with everyone else. The residence of the ghettos were expected to live off of 61/2 oz of bread a day and 2.2lb of jam and 1/2kg of honey. It was said by many people that this didn't even cover 10% of the amount of food they should have gotten. Many people would try to smuggle food in through the walls or the gates or even cracks, many were very unsuccessful.
The Warsaw Ghetto conditions
The Warsaw ghetto conditions were very bad. Many people were sick with diseases, starvation, and even being killed by guards. It was said that 43,000 people died in the camp. That's roughly 10% of the population. It was also said that 300,000 people were sent to other camps like extermination camps. Many people were harmed inside the walls tho to. Many guards didn't like being there and they thought that it was a waste of time to save these people. They would regularly beat them and assault there wives and children.
Market
If you were lucky you would have enough money to go to the market. Many people would try to sell all of there products in hope that they would make money to buy other products they need. If you could go to the market you were very lucky and would buy only the things you need in hope to saving a Little.
Ed Herman Warsaw Survior Story
Ed Herman was born on December 6, 1931 in Poland. He lived in Katowice and a week before the German troops invaded they left to go live with his grandfather in Warsaw. He has many memories of it " Durring the winter I was very cold; I would cover myself with whatever was there. I was continuously hungry"( Herman). Herman was a lucky man his mother was very smart and wanted to get him out of there and planned a escape route to smuggle him out. It was successful.