Everyday Life in the Warsaw Ghetto - 1941

• In Warsaw, the capital of Poland, the Nazis established the largest ghetto in all of Europe.

• On November 16 1940 over 375,000 Jews that lived in Warsaw were forced inside the area of the ghetto. • Although a third of the city’s population was Jewish, the ghetto stood on just 2.4% of the city’s surface area. • Masses of refugees who had been transported to Warsaw brought the ghetto population up to 450,000.

• In July 1942 the deportations to the Treblinka death camp began.

• In May 1943 after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising the Germans liquidated the ghetto.

The Warsaw Ghetto

• Most photos of the Warsaw Ghetto were made by German soldiers in the Wehrmacht PropaganaCompanien.

• The dreadful conditions corroborated their distorted images of Jews.

• Others took photos at their own initiative.• Most of the photos in this presentation were taken

by Heinz Jost, who entered the Ghetto on his birthday, September 19, 1941 and took 150 snapshots.

• Most private albums were not made public for several decades after the war.

The Photos