Meghan Swearingen

Modern World History -P Period 2

Mr. Hawkins
8 April 2016

The term ghetto came from Venice during the 16th century where it was used to refer to
the Jewish quarter. As restrictions on Jewish residents spread across all of Italy, central and
Western Europe, the word ghetto referred to the section of the city where Jews were forced to
live. During World War II the Nazis established over 400 ghettos in order to isolate Jews from
the non-Jewish population. The reason for the separation is because the Germans regarded the
establishment of ghettos as a provisional measure to keep the Jews, an inferior race, from
mixing with and the Aryan race who was viewed as superior. The ghettos served as roundup
centers for the Europeans to gather Jews which made it convenient in an attempt to exterminate
the Jewish population. High officials believed that the Jews would succumb to the less than
favorable living conditions of the ghetto such as lack of food, clean water and living space. It
was an attempt to extinguish the entire population.
One thing that is very interesting about the ghettos is that the concept was not thought of
by the Nazis. The ghetto was not a Nazi invention. Its origins can be traced back to
medieval times, when restrictions on the places where Jews were allowed to reside were
commonplace throughout Europe (Article #1). So the Nazis used this technique but they
did not actually come up with it. Sometimes this restriction was on an entire country. In 1791
they created the Pale settlement in western Russia. Most Jews were only allowed to reside

within the Pale, and even there some cities were prohibited to them (Article #1). They
created the ghettos as a way to keep the Jews away from the rest of the population. This was a
horrible way to treat humans. Jews to live in close proximity to each other and their
religious institutions. Whilst they were generally free to come and go within the town's
(Article #1). Most of the ghettos allowed their people to come and go freely but they were
required to love in the ghettos. This allowed them to be controlled by containing the Jewish
population to one place.
In the book Jewish Life in Nazi Germany: Dilemmas and Responses Two main themes
pervade the individual chapters: ghettoization of German Jews and the dilemmas they
faced when reacting to Nazi persecution (Article #2). Many of these chapters talked about a
social death referring to when the Nazis forced the Jews to live in these confines. This isolation
robbed the Jews the ability to integrate into the rest of society. Without integration they were not
able to grow socially and culturally since most of their time was spent on work and survival.
Also they were mistreated by the surrounding population and denied important resources. This
lack of growth caused hopelessness. Nazism destroyed the hope and promise of nineteenth
century ideas of Jewish legal, social, and cultural integration into German society (Article
#2). The Nazis destroyed everything that the Jews had worked for by removing them from their
homes and businesses and isolating them to the ghettos. The abuse didnt stop there, the Jews
were mocked and ridiculed. The essay describes the changing roles of men, women, and
children in the unfolding persecution by the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s (Article #2).
The Nazis changed the way Jewish men and woman were treated in that time. They were mostly
treated like animals. These people had no rights just because of their Jewish heritage. Jewish
ghettos in Europe were parts of a number of cities in Europe in which Jews were permitted

to live (Article #3). They could leave temporarily in some ghettos but were looked down upon
by others when they did leave. Other camps did not want them to leave the ghettos. In many
instances, ghettos were places of terrible poverty and during periods of population growth,
ghettos had narrow streets and small, crowded house's (Article #3). These living conditions
were not fit for humans, it was cruel and inhumane. By the mid-16th century, 80% of all of
the Jews lived in Poland (Article #3). This means the Nazis had gathered most of the
population and put them in either concentration camps or ghettos. It was a truly awful way to
treat humans.
The ghettos in Nazi occupied Europe mostly Poland they were often closed off by walls,
barbed wired fences or gate. Ghettos were extremely crowded and unsanitary. People suffered
from starvation due to food shortages. In addition, the lack of fuel to keep warm caused many to
perish during severe winter weather. Poor sanitation and health led to the repeated outbreaks of
epidemics. All of these things led to a high mortality rate. Ghettos were a temporary solution but
in many places the ghetto only existed for a brief time. Concentration camps were first
established in Poland. On February 8, 1940 approximately 155,000 Jews almost 1/3 of the cities
total population or forced to live in the Lodz ghetto as this was the center of the textile
production. Jews played an important role as workers in the textile factories. Therefore this
reason the deportation of Jews from Lodz ghetto was only completed in August 1944.