Ghettos during the Holocaust
Over 60,000,000 people died in WWII. 6,000,000 of those were innocent Jewish people who wanted no part in the war. One man, Adolf Hitler, turned a whole country against them. The Jewish people were persecuted for their religious beliefs and no other reason.
One example of persecution, happened in ghettos. Ghettos were where Jews were put before being sent to concentration camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were stuffed into small areas with little to no food or sanitation. Many people died, before even going to concentration camps, in the ghettos.
Hundreds of thousands of people died in the ghettos because of the poor conditions. A few of the causes of death are disease, starvation and freezing temperatures. Overpopulation
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Human waste and garbage was thrown in the streets. This combined with overpopulation helped disease spread like a wildfire. Without any hospitals or medicine most sick people went untreated and often died.
If you were sick and couldn’t work, you couldn’t buy food. Jews were often forced to give up valuables, and if they had nothing, they starved. In an attempt to keep them weak, the Germans only let the Jews buy bread, potatoes, and fat. Even if someone worked hard, they wouldn’t be able to buy a full meal.
After surviving disease and starvation some people were so feeble they froze to death. Most Jews didn’t have the adequate clothing for the freezing temperatures. They huddled up to stay warm but often times it wasn’t enough.
To summarize, the ghettos were a terrible place to live. Disease, starvation, and cold often worked together to kill someone. For example, someone weakened by the cold and starvation would be an easy target for a disease. Some people committed suicide to prevent suffering there almost-inescapable death. Many parents died in the ghettos, leaving many orphans. Kids were not shown any mercy and death was almost unavoidable for them. The orphans often begged on the streets, or were forced to steal food and clothes to