The Warsaw Ghetto:

The Great Resistance

Entering the Ghetto

In September 1939, Poland had been invaded by Germany. By October of 1940, around 400,000 of Poland’s Jewish people were put in a 3.5 square mile area of Warsaw, which usually housed about 160,000 people. The area, called the Warsaw Ghetto, was surrounded by a wall 10 feet high that was sealed off on November 15, 1940. If Jews left the area, the surrounding Nazi guards would shoot them immediately. The Jews were not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. The Nazis wanted all of the Jews to disappear, so they refused to allow enough food into the ghetto to keep all of the Jews healthy. They made the Jews survive on one bowl of soup per day. By July 1942, 80,000 of the Jews died mainly due to starvation.

On July 22, 1942, the Nazis took some of the Jews out of the ghetto, and sent them to extermination camps where they were gassed to death. They were ordered to send 6,000 Jews a day to these camps. In two months, around 310,000 Jews were killed in extermination camps. By the end of September, only 60,000 Jews were left in the ghetto. In January of 1943, those Jews were ordered to leave, and go to extermination camps, by February 15.

The Resistance Begins

The Jews now knew that leaving the ghetto meant death. They refused to leave. They created a Jewish Fighting Organization called ZOB. This was made up of 22 groups each having 20 to 30 men, boys, and even some women. They tried to contact anti-Nazis in the outside world to receive weapons. They got enough weapons to attack Germans from rooftops. They killed 20 Germans and hurt 50 more. Due to this resistance, and the harsh winter weather, the Nazis failed to meet their February 15 deadline.

In the spring of 1943, a Nazi official ordered a "special action" against the Jews that would rid the ghetto of them in just three days. On April 19, 1943, during the Jewish feast of Passover, over 2,000 Nazis attacked the Jews with tanks and flamethrowers. The 1,200 Jews in ZOB fought back with smuggled pistols, rifles, machine guns, and grenades. Twelve Germans died. The Nazis had a tough time trying to kill or capture the small battle groups that would fight for a short time, then run away into a maze of cellars, sewers, and other hidden passageways.

A Nazi official got fed up with the fight and ordered the ghetto to be rid of Jews once and for all. The Nazis decided to burn down the ghetto. The Jews stayed in the burning ghetto until the fear of being burned alive got to them.

The Resistance Comes to an End

On May 16, 1943, the resistance was finally over. Nazis declared that the Jewish area of Warsaw was no longer in existence. The Jews that remained in the Ghetto were either killed or sent to concentration camps. Around 56,000 Jews were killed during the resistance. An estimated 300 Germans were killed, and around 1,000 were injured.

<http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/warsaw.htm>  Last visited: March, 2002.

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