Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany

Quick Facts: Who was Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany?

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Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany

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Forced confinement zones used by Nazi Germany to segregate Jewish populations during the Holocaust.

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2Day Chrono-Wiki & Primary Historical Archives

Origins & Early Life

Beginning with the invasion of Poland during World War II, the Nazi regime set up ghettos across German-occupied Eastern Europe in order to segregate and confine Jews, and sometimes Romani people, into small sections of towns and cities furthering their exploitation. In German documents, and signage at ghetto entrances, the Nazis usually referred to them as Jüdischer Wohnbezirk or Wohngebiet der Juden, both of which translate as the Jewish Quarter. There were several distinct types including open ghettos, closed ghettos, work, transit, and destruction ghettos, as defined by Holocaust historians. In a number of cases, they were the place of Jewish underground resistance against the German occupation, known collectively as the ghetto uprisings. The first anti-Jewish measures were enacted in Germany with the onset of Nazism; these measures did not include ghettoizing German Jews: such plans were rejected in the post-Kristallnacht period.

Career & Major Achievements

However, soon after the 1939 German invasion of Poland, the Nazis began to designate areas of larger Polish cities and towns as exclusively Jewish, and within weeks, embarked on a massive programme of uprooting Polish Jews from their homes and businesses through forcible expulsions. Entire Jewish communities were deported into these closed off zones by train from their places of origin systematically, using Order Police battalions, first in the Reichsgaue, and then throughout the Generalgouvernement territory. The Nazis had a special hatred of Polish and other eastern Jews. Nazi ideology depicted Jews, Slavs and Roma as inferior race Untermenschen ("subhumans") who threatened the purity of Germany's Aryan Herrenrasse ("master race"), and viewed these people and also political opponents of the Nazi party as parasitic vermin or diseases that endangered the overall health of the Volksgemeinschaft, the German racial community. German doctors and public health officials helped advance these racist fearmongering ideas.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The German invasion of Poland (1 September 1939) and the formation of Jewish ghettos caused hunger and poverty, crowding and unsanitary conditions, which in turn actually created typhus epidemics in occupied Poland. German physicians and public health officials in the Nazi regime did not acknowledge this; instead, German medical professionals published essays blaming Jewish people's supposed "low cultural level" and "uncleanliness" for the typhoid epidemics. Posters depicting Jews as lice, which transmit from person to person the bacteria that causes epidemic typhus, were publicized, and the respected status of German doctors helped spread the belief that the Jews were responsible for spreading typhus. The German public health officials in occupied Poland were concerned only with the health of German personnel, so they repeatedly urged occupation authorities to isolate Jews further from the rest of the population. German forces regarded the establishment of ghettos as temporary measures, in order to allow higher level Nazis in Berlin to decide how to execute their goal of eradicating Jews from Europe.

Chronological Milestones & Life Events

1. 1939: 1939 Milestone — However, soon after the 1939 German invasion of Poland, the Nazis began to designate areas of larger Polish cities and towns as exclusively Jewish, and within weeks, embarked on a massive programme of uprooting Polish Jews from their homes and businesses through forcible expulsions.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany

True or False: “The initial anti-Jewish measures enacted in Germany included the immediate ghettoization of German Jews following Kristallnacht.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): Nazi plans for ghettoizing German Jews were rejected during the post-Kristallnacht period; such measures were primarily directed at Jewish populations in occupied Eastern Europe.

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