KidzSearch Wiki

Ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust

People building a wall around the Warsaw Ghetto in August 1940

In the Holocaust, Nazi Germany set up ghettos across Europe. These were separate, closed-off areas where the Nazis forced Jewish people to live, apart from everybody else. Some Roma people, Greeks, and Soviets were also forced into ghettos.[1]

Nobody was allowed to leave the ghettos without special permission. Living conditions were so terrible that they killed many people. Tens of thousands of Jews died in ghettos from starvation, disease, freezing to death, and the terrible conditions.[2] In some ghettos, one in every five people died.[2][3] Eventually, the Nazis used the ghettos to collect people before deporting them to concentration camps.[4][5]

The Nazis established around 1500 ghettos during the Holocaust. They liquidated nearly all of these ghettos between the 1930s and 1945. Sometimes this meant sending everyone to concentration camps and shooting people who resisted.[5] In other cases, the Nazis executed all of the people inside the ghetto.

Purposes

The Nazis used ghettos for many reasons:[4][6]

  • To segregate people (almost always Jews)
  • To persecute and mistreat people
  • To make people do forced labor
  • To gather and hold people before deporting them to concentration camps
  • To starve and kill people

History

A house in Bedzin, Poland during the deportation of Jews to the ghetto

Jewish people had often been forced to live in ghettos in Europe, with the first one being set up in Venice in the 1500s.

The first Nazi ghetto was established in Beuthen, Germany, in the 1930s. Between that time and the end of World War II in 1945, the Nazis and their collaborators established about 1500 ghettos. They stretched as far west as Amsterdam in German-occupied Netherlands; as far north as Pushkin in partially German-occupied Russian SFSR; as far east as Krasno-Vostochnyi, also in partially German-occupied Russian SFSR; and as far south as Kalavyrta in partially German-occupied Greece.

A Jew in the Bedzin ghetto (1940; from a Nazi propaganda film)

In 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland, and took control of areas where two million Polish Jews lived. This was four times as many Jewish people as Germany had in 1933.[7] Two years later the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, where another few million Jews lived. To control this new population of Jewish people, the Nazis forced Jews into ghettos (also called "Jewish residential quarters").[1]

By mid-1941, the Nazis had forced almost all Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland into ghettos.[8] By the end of the war, almost every person who had lived in a ghetto had died or been executed by the Nazis.

The last ghetto to exist was the Theresienstadt "camp-ghetto" in the town of Terézin, in German-occupied Czechia.[9] It was liberated on 8 May 1945, while the Nazis were liquidating the ghetto (deporting everyone inside, shooting anyone who resisted, and destroying the ghetto.)

Conditions

"A funeral in the Theresienstadt Ghetto" by Bedřich Fritta

Conditions in the ghettos were terrible. They were often extremely crowded, and there was not enough food for everyone.[5] The largest (the Warsaw ghetto) held more than 400,000 Jews crowded into an area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 square km).[4]

Starvation was widespread. Contagious diseases spread quickly because of the overcrowding and lack of sanitation.[5] In the winter months, freezing to death was common.[5]

Historians estimate that tens of thousands of Jews starved, froze to death, or died from illness in the Nazi ghettos.[5]

Types of ghettos

Lwow Ghetto courtyard (1942)

Historians have different opinions about how many ghettos existed in Nazi-occupied Europe. There were some smaller and lesser-known ghettos. (These include Voikovshtadt Ghetto in Kerch Raion, Crimea, and three little-known ghettoes in Stavropol Krai, Russia: the Krasno-Vostochnyi, Georgiyevsk, and Kislovodsk Ghettos.) There may still be ghettos whose names and locations have been forgotten.

Closed ghettos

Closed (or "enclosed") ghettos were surrounded by fences, walls, or barbed wire. A person could be executed for trying to escape from an enclosed ghetto - or for helping someone else escape.[10]

The largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto, was surrounded by a brick wall. The Minsk and Lwow Ghettos are examples of ghettos enclosed by barbed wire. In the Soviet Union, ghettos in Riga, Glebokie, Daugavpils, and Mir were enclosed. In May 1942 the residents of the Mir Ghetto were transferred to Mir Castle Ghetto, supposedly for better security.

The Minsk Ghetto (Belarus, 1941)

Open ghettos

Open ghettos did not have physical barriers separating them from other parts of town. However, Jews were not allowed to come and go freely. There were rules about when and why they could enter and leave the ghetto.[10]

In Poland, there were open ghettos in Dąbie and Zdunska Wola. In Ukraine, the Tuczyn and Uman Ghettos were open. So were the Bielefield Ghetto in Germany; the Mainewicze Ghetto in Volhynia; and the Gnivan Ghetto in GK Zhytomor.

In Eastern Belorussia, open ghettos existed in Beshenkovichi, Ostrovno Ghetto, and Chasniki. The Chasniki Ghetto was liquidated in mid-February 1942, six months after it was established.

Partial ghettos

In a few places, only part of the Jewish population had to live in ghettos. These included the Domaczewo, Horochow, Byten, and Letichev Ghettos.

During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Nazis burnt the ghetto to the ground (April 1943)

Destruction ghettos

According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia:[10]

Destruction ghettos were tightly sealed off and existed for between two and six weeks before the Germans and/or their collaborators deported or shot the Jewish population [gathered] in them.

In Belarus, destruction ghettos existed in Parichi and Orsha. In Ukraine, the Samgorodok Ghetto lasted just a few weeks in May 1942 before the Nazis liquidated it. Also in Ukraine, the Khar'kov (Kharkiv) Ghetto was well-known for being short-lived, makeshift, and overcrowded. In Crimea, there was a destruction ghetto in Dzhankoi.

Ghettos in occupied Poland

Ghetto location in prewar

and postwar Poland[11]

 Population Date of

creation

Date of

liquidation (deporting or killing people)

Final

destination

  (in alphabetical order)        (year, month)      (year, month)  
1939–1940

The first ghetto (Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto) was set up on 8 October 1939, 38 days after the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939.[12] Within months, the Warsaw Ghetto and the Łódź Ghetto, had been set up.

  Aleksandrów Lódzki 3,500    1939   Dec 1939     to Głowno ghetto
  Bełżyce 4,500    Jun 1940   May 1943     to Budzyń ghetto → Sobibor and Majdanek
  Będzin Ghetto 7,000–28,000[13]  Jul 1940   Aug 1943     to Auschwitz (7,000).[14]
  Błonie 2,100    Dec 1940   Feb 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 2,100)
  Bodzentyn 700    1940   Sep 1942     to Suchedniów ghetto → Treblinka.[15]
  Brześć Kujawski 630    1940   Apr 1942     to Łódź Ghetto → Chełmno death camp
  Brzesko 4,000-6,000 fall 1941 Sept 1942 to Auschwitz and Belzec
  Brzeziny 6,000–6,800    Feb 1940   May 1942     to Łódź Ghetto → Chełmno
  Brzozów 1,000    1940   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Bychawa 2,700    1940   Apr 1941     to Belzyce
  Chęciny 4,000    1940 – Jun 1941   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Ciechanów 5,000[16]  1940   Nov 1942     to labour camps (1,500), Mława Ghetto → Auschwitz,[17] many killed locally.[16]
  Dąbrowa Górnicza 4,000–10,000    1940   Jun 1943     to Auschwitz
  Dęblin–Irena Ghetto 3,300–5,800    Apr 1940   Oct 1942     to Sobibor and Treblinka
  Działoszyce 15,000?    Apr 1940   Oct 1942     to Płaszów and Bełżec extermination camp
  Gąbin 2,000–2,300    1940   Apr 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Głowno 5,600    May 1940   Mar 1941     to Łowicz ghetto and Warsaw Ghetto (5,600)
  Gorlice (labor camp 1st) ?    1940   1942     to Buchenwald, Muszyna, Mielec, see Gorlice Ghetto (1941)
  Góra Kalwaria 3,300    Jan 1940   Feb 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (3,000), 300 killed locally
  Grodzisk Mazowiecki 6,000    1940 – Jan 1941   Oct 1942     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 6,000)
  Grójec 5,200–6,000    Jul 1940   Sep 1942     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 6,000) → Treblinka
  Izbica Kujawska 1,000    1940   Jan 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Jeżów 1,600    1940   Feb 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 1,600)
  Jędrzejów 6,000    Mar 1940   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Kazimierz Dolny 2,000–3,500    1940 – Apr 1941   Mar 1942     to Sobibor, and Treblinka
  Kobyłka 1,500    Sep 1940   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Koło 2,000–5,000    Dec 1940   Dec 1941     to Treblinka (2,000) and Chełmno
  Koniecpol 1,100–1,600    1940   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Konin 1,500?    Dec 1939   1940 – Mar 1941     to Zagórów & other ghettos → killed locally
  Kozienice 13,000    Jan 1940   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Koźminek 2,500    1940   Jul 1942      to Chełmno
  Krasnystaw 2,000    Aug 1940   Oct 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Krośniewice 1,500    May 1940   Mar 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Kutno 7,000    Jun 1940   Mar 1942     to Chełmno
  Legionowo 3,000    1940   1942     to Treblinka
  Łańcut 2,700    Dec 1939   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Łask 4,000    Dec 1940   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Łowicz 8,000–8,200    1940   Mar 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all; with labor camp)[18]
  Łódź Ghetto 200,000    8 Feb 1940   Aug 1944     to Auschwitz and Chełmno extermination camp, labour camps (1,000)
  Marki ?    1940 – Mar 1941   1942     to Warsaw Ghetto
  Mielec 4,000–4,500    1940   Mar 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Mińsk Mazowiecki Ghetto 5,000–7,000    Oct 1940   Aug 1942     to Treblinka, 1,300 killed locally
  Mława 6,000–6,500    Dec 1940   Nov 1942     to Treblinka and Auschwitz
  Mogielnica 1,500    1940   28 Feb 1942     to Warsaw Ghetto (all) → Treblinka.[19]
  Mordy 4,500    Nov 1940   Aug 1942     to Treblinka
  Myślenice 1,200    1940   Aug 1942     to Skawina Ghetto (all) → Bełżec
  Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki 2,000–4,000    1940 – Jan 1941   Dec 1942     to Pomiechówek ghetto → Auschwitz
  Nowy Korczyn 4,000    1940   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Opoczno 3,000–4,000    Nov 1940   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Otwock 12,000–15,000    Dec 1939   Aug 1942     to Treblinka, and Auschwitz
  Pabianice 8,500–9,000    Feb 1940   May 1942     to Łódź Ghetto → Chełmno death camp
  Piaseczno 2,500    1940   Jan 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 2,500)
  Piaski (transit) 10,000    1940   Nov 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp, Sobibor, Trawniki concentration camp
  Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto 25,000[20]  8 Oct 1939[12] 14 / 21 Oct 1942   to Majdanek and Treblinka (22,000),[20] killed locally also
  Płock 7,000–10,000    1939–1940   Feb 1941     to Działdowo ghetto
  Płońsk 12,000    Sep 1940   Nov 1942     to Treblinka, Auschwitz
  Poddębice 1,500    Nov 1940   Apr 1942     to Treblinka(?)
  Pruszków 1,400    1940   1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 1,400)
  Przedbórz 4,000–5,000    Mar 1940   Oct 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp and Treblinka
  Puławy 5,000    Nov – Dec 1939   1940     to Opole Lubelskie → Sobibor
  Radomsko 18,000–20,000    1939 – Jan 1940   21 Jul 1943     to Treblinka extermination camp (18,000)
  Radzymin 2,500    Sep 1940   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Serock 2,000    Feb 1940   Dec 1940     to other ghettos
  Sieradz 2,500–5,000    Mar 1940   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Sierpc 500–3,000    1940   Feb 1942     to Warsaw Ghetto → Treblinka
  Skaryszew 1,800    1940   Apr 1942     to Szydlowiec
  Skierniewice 4,300–7,000    Dec 1940   Apr 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 7,000)
  Sochaczew 3,000–4,000    Jan 1940   Feb 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 3,000)
  Stalowa Wola 2,500    1940   Jul 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Stryj    12,000    1940–1941   Jun 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Szadek 500    1940   1940     to other ghettos
  Szczebrzeszyn 4,000    1940 – Apr 1941   Oct 1942     to Bełżec death camp, killed locally also
  Tomaszów Mazowiecki 16,000–20,000    Dec 1940   Nov 1942     to Treblinka (16,000), with 4,000 killed locally
  Tuliszków 230    Dec 1939   Jan 1940     to Kowale Pańskie → Chełmno
  Turek 5,000    1940   Oct 1941     to Kowale Pańskie ghetto (all 5,000)
  Tyszowce 1,500–2,000    1940   Sep 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Uchanie 2,000    1940   Nov 1942     to Sobibor
  Ulanów 500    1940   Oct 1942     to other ghettos
  Uniejów 500    1940   Oct 1941     to Kowale Pańskie ghetto (all 500)
  Warka 2,800    1940   Feb 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 2,800)
  Warta 1,000–2,400    Feb 1940   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Warsaw Ghetto[21] 445,000    Oct – 15 Nov 1940   Sep 1942     to Treblinka extermination camp (300,000), and Majdanek, Trawniki, Poniatowa
  Włocławek 4,000–13,500    Oct 1940   Apr 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Włodawa 10,500[22] (sealed) 1941   Apr – May 1943     to Sobibor, also shot locally
  Włoszczowa 4,000–6,000    Jul 1940   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Wodzisław 4,000    Jun 1940   Nov 1942     to Treblinka
  Wołomin 3,000–5,500    1940–1942   Apr 1943     to Treblinka
  Wyszogród 2,700–3,000    Dec 1940   Nov 1942     to Treblinka
  Zagórów 2,000–2,500    Jul 1940   Oct 1941     all killed locally
  Zamość 12,000–14,000    1940   May 1943     to Izbica Ghetto → Bełżec, Majdanek
  Zduńska Wola 8,300–10,000    1940   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Żychlin 2,800–4,000    Jul 1940   Mar 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Żyrardów 3,000–5,000    Dec 1940   Feb 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto (all 5,000)
1941

Under the codename Operation Barbarossa, Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. The Nazis created new ghettos there and used mobile killing squads to murder Eastern European Jews.

  Augustów 4,000    Oct 1941   Jun 1942     to Treblinka and Auschwitz, shot locally
  Bełchatów 5,500–6,000    Mar 1941   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Biała Podlaska 7,000–8,400    Jul 1941   Sep 1942     to Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka
  Biała Rawska 4,000    Sep 1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Białystok Ghetto 40,000–50,000    26 Jul 1941   Nov 1943     to Majdanek, Treblinka
  Bielsk Podlaski 11,000–15,100    Aug 1941 Nov 1942   to Treblinka, many killed locally[23][24]
  Biłgoraj 2,500–3,000    1941–1942   Nov 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Bobowa 658?[25]  Oct 1941   Aug 1942     to Gorlice and Biecz ghettos
  Bochnia 14,000–15,000    Mar 1941   Sep 1943     to Szebnie → Bełżec and Auschwitz
  Brześć Litewski Ghetto 18,000    16 Dec 1941   Oct 1942   5,000 shot locally before the ghetto was set up → Bronna Góra ravine [26]
  Busko Zdrój 2,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Chełm 8,000–12,000    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Sobibor
  Chmielnik 10,000–14,000    Apr 1941   Nov 1942     to Treblinka
  Chodel 1,400    Jun 1941   1942     to other ghettos
  Chrzanów 8,000    Nov 1941   Feb 1943     to Auschwitz
  Ciechanowiec 4,000    1941   Nov 1941     to Treblinka
  Ciepielów 600    Dec 1941   15 / 29 Oct 1942[27]    to Treblinka → Polish rescuers killed locally 6 Dec 1942.[28]
  Czeladź 800    Nov 1941   Feb 1943     to Auschwitz
  Częstochowa Ghetto 48,000    9 Apr 1941   22 Sep – 9 Oct 1942     to Treblinka extermination camp
  Ćmielów 1,500–2,000?[29]  1941   Oct (end) 1942     to Treblinka (900),[27] rest murdered locally
  Dąbie 900    1941   Dec 1941     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Dobre 500–1,000    1941   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Drohiczyn 700    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Bransk and Bielsk ghettos
  Drzewica 2,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Dubienka 2,500–3,000    Jun 1941   Oct 1942     to other ghettos
  Głogów Małopolski (120)?    1941   1942     to Rzeszów ghetto → 5,000 shot locally
  Gniewoszów (open type) 6,580[30]  Dec 1941   Nov 1942     to Zwoleń (5,000); 1,000 → Treblinka
  Goniądz 1,000–1,300    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Bogusze ghetto
  Gorlice 4,500    Oct 1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Gostynin 3,500    1941   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Grajewo 3,000    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Bogusze ghetto
  Hrubieszów (open type) 6,800–10,000    Jun 1941 – May 1942   May – Nov 1943   to Sobibor and Budzyn labour camp, many shot locally, 2,000 fled.[31]
  Iłża 1,900–2,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Inowłódz 500–600    1941   Aug 1942     to Tomaszow Mazowiecki ghetto
  Iwacewicze 600    1941[32]  14 Mar 1942     to Słonim Ghetto, all killed locally
  Izbica Ghetto (transit) 12,000–22,700[33]  1941[34]  2 Nov 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp and Sobibor, 4,500 killed locally
  Jasło 2,000–3,000    1941   Aug 1942     to other ghettos
  Jedwabne 100–130    Jul 1941   Nov 1941     to Łomża Ghetto → Treblinka, 340 killed locally.[35]
  Kalisz 400    1941   1942     to other ghettos
  Kałusz 6,000    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp, several hundreds executed locally
  Karczew 700    Mar 1941   Oct 1941     to Warsaw Ghetto
  Kielce Ghetto 27,000    Mar 1941   Aug 1942     to Treblinka, with 6,000 killed locally
  Kłobuck 2,000    1941   Jun 1942     to Auschwitz
  Knyszyn 2,000    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Bialystok Ghetto
  Kobryn 8,000    Jun 1941   Oct 1942     all killed locally
  Kock 2,500–3,000    Jun 1941   Dec 1942     to Treblinka
  Kodeń ?    Jun 1941   Sep 1942     to Miedzyrzec Podlaski Ghetto
  Kolbuszowa 2,500    1941   Sep 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Koluszki 2,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Końskie 10,000    1941   Jan 1943     to Treblinka
  Korczyn 2,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Kraków Ghetto 20,000 (pop. 68,500)    Mar 1941   Mar 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp and Płaszów; 48,000 expelled in 1940.[36]
  Kraśnik 5,000–6,000    1940–1941   Nov 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Krynki 5,000–6,000    Jun – Nov 1941   Nov 1942     to Kiełbasin transit camp → Treblinka[37]
  Książ Wielki 200?[38]  1941   Nov 1942     to Miechów ghetto
  Kunów 500    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Limanowa 2,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Lipsk 3,000    Dec 1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Lubartów Ghetto 3,269–4,500    Jun 1941   Oct 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Lublin Ghetto 30,000–40,000    24 Mar 1941   Nov 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp (30,000)[39] and Majdanek (4,000)
  Lwów Ghetto 115,000–160,000    Jun – Nov 1941   Jun 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp and Janowska concentration camp
  Łapy 600    Jun – Jul 1941   Nov 1942     to Białystok Ghetto
  Łaskarzew 1,300    1941   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Łęczyca 3,000–4,300    1941   Jun 1942     to Chełmno, many killed locally
  Łomża Ghetto 9,000–11,000    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Auschwitz, many killed locally
  Łosice 5,500–6,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Treblinka
  Łuków 10,000  1941   Oct – Nov 1942     to Treblinka (Oct: 7,000; Nov: 3,000) [40]
  Łuck Ghetto 25,000  Dec 1941   19 / 24 Aug 1942     all killed locally (most at Polanka) [41]
  Maków Mazowiecki 3,500–5,000    1941   Dec 1942     to Treblinka
  Michałowo 1,500    1941   Nov 1942     to Bialystok Ghetto
  Miechów 4,000    1941   1942     to Bełżec (1,000 killed locally)
  Nowe Miasto 3,700    1941   22 Oct 1942     to Treblinka (3,000),[40] rest killed locally
  Nowogródek 6,000?[38]  Jun 1941   Oct 1942     all killed locally
  Nowy Sącz Ghetto 20,000    Aug 1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Nowy Targ 2,500    1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Nowy Żmigród 1,300    1941   Jul 1942     all killed locally
  Olkusz 3,000–4,000    1941   Jun 1942     to Auschwitz
  Opatów Ghetto 10,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Opole Lubelskie 8,000–10,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Sobibor and Poniatowa ghetto
  Osiek 500    1941   Jun 1942     to Ożarów ghetto → Treblinka[42]
  Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski 16,000    Apr 1941   10 Jan 1943     to Treblinka[source?]
  Ozorków 3,000–5,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Łódź Ghetto → Chełmno
  Pajęczno 3,000    1941   1942     to Łódź Ghetto
  Parczew 7,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Piątek ?    1941   Jul 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Pilzno 788?[25]  1941   Jun 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Pińczów 3,000–3,500    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Pionki (labor camp) 682[43]  1941   Aug 1942     to Zwoleń ghetto → Treblinka
  Połaniec 2,000    1941   1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Praszka ?    1941   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Rabka 300    1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Radom Ghetto 30,000–32,000    Mar 1941   Aug 1942     to Treblinka extermination camp
  Radomyśl Wielki 1,300?[25]  1941   1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Radoszyce 3,200?[44]  1941   Nov 1942     to Treblinka
  Radzyn Podlaski 2,000–3,000    1941   Dec 1942     to Treblinka
  Rajgród 1,200    1941   Nov 1942     to Bogusze
  Rawa Mazowiecka 4,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Rejowiec 3,000    1941   1943     to Auschwitz, Sobibor and Majdanek
  Ropczyce 800    1941   Jul 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Ryki 1,800–3,500    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka and Sobibor
  Rymanów 1,600?[25]  1941   Aug 1942     to Kraków Ghetto, Bełżec extermination camp, killed locally
  Sędziszów Małopolski 2,000    1941   Jan 1942     to Bełżec
  Siedlce Ghetto 12,000–18,000    Jun – Aug 1941   Nov 1942     to Treblinka
  Siemiatycze 7,000    1941   Nov 1942     to Sobibor
  Sieniawa 3,000    1941   1942     all killed locally
  Siennica 700?    1941   15 Sep 1942     to Treblinka (700)[40]
  Skarżysko-Kamienna 3,000    1941   1942     to Treblinka (2,500), the rest killed locally
  Skrzynno ?    1941   Oct 1942     to Opoczno ghetto
  Słonim Ghetto 22,000    Jul 1941   15 Jul 1942[45]    all killed locally (Jul-41: 1,200; Nov: 9,000; Jul-42: 10,000)
  Słuck 3,000–8,500    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     all killed locally
  Sokołów Małopolski 3,000    1941   Jul 1942     to Bełżec
  Sokołów Podlaski 4,000–7,000    Jun 1941   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Sokółka 8,000–9,000    Jun 1941   Nov 1942     to Kiełbasin → Treblinka
  Solec 800    1941   Dec 1942     to Tarlow ghetto
  Stanisławów Ghetto 20,000    Dec 1941   Feb 1943     killed locally → to Bełżec
  Starachowice 6,000    Apr 1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Stary Sącz 1,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec
  Staszów 7,000    1941   Dec 1942     to Treblinka
  Stopnica 5,000    1941   Nov 1942     to Treblinka, many killed locally
  Strzemieszyce Wielkie 1,800[46]  1940–1941   May – 15 Jun 1942     to Będzin Ghetto (500), Auschwitz (1,400)
  Strzyżów 1,300[46]  1941   26 / 28 Jun 1942     to Rzeszów ghetto, killed locally → Bełżec
  Suchedniów 5,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Treblinka
  Sulejów 1,500    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Szczuczyn 2,000    1941   Jul – Nov 1942     to Bogusze transit camp, killed locally
  Śniadowo 650    1941   Nov 1942     to Zambrow ghetto
  Tarczyn 1,600    1941   Feb 1942     to Treblinka
  Tarnobrzeg (ghetto & camp) 500[47]  Jun 1941   Jul 1942     to Dębica ghetto → Bełżec
  Tarnogród 2,600–5,000    1941   Nov 1942     to Bełżec from ghetto & camp, many killed locally
  Tarnopol Ghetto 20,000    Jul – Aug 1941   Jun 1943     to Bełżec, many killed locally
  Tarnów 40,000    Mar 1941   Sep 1943     10,000 killed locally, Bełżec (10,000), Auschwitz
  Tomaszów Lubelski 1,400–1,500    1941   Oct 1942     to Bełżec
  Tyczyn ?    1941   Jul 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Wadowice 1,400[48]  1941   Aug 1943     to Auschwitz
  Wąwolnica 2,500    1941   May 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Węgrów 6,000–8,300    1941   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
  Wieliczka 7,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Wielun 4,200–7,000    1941   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp, killed locally
  Wieruszów 1,400    1941   Aug 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Wilno Ghetto 30,000–80,000  Sep 1941   Sep 1943   killed locally (21,000 before ghetto was set up)[49]
  Wiślica 2,000    1941   Oct 1942     to Jędrzejów ghetto
  Wolbrom 3,000–5,000    1941   Sep 1942     to Bełżec, many killed locally
  Wysokie Mazowieckie 5,000    1941   Nov 1942     to Zambrow ghetto
  Zabłudów 1,800[50]  Jul 1941   2 Nov 1942     10th Calvary camp near Białystok → Treblinka (1,400)
  Zambrów 3,200–4,000    1941   Jan 1943     to Auschwitz, mass killings locally
  Zawiercie 5,000–7,000    1941   Oct 1943     to Auschwitz (5,000)
  Zelów ?    1941   Sep 1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Zwoleń (open type) 6,500–10,000[51]  1941   29 Sep 1942     to Treblinka extermination camp (8,000)[52]
  Żarki 3,200    1941   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Żelechów 5,500–13,000    1941   Sep 1942     to Treblinka
1942

On January 20, 1942, at the Wannsee Conference near Berlin, Reinhard Heydrich informed senior Nazi officials that "the final solution of the Jewish question" was deportation from the ghettos and subsequent mass extermination of the Jews. German companies in Nazi-occupied Poland built six death factories (extermination camps) within two to six months.

  Andrychów 700    Sep 1942   Nov 1943     to Auschwitz concentration camp
  Annopol ?    Jun 1942   Oct 1942     to Kraśnik ghetto
  Baranów Sandomierski 2,000    Jun 1942   Jul 1942     to Dębica ghetto, (all)
  Biecz 700–800    Apr 1942   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Czortków 4,000    Apr 1942   Sep 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Dąbrowa Tarnowska 2,400–3,000    Oct 1942   Sep 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp and Auschwitz
  Dębica 1,500–4,000    1942   Mar 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Drohobycz Ghetto 10,000    Mar 1942   Jun 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Dubno 9,000?    Apr 1942   Oct 1942     all killed locally
  Frysztak Ghetto 1,600[25]  1942   18 Aug 1942     to Jasło ghetto → killed in Warzyce forest
  Hrubieszów (labor camp) 200[31]  May 1942   May 1943     to Budzyn, killed locally, see Hrubieszów # 122 above (6,800)
  Jasienica Rosielna 1,500    1942   Aug 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Kołomyja (ghetto & camp) 18,000    1942   Feb 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp, many killed locally
  Koprzywnica 1,800    1940   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Kowale Pańskie 3,000–5,000    1939–1942   1942     to Chełmno extermination camp
  Kowel 17,000    May 1942   Oct 1942     all killed locally
  Kraśnik (ghetto & camp) 5,000    1940–1942   Nov 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Krosno 600–2,500    Aug 1942   Dec 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Lesko 2,000    1942   Sep 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Lubaczów 4,200–7,000    Oct 1942   Jan 1943     to Sobibor, many killed locally
  Łachwa Ghetto 2,350    4 Apr 1942   Sep 1942     killed locally, 1,500 in an uprising.[53]
  Łęczna 3,000    Jun 1942   Nov 1942     to Sobibor, many killed locally
  Międzyrzec Podlaski Ghetto 20,000    28 Aug 1942   18 Jul 1943[54]    to Treblinka (17,000), hundreds killed locally.[55]
  Ożarów 4,500    Jan 1942   Oct 1942     to Treblinka
  Pińsk Ghetto 26,200    Apr 1942   Oct 1942     to Bronna Góra (3,500), the rest killed locally
  Przemyśl 22,000–24,000    Jul 1942   Sep 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp, Auschwitz, Janowska
  Przeworsk 1,400?[25]  Jul 1942   Oct 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Przysucha 2,500–5,000    Jul – 15 Aug 1942   27 / 31 Oct 1942[56]    to Treblinka (5,000)[57]
  Sambor Ghetto 8,000–9,000    Mar 1942   Jul 1943     to Bełżec extermination camp, many killed locally
  Sosnowiec Ghetto 12,000    Oct 1942   Aug 1943     to Auschwitz
  Starachowice (labor camp) 13,000    1942   1942     to Treblinka, see also Starachowice ghetto
  Stryj 4,000–12,000    1942   Jun 1943     all killed locally
  Sucha Beskidzka 400[58]  1942   1943     to Auschwitz
  Szydłów 1,000    Jan 1942   Oct 1942     to Chmielnik ghetto
  Tarnogród (labor camp) 1,000    1942   1942     see Tarnogród ghetto → Bełżec extermination camp
  Tomaszów M. (labor camp) 1,000    1942   May 1943     to Starachowice,[59] see also Tomaszów Mazowiecki Ghetto (1940)
  Tuchów 3,000    Jun 1942   Sep 1942     to Bełżec extermination camp
  Zdzięcioł Ghetto 4,500    22 Feb 1942   30 Apr – 6 Aug 1942     killed locally during Zdzięcioł massacres

Ghettos in the Soviet Union

After Operation Barbarossa, many ghettos appeared in Nazi-controlled parts of the Soviet Union.

In modern-day Belarus

There were many ghettos in Belorussia: the region we now call Belarus.

In Ostryna, a ghetto was opened in October 1941. Five hundred Jews from a neighboring village, Nowy Dwor, were also forced into the Ostryna Ghetto.

Some ghettos in Belarus were large. The Minsk Ghetto (1941-1944) held around 100,000 Jews. Another in Grodno held about 25,000.

In Korelicze (now Karelichy), a ghetto operated for just a few months, from February to May 1942. When the ghetto was liquidated, its Jewish residents were sent to the Nowogrodek Ghetto.

There were also ghettos in Białystok, Pruzhany, Shklov, and Smilovitsky.

In modern-day Ukraine

In Krymno (now Krymne), a ghetto was formed in May 1942 and liquidated just a few months later, starting on September 6.[60]

There were several destruction ghettos in Ukraine. The Berdichev (Berdychiv), Zhytomor (Zhytomyr), and Vysotsk Ghettos existed for just a few weeks.[61][62]

There were also ghettos in:[63]

  • Bobrka
  • Brailov
  • Chelmnik
  • Kalinovka
  • L'vov
  • Medzhybizh
  • Mogliev Podolski
  • Proskurov
  • Zhornishche

Other areas

In Lithuania, there were ghettos in Wilno, Kaunas, and Siauliai. There was a ghetto in Liepaja, Latvia. The Red Army liberated the Il'ino Ghetto (in modern-day Russia on January 25, 1942, saving 200 Jews.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Ghettos in Poland". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Warsaw Ghetto". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  3. ↑ "Lodz". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Ghettos". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "Nazi Germany and the Establishment of Ghettos". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  6. ↑ "Why did the Nazis develop ghettos? – The Holocaust Explained: Designed for schools". 1933-09-13. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  7. ↑ "The ghettoisation of the Jewish population | Holocaust". www.holocaust.cz. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  8. ↑ "Ghettos In The Holocaust". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  9. ↑ "Theresienstadt". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-09-09.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Types of Ghettos". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  11. ↑ Location names in other languages are available through the active links.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Yad Vashem. "Piotrkow Trybunalski" (PDF). Shoah Resource Center. The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority.
  13. ↑ Maciej i Ewa Szaniawscy, "Zagłada Żydów w Będzinie w świetle relacji" (Extermination of Jews in the light of testimony) Archived 2012-02-22 at the Wayback Machine.  (in Polish) According to 1946 research by Wojewódzka Żydowska Komisja Historyczna in Katowice, wrote Maciej i Ewa Szaniawscy, there were around 30,000 Jews in Będzin following the invasion, including those who came in from neighbouring settlements. Between October 1940 and May 1942, the first 4,000 Jews were deported. In May 1942 additional 2,000 and in August, 5,000 more. Deportations between August 1942 and mid June 1943 amounted to additional 5,000. On 22 June 1943 the next transport of 5,000 Jews departed to Auschwitz, and finally, between 1–3 August 1943, the remaining 8,000 were sent away. The dispersed Jews who stayed, amounting to 1,000 persons, were deported between early October 1943 and July 1944. In total, about 28,000 Jews are believed to have been deported from the Będzin Ghetto. This information however, is not confirmed by the two main sources of the remaining data nor the Jewish Historical Institute, listing only 7,000 victims.
  14. ↑ Będzin in the Jewish Historical Institute community database. Archived February 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Warsaw.
  15. ↑ Iwona Pogorzelska, Bodzentyn od 1869 roku do niepodległości. Archived 2012-03-26 at the Wayback Machine Polska.pl. Accessed June 16, 2011.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Martyna Sypniewska. "Historia Żydów w Ciechanowie" [History of the Jews in Ciechanów]. Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH), Dział Dokumentacji Zabytków; J. Szczepański, D. Piotrowicz (in polski). Virtual Shtetl (Wirtualny Sztetl). Archived from the original on 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2016-03-25. Czerwony Bór massacres.
  17. ↑ Patrycja Bukalska (20 January 2010). "Róża Robota postanowiła walczyć do końca" [Róża Robota chose to fight till the end]. Pamięć Auschwitz (4/2010). Tygodnik Powszechny.
  18. ↑ "Getto w Łowiczu," at Miejsca martyrologii, Wirtualny Sztetl. Instytut Adama Mickiewicza.  (in Polish)
  19. ↑ "Cmentarz żydowski w Mogielnicy Jewish cemetery in Mogielnica". cmentarze-zydowskie.pl.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Piotrków Trybunalski – Getto w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim. Archived 2011-10-07 at the Wayback Machine Virtual Shtetl. Museum of the History of the Polish Jews. Accessed July 1, 2011.
  21. ↑ "Angelika Lasiewicz-Sych, "Traces of the past", Kultura Współczesna nr 4 (38), 2003". Archived from the original on 2012-03-25. Retrieved 2011-06-24.
  22. ↑ Virtual Shtetl. "Jewish history of Włodawa" (in polski). POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Olszewski E., Szczygieł R. (1991), Dzieje Włodawy, Lublin – Włodawa. Deportations to Sobibór took place in waves: 1,300 Jews in May 1942, 5,400 in October, 2,800 in November 1942, and 2,000 in April 1943. Resource Guides. "Remember Jewish Wlodawa". With maps and family photographs. Genealogy Group. Archived from the original on 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2024-09-22.
  23. ↑ Browning, Christopher R. (2012). "Białystok Region (Distrikt Bialystok)". The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945, Volume II. Indiana University Press. pp. 855–988. doi:10.2307/j.ctt2050wk1.19. ISBN 9780253355997. JSTOR j.ctt2050wk1.19.
  24. ↑ "The Bielsk Podlaski Ghetto - Eyewitness Holocaust testimony of life and death in the Bielsk Podlaski ghetto". JewishGen KehilaLinks.
  25. ↑ "Brześć – History". Virtual Shtetl, Museum of the History of Polish Jews. p. 12. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  26. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Yitzhak Arad, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps. Indiana University Press. "Appendix A." p. 395.
  27. ↑ "Życie za Życie" (Righteous of Ciepielów who paid the ultimate price)." Archived 2011-08-23 at the Wayback Machine Urząd Gminy w Ciepielowie.  (in Polish). Accessed July 6, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Ćmielów – Historia," Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich Wirtualny Sztetl (Museum of the History of the Polish Jews). Accessed July 6, 2011.
  29. ↑ Geoffrey P. Megargee; Christopher Browning; Martin Dean (2012). "Gniewoszów". The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. pp. 224–225. ISBN 978-0-253-35599-7.
  30. ↑ 31.0 31.1 The Hrubieszow Genealogy Group. ShtetLinks Project. Accessed June 30, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Getto w Iwacewiczach". Virtual Shtetl. Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  32. ↑ "Getta tranzytowe w dystrykcie lubelskim". Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2015.. Pamięć Miejsca. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  33. ↑ "Izbica. History". Virtual Shtetl. Museum of the History of Polish Jews. pp. 3 of 6. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 12, 2012.
  34. ↑ The 90th session of the Senate of the Republic of Poland. Stenograph, part 2.2. Archived 2008-04-23 at the Wayback Machine A Report by Leon Kieres, president of the Institute of National Remembrance, for the period from July 1, 2,000 to June 30, 2001. Donald Tusk presiding. See statement by Senator Jadwiga Stokarska.  (in Polish)
  35. ↑ Kraków – History. Page 3. Virtual Shtetl, Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Accessed July 12, 2011.
  36. ↑ Niemiecki obóz tranzytowy Kiełbasin w Grodnie (wul. Sołamawaj) (Kiełbasin transit camp), Virtual Shtetl, POLIN Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich 2015. Accessed November 15, 2015.
  37. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Jack Kugelmass, Jonathan Boyarin, Zachary M. Baker, From a ruined garden: the memorial books of Polish Jewry, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Accessed June 27, 2011.
  38. ↑ Jack Fischel (1998). The Holocaust. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-313-29879-0.
  39. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 "Treblinka Death Camp Day-by-Day," Archived May 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team (www.HolocaustResearchProject.org). Accessed June 30, 2011.
  40. ↑ YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, Lutsk. "Following the Soviet liberation of Łuck in February 1944, only about 150 Jews returned. By 1959, just 600 Jews were living in Lutsk. The fortified synagogue was turned into a movie theater and later into a sports hall. A residential area was constructed on the site of the Rabbinite and Karaite cemeteries."
  41. ↑ "Osiek. History of Jewish community". Virtual Shtetl. Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Retrieved April 8, 2012.
  42. ↑ Geoffrey P. Megargee; Christopher Browning; Martin Dean (2009). "Pionki by Jolanta Kraemer". The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. pp. 278–279. ISBN 978-0-253-35599-7. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
  43. ↑ Piotr Berghof, "Radoszyce, wspomnienie o żydowskich mieszkańcach miasteczka."  (in Polish). Accessed June 27, 2011.
  44. ↑ Słonim – History. Jewish community. Virtual Shtetl. Museum of the History of Polish Jews.  (in Polish) Accessed July 7, 2011. The prewar Polish city of Słonim was overrun by the Red Army in September 1939 and confiscated as part of Western Belarus. The influx of refugees from Nazi-occupied Poland increased its Jewish population to 27,000. Over 1,000 were deported to Siberia by the NKVD. Following German invasion of USSR, the ghetto was set up in August 1941, but mass executions began already on 17 July (1,200 men shot just outside the city). A second shooting action took place on 14 November 1941 with 9,000 killed. The ghetto was burned to the ground with all its inhabitants between 29 June and 15 July 1942 following a revolt. Only about 500 managed to escape.
  45. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Shmuel Spector; Geoffrey Wigoder (2001). The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust. NYU Press. p. 1255. ISBN 978-0-8147-9356-5.
  46. ↑ "Tarnobrzeg. Warto zobaczyć" (Tarnobrzeg worth seeing) Archived 2020-08-02 at the Wayback Machine, Wydawnictwo Bezdroża. Accessed June 27, 2011.
  47. ↑ Wadowice – Historia. Wirtualny Sztetl.  (in Polish). Accessed June 27, 2011.
  48. ↑ "Chronology of Vilna Ghetto," Archived 2017-10-23 at the Wayback Machine at Vilnaghetto.com without additional confirmation of quantitative data. Accessed June 24, 2011.
  49. ↑ "The Deportation of the Zabludow Jews to Treblinka Death Camp." Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine 2003 Tilford Bartman, Jerusalem, Israel.
  50. ↑ Geoffrey P. Megargee; Christopher Browning; Martin Dean (2009). "Radom Region by Jolanta Kraemer". The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press. pp. 355–356. ISBN 978-0-253-35599-7.
  51. ↑ Daniel Blatman (Summer 2003). Translated by Judy Montel. "Zwolen". Pinkas HaKehillot, Polen, Volume VII (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1999), Pages 187–189. Kielce-Radom SIG Journal Volume 7, Number 3: 8–9.
  52. ↑ "Lachwa, Polesie province, Poland.", The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945
  53. ↑ "The History of Miedzyrzec Podlaski." Archived 2012-12-18 at Archive.today Association of Immigrants of Mezritch Depodalsia Area in Israel. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  54. ↑ "Mezritch (Międzyrzec) Podlaski in the Jewish sources." Archived 2012-12-18 at Archive.today Association of Immigrants of Mezritch Depodalsia. Accessed June 16, 2011.
  55. ↑ Przysucha, województwo Mazowieckie, Polska. Haapalah Index and Source Database. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  56. ↑ Przysucha – History. Virtual Shtetl. Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Accessed July 5, 2011.
  57. ↑ Gmina Sucha Beskidzka, powiat suski. Targeo.  (in Polish). Accessed June 27, 2011.
  58. ↑ Stefan Krakowski, Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed June 24, 2001.
  59. ↑ "Krymno". Yad Vashem. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  60. ↑ "Vysotsk, Ukraine (Pages 111-138)". jewishgen.org. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  61. ↑ "Jewish Vysotsk". www.myshtetl.org. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  62. ↑ Dean, Martin (2013). "German Ghettoization in Occupied Ukraine: Regional Patterns and Sources". The Holocaust in Ukraine: New Sources & Perspectives (Conference Presentations) (PDF). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. pp. 63–90.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/w/index.php?title=Ghettos_in_Europe_during_the_Holocaust&oldid=5871110"