One of the favorite forms of “amusement" for Nazi soldiers was to go up to the old Jewish men and cut off their sidelocks. A witness now living in Jerusalem recalled, "They cut his sidelocks and they stuck him on the ground and rode him like a donkey. Afterwards, they put a bullet in his head."
In other areas that the Nazis conquered, the Jews could leave, or the Germans threw them out of the country – as Adolf Eichmann did with Jews out of Austria.
Yet the sheer quantity of Polish Jews – over 3 million – presented a logistical problem for the Nazis. Deportation was no longer practical.
Thus the Germans began a series of cruel and sadistic measures. Rather than letting the Jews go, the Nazis adopted an oppressive 4-point plan:
- marking the Jews with yellow badges
- forcing them into slave labor
- looting their property
- sealing them into ghettos
The Ghettos
Jews from wide areas were rounded up and forced to live in unbearable, cramped ghetto conditions.
The most famous was the Warsaw Ghetto. Thus was the fate of 335,000 Jews in Warsaw – representing one-third of the city’s total population.
Additional Jews were herded into Warsaw, so the Jewish population rose to about 450,000. They were all thrown into a slum that comprised 2.3% of the city area, and walled off.
Life in the ghetto was intolerable. There was no sanitation. Disease swept through.
If a person was not fit for work, he did not receive food tickets. That meant death by starvation. Over 75,000 people in the ghetto died of disease and starvation.
The ghettos were run by Jewish councils (Judenrat) who were responsible for carrying out Nazi orders. When it was time for a transport to Treblinka, Auschwitz and other concentration camps, the Nazis would ask for 1,000 Jews. The Councils cooperated, rationalizing that "if we don’t hand over 1,000, they will ask for 2,000."
In the end, eventually everyone in the ghettos was swept away, along with the council members and their entire families.
In spite of the unbearable ghetto conditions, Jewish life – to the extent that it could – continued on. Torah study, circumcision, Shabbat and holiday observance all went on, despite of the fact that getting caught was likely a death sentence.
Witness to Nazi "Special Treatment"
In "To Vanquish the Dragon," Holocaust survivor Pearl Benisch recalls:
On my way home one afternoon, I found a large group of young men lined up against a wall, their hands raised.
What is it? I wondered, running over to see. A robbery? What did the boys do? Why did the Germans line them up in this way?
There stood a young SS officer with shining black boots, clutching a whip. He reminded me of a dog trainer glaring down at his charges, expecting them to jump on command and satisfy his lust for pain. Another SS man wielded a pair of scissors, jeering as he ripped beards off the agonized, bleeding faces.
"Hands up," the dog trainer shouted, "and pray to G-d. Let Him help you."
Silently the Jews stood there, hands elevated. The dog trainer raised his whip and struck their faces, left, right, and left again, leaving bloody welts on their cheeks. But their lips were sealed.
"Wo ist euer Gott? Warum hilft Her euch nicht?" the Nazi asked with a mocking smile. "Where is your G-d? Why doesn't He help you? Pray again!" he screamed.
I ran over to him, determined to stop his whip. With a scornful laugh he pointed at the bleeding, half-shorn boys.
"Fraulein," he addressed me with a nonchalant smile, "Haben sie schon so was gesehen in Zwansigsten Jahrhunderd? So was in Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderd," he repeated. "Did you ever see anything like that in the 20th century?" He meant the beards.
No, it wasn't a 20th-century scene, and I had never seen its like: "Nein, ich habe niemahls so was gesehen in Zwanzigsten Jahrhunderd," I answered with disgust, stressing "so was" to refer to his ugly deed.
His smile faded as he realized the meaning of my words. He glared at me, fingering his whip. I expected it to come down across my face. Instead, he spun on his heels. "Come on, Fritz," he said to his companion. "Let's find other ones and have some more fun." He saluted me lightly as he stalked off. How cultured these Germans were. How gentlemanly.
It was the first time my blue eyes had saved me; the brute had mistaken me for a Polish girl. It was also the first time I had witnessed German bestiality.
(100) Matt, May 27, 2014 2:33 PM
This is real sad it makes me cry every time
(99) callie, March 20, 2014 11:52 PM
horrid
wow this is horrible. i see humans but no humanity.
(98) willow wallace, January 29, 2013 3:39 PM
thank you for the article.
(97) gely, January 15, 2013 1:57 AM
thank you it helped me with my speech class
(96) Anonymous, December 15, 2012 9:20 PM
thanks
Thank you for this article it really helped me with my research project.
(95) Emira, November 16, 2012 2:37 AM
Thank you I feel so much better bout this project your website helped me get over this stupid Project .It helped me a lot thanks
(94) ladee Murrelle, November 15, 2012 1:27 AM
yess
This brought me to tears. :(
(93) SIerra Butler, October 29, 2012 4:18 PM
Great
I loved this website!! It hepled me alot. I feel so bad for the jews. I wonder why hitler hates the jews so much. What did the jews do to him? What gave him the right to kill thousands of jews just because he didn't like them?Think about when somenoe says they think hitler is cool or that he did the right thing.
(92) Anonymous, October 26, 2012 4:07 PM
I really like this website it was really helpful!!
this website hepled me a lot. Thanks!!!
(91) Anonymous, October 11, 2012 2:25 PM
this website help me out a lot thanks
(90) Anonymous, July 6, 2012 11:31 PM
thankyou this really helped me
(89) kilo, May 2, 2012 2:25 PM
great
this website is so helpful i love it
(88) Gracie Moore, May 2, 2012 12:40 PM
The ghettos were not created by the Nazis, but were created back in medievel times.
(87) Anonymous, April 30, 2012 3:21 PM
:(. This is horrible
(86) Mindlessperson, April 2, 2012 2:36 AM
Very Helpful for my english project
alyssag54, May 3, 2012 5:09 PM
same here
do you know any more disease in the ghettos? please help us(:
anonymous, May 23, 2012 6:23 PM
robynpackter@hotmail.co.uk
this helped my english project! i am jewish and this is horrible :(
(85) Natalie101:), February 29, 2012 6:24 PM
Best site ever.
This was a great site it was helpfull in every way thank you so much.
(84) tatyana, February 29, 2012 1:47 PM
this stuff is to sad an i dont know why germans would do anything like this to them
i really love to learn about what happend during the holov=caust an wat really happend to hitler
(83) Anonymous, February 22, 2012 7:58 PM
there are sooooo many helpful facts about ghettos on this sight. HElped me on my history project. A for me when i hand it in
(82) Dirk, February 22, 2012 7:07 PM
Cx
This was extremely helpful.
(81) Ashlin, February 16, 2012 5:31 PM
This helped me alot for my english project.
Anonymous, March 21, 2012 3:51 PM
english homework
thanks that was really helpful with my english homework about ghettos!!!!! ;)
(80) LexieBAwesome, January 20, 2012 5:01 AM
Thanks this helped me on my English project!!!!!!!!!!!!:)
aleeyah, January 21, 2012 8:05 PM
yeah this helped me on my english prodject to...im doing mine on the ghettos and like how life was for the people in the ghetto and stuff lol i can't wait to turn my paper in
quefreeman, January 30, 2012 6:41 PM
i had the ghettos
the Ghettos are very bad to people they wouldnt let people eat if they didnt work. lol
(79) Anonymous, January 8, 2012 1:55 PM
Like something out of a fairy tale.
Knowing that in the world we live in today has nothing like this currently, it feels like all of it is part of a fairy tale. When actually most of our grandparents were affected. That was only 1 or 2 generations ago. Shocking.
chelsea, January 11, 2012 12:20 AM
unfortunately it is :/
genocide is still happening in our third world countries, but there is nothing much we can do, and if we do managed to act upon such barbaric manners,there is still a chance is it may well be, that the outcome is a wee bit late, but that does not mean that we should not try, but to actually want to strive further to alter a this very apparent problem, sorry if i have put a damper on your day ... i happened to stumble apon this site researching for my course work as am only 14,i am hoping that someday i will be able to help toward such a worth while issue .
(78) Anonymous, November 27, 2011 7:05 PM
wow this helped me on a social studies report
(77) Sean Seamus, November 16, 2011 3:16 PM
Sick.
Wow, this is just disturbing. Nazis. Fascists. Wow.
(76) Karen, October 26, 2011 2:37 AM
research question
I'm doing some research. I'm curious to know if or how the Jewish people who lived in the ghettos in Poland during WWII were able to receive mail and letters from the outside...as in from relatives or friends from the U.S?
Anonymous, December 6, 2011 11:44 AM
My husband was in the Lodz ghetto. They reeived no mal nor sent mail. They did not get newspapers nor mgazines. They did not ear any radio broadcasts they were utterly cut off from the world and knew nothing about what washappening outside. They had no idea where the trains were taking the 10s of thousands of Jews. They were in a gigantic outdor prison.
(75) Damister, June 8, 2011 5:14 PM
It was the NAZIS that were animals. Not the Germans. (I'm from England by the way)
Anonymous, December 6, 2011 11:48 AM
Who were the Nazis? Australians? Bolivians? Chinese? No. Nazis were once beautiful innocent little blue eyed blond babies who grew up to be loving husbands and fathers and mass murderers.
(74) len, May 29, 2011 2:09 PM
Too hard to believe but unfortunately true
Too hard to believe but unfortunately true
(73) RandomDude, May 25, 2011 1:53 PM
Can't believe this happened
I'm not a Jew, but hearing about all of the suffering that these people went through makes me really sad. I can't believe that anyone would do things like this.
(72) Sharlene, May 17, 2011 5:34 PM
so sad
This was soo awful.The germans were animals!!!
Anonymous, June 6, 2011 3:50 PM
sad
i cant imagine my life my family suffering my mom the most and brother
(71) brenda chida, April 6, 2011 2:59 PM
rude
wow this is so sad no joke poor people i think everyone should be treated equally because no one is better than anyone else.
nikki, April 21, 2011 12:20 AM
so true people shold be treated the same
(70) EsZaPayAszitAx, March 21, 2011 4:27 PM
Looking at these pictures and reading about what they went through makes me appreciate the things that i have now, because no one should have to go through that.
hiz wife 4life, May 5, 2011 1:11 PM
EsZaPayAszitAx is right
when i read and learn about things like this it makes me appreciate what i have and that GOD saw it fit that i wasnt born back then wasnt a jew because honestly what happened was awful and it brings me to tears knowing that this happened to a few of my friends older family members and that they will never be the same because of this and that their childhood has been ripped from them and they never got the chance to live as a kid and enjoy it like we are now but yet our generation is always complaining about everything their parents didnt get them or didnt do for them.....sad : (
(69) ashley chilton-tucker, March 1, 2011 4:41 PM
the ghettos wre horrible to look at
why were these people so maen to the "unruly" kinds of people when not everyone was going to make it???
(68) , February 3, 2011 12:07 AM
i wish they never went threw that
brandy, March 14, 2011 4:26 PM
noone should ever have to be treated that way. its such a good thing thats not how it is in this day of time
(67) Demiesha, January 12, 2011 4:35 PM
I feel so sorry for those poor people being all alone and stuff.
I WISH THOSE PEOPLE CAOULD COME HERE RIGHT NOW JUST TO LIVE ONE DAY OF THE BEST DAYOF THERE LIFE!!!
(66) Anonymous, December 13, 2010 2:01 PM
No human should ever be treated like that. We should feel honored that we don't have to suffer as badly as they did. We don't expect death to be knocking at our door, they knew they were going to die. So we should remember that everyone is human and should be treated with respect no matter their similarities or their differences, likes or dislikes, looks or whatever they are still human.
(65) Brandee, November 29, 2010 1:21 PM
AWESOME!
Great Information!
(64) MISS HOODRICH, November 23, 2010 3:08 AM
i cant believe that these jewish people went through such a tragic time!!!!!why was hitler so cruel???i never knew why he hateed jews???wasn't his mother jewish somewhere in there??
(63) Gen, November 10, 2010 9:28 AM
Humanity's Struggle
No person deserves to be treated like this. And what the Jewish people went through should remind us to treat every human being with respect and understanding.
(62) jakee, October 27, 2010 3:35 AM
i feel bad
that is sad i wish they never had to do that
(61) sheldon, October 27, 2010 3:33 AM
stuff
hi this website is great
(60) Elliot, June 10, 2010 12:10 AM
Interesting
Some jews returned to the ghetto after fleeing it because in the movie Defience there were jews in the forest of poland being looked after by the Bielski Ortard. They thought they were safer there then in the forest.
(59) Zwinkgirl, May 19, 2010 2:08 AM
OMG!
I cant believe someone would do that im doing an exit project on the holocaust and it's just terrible, to try and hurt someone because their not like you is utterly ridicules hoe can you stand there and treat someome with such hate how can you have that much hate in you is the real question. to starve them shoot them gas them because you could not stand seeing their faces when you shot them, because you know its wrong and it's hurtng you. god what they whent through i tell myself every day and i thank the lord that i am were i am right now, because no one deserves that nor do they deserve to be punished nor ridiculed for how they look and their beleifs. and thats all i have to say
(58) Mackenzie, April 22, 2010 1:29 PM
Holocaust
i know what u mean i hate seeing people like this we went really in depth with it in in school and it was just heart breaking knowing about what they did and we watched and read the diary of Anne frank wonderful book and movie and i just couldnt believe it
(57) Gibby, April 15, 2010 4:36 PM
this was too terrible, all those inocent people, gone.
Inocent lives were lost and for what? because they were so much different then the Nazis. I am doing a holocaust report and it kills me to see all of this, but it is much more detailed then our teacher tells us. it's terrible. :(
(56) , April 1, 2010 7:31 PM
the jews have been beaten up a lot. Egyptians, romans and then nazis
(55) leslieeeeeeeeeeeee, March 31, 2010 5:11 PM
wow
why would the Nazis do something that terrible i think they really should never have existed
(54) Anonymous, March 9, 2010 11:31 AM
this is really sad and i feel terrible for all of the people in theese awful situations
(53) Ashhhaaa, February 27, 2010 11:38 AM
omg this is terrible. we never get this much detail in our history class.
(52) rere, February 23, 2010 5:36 PM
wow :( :( :( :( :(
im in history researching about all this, this is very sad. i feel so bad for all the jews who had to go threw this horible nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(51) randall guidry, February 9, 2010 5:56 PM
kli
thanks for the information i found what i was looking for. p.s. comment bye------ RAN-JOE!!!!
(50) CdL 24, November 25, 2009 2:55 PM
yeah this makes no sence
im in an english class researching the holocaust, this site is vary good for intel.
(49) Leslieadrienne, November 18, 2009 7:57 PM
It never stops hurting....
No matter how many times you see it, it is never easy
(48) nrthshore, November 5, 2009 7:23 PM
wow
i was doing a paper on ghettos and got this this is crazy never thought some stuff like thiss went on
(47) Nathan, May 23, 2009 9:27 AM
:D
this site has so much information! ^^
(46) 7th grader, May 21, 2009 3:59 PM
I needed information for a social studies project
WOW i needed this info. Thanks and i think that i found what i was looking for!!!!
(45) Calli, May 3, 2009 5:05 PM
this website is so great! i have to a journal of the life of a jewish child and this website is great! the project is due tomorrow!
(44) Sophia, May 2, 2009 6:20 AM
Wowza
This page is amazing, so real and descriptive. The key facts have helped me with my project so thank you!
(43) twizzler, March 30, 2009 3:06 PM
=I
I can not believe how real this is,=. it's sad reading this stuff. i cant imagine living it!!!! [<3]
(42) Grace, March 30, 2009 2:42 PM
=)
this website is a savior, i have a whole 4 week project to do tonight this is all my research on one page! my life is saived !
(41) michaela, March 23, 2009 8:08 PM
whew.
thank you! i needed info for english project about what the purposes was and didnt quite find it, but alot of helpful info!
(40) melly, March 15, 2009 10:39 PM
thanx...
thanx this helped me with my holocaust project that is due tommorow...
(39) ariana, March 7, 2009 1:49 PM
this is alot of help with a project due, thanxs so much.
(38) emma, February 26, 2009 9:52 AM
thanks
this hepled me with my history project on the holocaust :) thanks
(37) Tonii, February 24, 2009 10:30 AM
:)
This Helped Alot! I Know Understand About The Ghettoes :) Thanks Muchly :D
(36) Kendall, February 23, 2009 9:18 AM
Thanks
Thanks for the info i love this it helped me a lot with researching the Ghettos. U rock =))))))))))))
(35) gabriela, January 15, 2009 9:36 AM
This helped me alot on my holocaust project thank you for providing this site page for people to look at thank you very much I Love You Guys So Much!!
(34) nicole, December 8, 2008 12:00 PM
project
thank u, u helped a lot this had a lot of information so thank u again there are so may sits but this on had the most and best so thanks again again again and again u rock =]=]=]=]=]=]=]
(33) Solo Cama, July 3, 2008 2:18 AM
Gifted
There is enough food to feed the whole world,their is enough love to love your neighbor,hatred and revenge are the only obstacle to overcome,to win the good fight.
(32) Claire, June 23, 2008 1:55 PM
Thank you
thank you now i can continue with my project and fully understand what is ghettoes and what conditions where like. Thank you
(31) Pie, April 10, 2008 9:11 PM
THANK YOU!
I've been going to sites for hours looking for information on the Holocaust Ghettos and now with just this site I was able to finish my paper! THANK YOU!!!
(30) troy, April 1, 2008 1:00 PM
project
i read this and all these other sites i think this helpd me alot more... i got about a page in a half from this website for research i thank you alot for having this website THANKS ALOT! thank u thank u thank u! WMS
(29) Caitlin, January 23, 2008 5:50 PM
THANKS!!!
this was a really good site to visit and i really liked all the deatails and pictures!!!
(28) Homework, January 17, 2008 8:26 AM
Thanks.
This website realy halped me out on my Homework. Thanks i got a "A"! WOO HOOO
(27) zmetts, December 8, 2007 2:04 PM
great info helped tons with my research paper
(26) Anonymous, November 29, 2007 8:40 PM
Helped a lot!
This is a great site to get good info! It really helped me with my research paper!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(25) loz, November 10, 2007 6:49 AM
thanks
thanks for the info reli helped with homework
(24) blah, October 7, 2007 12:03 PM
helped with my project
was very helpfull with my project thanks
(23) Anonymous, May 13, 2007 4:38 PM
It really helped with my project.
This website really helped me get all the information i needed.
Thanks!
(22) Anonymous, March 8, 2007 9:32 AM
excelent, i got all the info i needed
(21) James Gardner, March 5, 2007 2:10 PM
That was so horrifying
The fact that humans could do such things and still be considered humans, is beyond me.
(20) Miss.King, February 22, 2007 4:17 PM
This was great it helped alot with my project!! thanks!
(19) JuliaBeker, October 2, 2006 8:54 PM
MUST READ....
FEAR Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz By Jan T Gross
(18) mareee, May 17, 2006 12:00 AM
great site
you all provided me with the information i needed. thanks
(17) T-dogg, May 8, 2006 12:00 AM
Thankyou!
Thanx so much for this great site. the pictures helped me a ton when i went to write my history report. not to mention the information given was excellent. thankyou again!
(16) Anonymous, May 5, 2006 12:00 AM
great site
easy to get to geat pictures and great research
(15) claire, March 13, 2006 12:00 AM
Good Job
your site was very "easy" and everything was upfront. It provived me with much information that I did not know!
Thanks much.
(14) izzy, January 12, 2006 12:00 AM
yey
would like to say this is brilliant os simple and to the point has really helped me with the understanding of ghettos. Now all i have to do it write my essay *groan*
Thank you tho!
(13) Anonymous, October 5, 2005 12:00 AM
Super duper
this site was marvellous. it gave me loads of info and really got me interested. wot a yo yo wicked cool site!!
(12) Anonymous, April 26, 2005 12:00 AM
This site was so simple and easy to understand.
This site is so simple and easy to understand unlike many others.
(11) Anonymous, March 15, 2005 12:00 AM
The ghettos were the worst places to be.
it was very fascinating knowing that some jews didn't even know this was happening when it did.
(10) Anonymous, November 28, 2004 12:00 AM
This website is very informative
I am doing a research project on the Holocaust and this website has helped me the most. I have found out many things I have never seen in a movie, or read in a book before. Thank you so much for supplying my education.
(9) Jay, March 18, 2004 12:00 AM
The site is very well organized and it help me with informantion for my report in Jr.H.S. Thanks.
(8) sophie, March 15, 2004 12:00 AM
horrible just horrible
we are studing the holocaust in r.e at school its plain horrible what the nazis did to the jews and i hope they never do it again and that hitler went to hell
(7) jimmy, January 30, 2004 12:00 AM
no words to explain it
i am shocked by the horrifying things that the nazis did.its just unexplanible
(6) andrew, January 21, 2004 12:00 AM
this whole site is well organized and very informative thank you for putting it together it helped me alot for my high school history report
(5) Anonymous, September 25, 2003 12:00 AM
I'm astonded by this horrifying pictures. We're studying the Holocaust in class, and this website shows a new side of it. :0
(4) Anonymous, December 16, 2002 12:00 AM
unbelivable
I am 13 years old and can't belive what these kids (which lots of them probally younger than me) went through. And yet they still had faith and tried to be normal kids.
(3) Neil Munro, November 6, 2002 12:00 AM
comment
thank you for the innformitive website, it helped me alot with my school history project
(2) loser pooper, May 9, 2002 12:00 AM
hotmail
these pictures made my stumach twirl
(1) Guillermo Cavazos, January 20, 2002 12:00 AM
No comments. Just tears, beloved.