I. The invasions of Poland and Russia
A. 2 million Jews in
Poland (invaded Sept 1, 1939)
1. Over 400 ghettos established (1940-1944) to deal with the "Jewish
question"
2. 350,000 in Warsaw (largest ghetto)
3. 200,000 in Lodz
B. 3 million Jews in
Soviet Union (invaded in June, 1941)
1. mobile killing squads (Einsatzgruppen)
a. 4 units, 500-900 men each
b. separate from regular invading army (Wehrmacht)
c activity cloacked in euphemisms: "special treatment of the
Bolshevik menace"
d composed of middle-class, professional men
e. shot between 1.5 and 2 million Jews (including children) and many
non-Jews in less than 2 years
2. gas vans
3. ghettoes
II. The ghettoes
B. The Warsaw ghetto
(map)
1. Creation of the ghetto (descriptions
by survivors )
a. Established Oct. 12, 1940 on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement
b. 113,000 Christian Poles and 138,000 Jews relocated in two weeks
c. Occupied 2.4% of the city's land but held 30% of the population
(375,000)
d. Enclosed by an 11-mile-long, 10-feet-high brick wall
e. Completely sealed November 16, 1940
2. Life in the ghetto
a. The
Judenrat(Jewish Council)
1. 24-member committee headed by Adam Czerniakow
2. multi-layered municipality with multiple departments, including
Jewish police
3. struggled to meet the mandates of the Nazis and the needs of the
Jews
4. Cooperate or fight?
b. Living conditions (
descriptions by survivors )
1. Nazis practiced clean violence -- death by starvation (43,000 died in
1941)
a. ZSS (Jewish Communal Self-Help)
b. smuggling "Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"
2. Forced labor under sadistic supervisors
3. Overcrowding (10-15 people in space previously occupied by four)
c. Massacres (descriptions by survivors )
d. Religious life
1. kashrut (pikuakh nefesh)
2. Sabbath
3. prayer
4. weddings
e. Cultural life
f. Children
1. education
2. orphanages (Janusz Korczak , the Polish "Mr. Rogers")
g. The undeground movement
3. Deportation ( descriptions by survivors )
4. The uprising
5. Conclusion
Warsaw ghetto memorials