Thats So Ghetto Understanding the Jewish Ghetto

1
Thats So Ghetto!Understanding the Jewish Ghetto
2
The Definition of a ghetto

• ghetto (geto) n. Origin name of quarter in
  Venice occupied by Jews the section was
  originally a cannon foundry
• in certain European cities, a section to which
  Jews were formerly restricted
• any section of a city in which many members of
  some minority group live, or to which they are
  restricted as by economic pressure or social
  discrimination

3
Before we start

• There are a few terms we need to be familiar
  with

• Deportation to be forced out of a country

• Forced Migration forced to move from one place
  to another

• Final Solution the plan to annihilate the Jewish
  people.

4
Why were ghettos created?

• During World War II, ghettos were created in
  city districts (often enclosed) where the Germans
  forced the Jewish population to live under
  miserable conditions. Ghettos isolated Jews by
  separating Jewish communities from the non-Jewish
  population and from neighboring Jewish
  communities.

5
What were ghettos like?

• Most ghettos were closed off by walls,
  barbed-wire fences, or gates. Ghettos were
  extremely crowded and unsanitary. Starvation,
  chronic shortages, severe winter weather, and the
  absence of urban services led to repeated
  outbreaks of epidemics and to a high mortality
  rate.

6
Warsaw, Poland The largest ghetto

• Between January 1941 July 1942, Jews from
  around smaller communities to the west and east
  of Warsaw and towns throughout Germany and Poland
  were deported to the Warsaw ghetto. The Germans
  also deported several hundred Gypsies to the
  Warsaw ghetto.
• At its height, the total population of the
  Warsaw ghetto exceeded 400,000 people.

7
Where were the ghettos located?

8
Your turn to think

• Review the functions of a city
• Re-read the definition of a ghetto
• Develop your own definition of a ghetto
• Develop a list of possible functions of a ghetto
  how might they be similar to the functions of a
  city?
• Final thoughts