“No Choice” for Prisoners in The Camps During The Holocaust

The Holocaust changed the course of history when two-thirds of the Jewish population was obliterated. This genocide took place over the course of about ten years. Events such as the Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht, and forced emigration, lead to ghettoization which lead to the concentration camps. Each step played a crucial role in perpetuating hate and furthering discrimination against the Jews. This discrimination leads to horrific events words cannot begin to accurately describe. Within this essay, I will focus on the timeline leading up to the ghettos, life in the ghettos, and how this played a central part in the annihilation of millions of Jewish people. This process happened over a large period of time and was a perfect storm of deep-rooted problems and stigmas.

When attempting to grasp the horrific and confusing concept of the Holocaust, it is important to understand that Jews have been oppressed since the ancient world. The Roman government felt threatened by the Jews because they worshiped a different god, and refused to worship local gods as the Romans did. They felt as though this “jeopardized the security of the state.” As the rise of Christianity began, additional hostility towards Judaism increased. Jews were even blamed for the death of Jesus, though Crucifixion was a Roman tradition not at all seen in Judaism. This kind of anti-semitism is prominent throughout history. Jews were not only blamed for outbreaks of disease but were forced to identify themselves and move into ghettos in the 1500s.

The concepts that Hitler drew from were not new, in fact, many of them were ancient. It is not known for certain where the term “ghetto” originated. While scholars do have different ideas of the origins, there is no way to be positive. One theory is that the word “ghetto” comes from the Hebrew word get which translates to “divorce papers.” Another theory is that it comes from the Italian word getto which translates to the word “foundry.” However, neither of these explanations truly makes educated sense. The first ghetto was initiated in Venice in 1516. While Jews had been in isolation before, this was the first time it had been mandatory. This ghetto was walled off, and monitored by armed men. Prior to this ghetto, Jews had lived in isolation in order to be close to synagogues, and other Jewish-specific services.

However, Jews weren’t allowed to leave the one established in Venice. From then on, this concept of forcing Jews into confined areas spread throughout Europe, and throughout time. When the 20th century began ghettos were no longer in effect. This concept had come and gone, and the treatment of Jewish people improved. Unfortunately, as history has shown us this rarely lasts long. It seems as though Jewish people will always be blamed for something again. It was impossible to know how accurate this was and how much worse it could get as time continued. In the 1930s Nazi power came into play. At the beginning of this, there was no way to know what Hitler had in mind and how extremely cruel humans could be to one another. As we learned in class, this process happened in steps over time. The first step was the passing of the Nuremberg laws. These laws were passed in 1935, and did two things: they protected “German” blood by forbidding marriage between a Jew and an “Aryan” German. These laws also defined in legislation who was a Jew, and who wasn’t. Due to Jewishness being a race, but no dependable physical traits existent, religion became the way a Jew was defined. Once a Jew was defined, forced immigration took place. Naturally, the next step was to congregate the enemy (Jews).

Once they are all together, they are a much easier target. This whole process is quite logical and when you pay close attention to the timeline from WWI to WWII it makes sense. The people of Germany were devastated by the outcome of WWI. As we learned in class, the economy was floundering, people were starving, the territory was lost, and spirits were low. Germany needed a leader to make a drastic change. Germany needed an enemy, someone to blame all this misfortune on. So when the change began to occur, much of the German population was behind it. Ghettoization was an integral part of the progression of the Holocaust. In 1939, it became apparent that something needed to happen to the abundance of Jews in Nazi hands. The ghettos were a way to isolate the Jews while concrete plans were created. Between 1939 and 1940, talk of creating a Jewish reservation near Lublin was taking place along with the idea of shipping Jews to Madagascar. Mass murder and the total annihilation of the Jews weren’t officially the solution to this “problem” until 1941, so the ghettos acted as a nice cushion. “Ghettoization, the stopgap measure that German authorities developed in late 1939 and early 1940, was a logical extension of the approach of divide and conquer. All over Polish territories, German officials forced Jews out of their homes, in villages, small towns, and cities, into designated urban areas called ghettos. There the Jews were to be concentrated and isolated”.

The ghettos also set a precedent for the exploitation, disrespect, and humiliation Jewish people would continue to encounter. Nazi authorities would sort through Jewish property using personal digression; keeping valuable items while disposing of what was not wanted. It was also common for neighbors of Jewish people to rummage through items after they had been forced to leave. Life in the ghettos was barbarous. It was inhumane, overpopulated, and dirty. While German officials decided what to do with these people, they were starving to death. “Over half a million Polish Jews died in ghettos and labor camps. Many starved to death; many also died of diseases brought on by overcrowding and terrible sanitary conditions. Police, guards, and overseers shot and beat others to death for trying to escape; for stealing.” Meanwhile, Nazis were ransacking Jewish homes, taking what they deemed valuable. Children laid in the streets dying of malnutrition or disease or both. People became desperate and uncivilized.

As we saw in The Pianist, people would step over the bodies of dying children, as there was nothing anyone could do. People would steal food, or eat it off the ground. People were humiliated by the nazi guards, like in the film when they were forced to dance. A line was crossed at some point, and it’s hard to pinpoint when exactly, but over time Jews were no longer seen as human. The ghettos played a large role in this because as they were treated like animals, they began to be seen as subhuman. As Jewish people were pulled out of their homes, their neighbors watched and made the assumption that they had done something to deserve this treatment. Lodz was home to one of the largest ghettos. It was established in 1939 and was completely secured within a few months. This ghetto was extremely isolated, as there was no surrounding city to smuggle goods in. Food was scarce, and small scraps became valuables. Lodz was intensely overpopulated, which made for an even more intense breeding ground for disease; Typhus and Tuberculosis were prevalent throughout. “In Lodz, an average of seven people occupied a single room that is, in 1940 an estimated 230,000 people were crammed into some 30,000 apartments, most of them one room only.” By 1942 approximately 18,000 people died in Lodz. An additional aspect of life within the ghettos was the Jewish councils. The Jewish councils were implemented to save Nazi officials’ work.

The councils were in charge of regulating daily life within the ghettos. They had to follow through with Nazi orders, distribute minimal rations, and keep daily life organized. This position was complex and created an odd hierarchy of power. This system is similar to the “driver” position that took place on large plantations during slavery. The “driver” was appointed by the master and was in charge of overseeing other slaves. This system is messed up and is an unfortunate situation for that appointed leadership. “Powerless as they were, the Jewish councils had painfully few options. In a lose-lose situation where the options were destruction or destruction – death or death- there could be few if any, right decisions…” Once the killing centers were established, people were shipped directly from the ghettos. It was effortless at this point. The people had already been rounded up, and now they were sick and weak from malnutrition.

As people were stuffed onto trains they desperately wrote letters on scraps of paper, wood, or cloth and threw them out train windows or through the cracks in the last attempt to make contact with the world. The Holocaust as a whole is complex and troubling. Each event played a part in the horrific outcomes WWII brought. The ghettos are a key part of the evolution that took place, a time when humanity was lost. A time when violence became normal, and people lost hope. Learning this history is challenging, but a crucial part of preventing it in the future. It is necessary to understand how quickly things can progress and how quickly humanity can be lost.

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