The Warsaw Ghetto and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

	This page: Warsaw Ghetto and Uprising
	Janina Bauman

Janina Bauman in hiding in the Warsaw Ghetto, 1944.

Read her story on Page Two

The German invasion of Poland in 1939 brought 22 million Polish citizens under Nazi rule. The country was then divided - the north and western areas were annexed to the Third Reich and the central and southern areas were formed into a 'General Gouvernement' with the ancient city of Krakow as its capital. Warsaw was to be destroyed.

All Poles were racially classified. Any deemed suitable for German identity were forcibly moved to the 'New Reich', (often to be conscripted into the German forces). Those unsuitable were segregated into the General Gouvernement where execution squads killed anyone thought capable of opposition.

The Poles classified as Jews were stripped of all their human and economic rights. During 1940, half a million Jews, mainly Poles but also deportees from Germany, Czechoslovakia and Austria, were enclosed in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw, an area that previously had a population of 35,000. At the end of the year, the gates were closed. This was the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Ghetto formed its own government (the Judenrat) and police. Initially telephone and postal services operated and a makeshift public transport was formed. Some Ghetto inhabitants were given work when German factories manufacturing uniforms and equipment for the German military were established nearby.

By the summer of 1942, about 100,000 of the Ghetto inhabitants had died. Insufficient food was allocated to the Jews and many died from starvation. Others contracted diseases, such as typhus and TB, which thrived in the cramped conditions. By this time the German Government had decided on the final solution for their 'Jewish Problem' and Aktions of deportations of Jewish men, women and children to the death camp at Treblinka began. Only those with work permits were exempt.

The Polish Home Army (the AK) had agents working in the vicinity of Treblinka who discovered the true nature of the camp and managed to pass this information to those remaining in the Ghetto. In the late summer the Jewish Fighting Organisation (ZOB) was formed, consisting mainly of young men, led by Mordechai Anielewicz. Since the Ghetto began, smugglers had risked their lives bringing food and weapons within the walls and these weapons were now gathered together in preparation for resistance.

On 29^th October, 1942 the ZOB, now with over 1000 supporters, made their presence felt with the assassination of the Jewish Police chief who had been overseeing the Aktions of deportation. Two months later they received ten pistols from the AK and workers in the factories secretly made bombs.

On 16^th February 1943, Himmler ordered the extermination of the Warsaw Ghetto - the German factories and their Jewish workers were to be moved to Lublin. The citizens of the Ghetto were aware of the planned German attack and prepared themselves for war, making underground bunkers to hide from the Germans. The ZOB appropriated more weapons and volunteers. Combat units were formed and by April 1943 enough weapons had been amassed to arm all those intending to fight.

The Nazi attack was led by SS General Jürgen Stroop with more than 2,000 troops. It began on Passover - 19^th April 1943 at 6.00am. The Germans had expected some opposition but were taken aback by the aggression and determination of the ZOB and withdrew in confusion. The street fighting continued as the Germans began to burn buildings in the Ghetto, forcing those hiding there to jump to their deaths. Flame-throwers and gas were used to drive people out of the bunkers. On the 8^th May, Mordechai Anielewicz and his companions killed themselves when the German troops surrounded their bunker. Still the fighting continued.

On 16^th May, the Germans destroyed the Tlomackie Synagogue and Stroop reported to Himmler, 'The Warsaw Ghetto is no more'. The remaining citizens felt they had no option but to try and break out of the Ghetto. Some did manage to escape (often through the sewers.) Sporadic fighting went on until the autumn.

Only eight buildings survived the Uprising. Stroop's report stated about 14,000 Jews lost their lives during the uprising or at Treblinka following capture. A further 42,000 were deported to labour camps near Lublin, however thousands of Jews managed to escape to the Aryan side of Warsaw. Soon the surviving buildings of the Ghetto were burnt to the ground.

Stroop was awarded the Iron Cross 1^st Class for his role in suppressing the uprising. The number of German soldiers reported dead was 16, with 85 wounded, though this figure was contested by the surviving Ghetto inhabitants who estimated that more than 100 must have lost their lives.

When the Red Army finally liberated Warsaw on 17 January 1945, 300 Jews were found still living in the ruined Ghetto.

	This page: Warsaw Ghetto and Uprising
	Janina Bauman