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Warsaw Ghetto Facts

Warsaw Ghetto Facts
The Warsaw Ghetto was a residential district in Warsaw designated as a Jewish ghetto in World War II by the Nazis. Construction of the ghetto's wall began in April, 1940 and in October that same year the Warsaw Ghetto was established. All Jewish people in Warsaw were sent to the ghetto, pushing the population to 400,000. Within a month the ghetto was closed off by a 9.8 foot high wall, topped with barbed wire. Over the next few years the Nazis forced others into the ghetto but starvation and disease kept the population about the same. Following the deportation and extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jewish and other residents of the ghetto, the residents of the ghetto were determined to fight back. In April 1943 they fought back in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. More than 56,000 Jewish residents were either killed in the ghetto or sent to extermination camps as a result.
Interesting Warsaw Ghetto Facts:
Prior to the Nazis sending residents of the Warsaw Ghetto to extermination camps, roughly 100,000 residents died from disease, starvation, or random acts of violence.
In 1942, from July to September roughly 250,000 to 300,000 Warsaw Ghetto residents were sent to Treblinka extermination camp and murdered.
Residents of the Warsaw Ghetto were supposed to survive on only 184 calories a day through food rations while Germans were allowed 2,613 calories each day.
The Warsaw Ghetto was an area of only 1.3 square miles, and the Nazis expected the residents to live with more than 7 people to a room.
The Warsaw Ghetto covered approximately 2.4% of Warsaw, but housed 30% of the city's population when it was first established in 1940.
Roughly 83,000 Jewish people in the Warsaw Ghetto died of disease and starvation between 1940 and 1942.
By April 1941 there were roughly 6000 people dying each month.
When residents of the Warsaw Ghetto died, families stripped the bodies and left them in the street to be picked up by the morning funeral carts that made their rounds each day. The families were forced to strip the bodies so that they could sell the clothing to help them survive.
Medicine and food was smuggled into the Warsaw Ghetto to help alleviate the suffering. Had it not been for the smuggling many more would have died of starvation or from various diseases.
In the beginning the residents of the Warsaw Ghetto did not believe the stories of extermination camps, but evidence and eye witness accounts proved it to be true. This led to the decision to fight back in what would become known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
At the time of the uprising there were only roughly 60,000 people remaining in the ghetto.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was organized by the ZOB (a name which means Jewish Fighting Organization), a group of young residents.
When the Nazis arrived in January 1943 the ZOB managed to hold off the Nazi troops. However roughly 5,000 Jewish residents were still taken from the ghetto.
On April 19th, 1943 the Nazis returned to Warsaw Ghetto and met with armed resistance.
On May 16th, 1943 the Nazis had defeated ZOB. They destroyed most of the ghetto and either killed or removed remaining residents and took them to extermination camps.


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