History of Ghettoisation - Essay Example

?History – GHETTOISATION Order 523996 Both primary and secondary documents serve to provide us with very important information that helps us understand the miserable conditions of the ghetto people. In this essay we are going to investigate and analyze these conditions and the role they played with regard to leaders of the Jewish Councils, the Jewish police and the part they played, the survival strategies of the Jews, the Nazis and the control they exercised on the Jews in the ghetto, and how the Jews were considered by many historians not responsible for their own fate. • How do the documents assess the role played by the leaders of the Jewish Councils (Judenrate) in the three ghettos in relation to deportation of Jews? In each of the ghettos what role did the Jewish Police play?  In the German documents L3 &L 41, the authors Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides speak about the Gestapoand their activities. The Jewish police even shot at sight if they spied the inmates trying to escape. For example, they had shot at Leib Zelkowicz with a 7.65 pistol in July 1941, when he tried to escape. Leib had been at the Litzmannstadt Ghetto since June 1940, but made his escape in 1941 and thereafter worked on the farms in the county of Gostynin. The speech by Chaim Rumkoivski on May 15th 1944 (L9) sheds light on the deportation of the Jews. He explains that though the ghetto already had a population of 140,000 people, yet they were going to take in an additional 23,000. Nevertheless, the authorities have taken a decision of deporting about 10,000 from their ghetto. The people assigned to be deported are those individuals who were harmful to the ghetto and the underworld dons. Chaim refers to these people as a ‘festering boil’ and because of their behavior they asked for this kind of fate. (L9) He tells them that his commission of trusted aides chooses the people for deportation and he asks them not to make an appeal to remain at the ghetto. He also assures them that these deportees will not remain behind wire but would be given a chance to work on the farms. In the (W2) document by Michael Berenbaum2 (ed.) we come to understand how innocent people in the ghetto face the death row even though they were not guilty of any crime. The order that was passed was that 100 Jews and 10 Order Service men would be executed because they had opposed order by the German policemen. The atrocity was that the 10 patrolmen were not guilty of any crime but yet were given orders by the German City Police to be executed. Though a petition was put in for a curfew, the action taken for it was very slow. In the (W4) document we get a clear picture of the brutality exhibited by the Jewish police. They were violent and merciless and dragged women and children by their hands and feet and threw them on the wagons to be executed. The police also beat those who tried to escape. The Jewish police did not mind killing their own kind too. They meted out inhuman treatment to those criminals who refused to go voluntarily to their death. In the (W4) the document gives evidence of ‘The Jewish Council’ being part and parcel of the illegal activities of the police and this was the group that took many decisions involving the deportation of the ghetto inmates. The following sentence in (W4) is proof of their nefarious activities - The officials of the Jewish Council also cooperated in the "operation," as did the service of the KAM-City Aid Committee. The Jewish police were considered to be the ‘chief culprits’ for the mass slaughters that took place. (W4) According to the documents of (K1) about the Kovino Ghetto,3 there was a great massacre of around 10,000 people at one time on 28th October, 1941. Neither the Jewish Council nor the police show any sympathy during the ‘selection’ (K1) The heartrending screams and cries of the people fell only on deaf ears as they were led to their miserable death. These details we come to understand through the (K1) document which was a letter from a father to his daughter who was an eye witness to the massacre. • What were the survival strategies employed by Jews? Which were the most effective and why? Why were most Jews so reluctant to resist and why did Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto finally do so?  The Jews tried out many survival strategies of which few worked while others did not. In (W3) Emanuel Ringelblum’s Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto’ sheds light on some of the survival strategies of the Jews who did not want to be deported. Some of them made use of hideouts for survival and went without food or water for several days on end, some of them worked very hard (heavy labor) in order to make their hands look rough because those with smooth palms were considered to be poor workers and could easily be chosen for deportation. (W3) most Jews were reluctant to put up a fight or resist because they were heavily penalized, beaten or even killed. In document (W4) we find that many of them paid their way out by offering bribes such as money, diamonds or gold. Women even paid with their body to some of the ruthless police personnel. Finally, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto could no longer tolerate the atrocities of the police and decided that they should all stand up for their rights and questioned their situation. Moreover, at this time, the police were so demoralized because they were being sent off to Umscblag4 with their families, which they did not like in the least, so taking advantage of this delicate situation, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto decided to resist. (W4) • Comment on the tactics employed by the Nazis to control Jews in the ghettos and facilitate deportation as revealed in the primary documents.  The Nazi’s made use of various tactics to gain control over the Jews in the ghettos in order to facilitate deportation. One such tactic was painting rosy pictures of a much better life after they leave the ghetto. For example, in Chaim’s speech in (L9) he assures the deportees of much better treatment than what they received at the ghetto. He also tells them that they would not be kept behind wire but on the other hand they would be allowed to work on the farms. Another tactic used in the Lodz Ghetto was breaking the spirit of the inmates by disillusioning them. Even the most positive people become depressed by the rough treatment meted out to the inmates. Families were disintegrated, while young children were sent away to another place to live. Women and old people cried and mourned for their loved ones but their cries were never heard. This depressing situation is well explained in the Bernard Ostrowski5 document titled ‘The Mood of the Ghetto.’ In (W3) Emanuel Ringelblum’s6 Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto’ sheds light on some of the tactics used by the Nazi’s to exercise their control over the Jews. Ringelblum explained how the shop owners co-operated with the authorities and fooled the people into believing what they said. For example in (W3) Ringelblum tells us how the Jewish (work) directors were instrumental in trapping the illegals at the Hallman’s shop and how Toebben, a shop owner removed the workers laundry in order to avoid a barricade. • Historians disagree about the extent to which Jews were responsible for their fate. Identify historians’ arguments and assess the extent to which the primary documents support these explanations. Draw on your wider reading to respond to this part of your task.  The Jews were responsible for their fate to a certain extent but historians do not agree to the extent they had been avenged. The (W4) sheds light on the inhuman treatment meted out to the ghetto people by the hands of the Jewish police. People who wanted to escape had to pay huge bribes of money, gold and diamonds to the Jewish police. They were so brutal and did not mind killing their own kind. They were a hated lot and incurred the wrath of the people even after the resettlement. They became targets for all those who suffered at their hands and many of them could not lead peaceful lives after that and some of them were beaten up and killed. (W4) The primary document (K2)7 describes the contempt between the Lithuanians and the Jews and describes how the Lithuanians lashed out at the Jews during the German conquest. He says it became easy for the Germans to instigate the ordinary Lithuanians against the Jews by sharing their booty with them. References Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides,( L1 & L2) Lodz Gestapo Memo dated 9 June 1942” in Lodz Ghetto L1 & L2 Inside a Community under Siege, Penguin Books, New York and London, 1989, p. 292. Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides (L3 & L4) “German Documents: Gestapo Document dated 2 June 1942, and Lodz Gestapo Memo dated 9 June 1942” in Lodz Ghetto: Inside a Community under Siege Penguin Books, New York and London, 1989, p. 292. Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides (L1) Chaim Rumkowski, Speech on 17 January 1942: ‘Only Work can Save Us’” in Lodz Ghetto: Inside a Community under Siege, Penguin Books, New York and London, 1989, pp. 206-07. Alan Adelson and Robert Lapides (L9) Chaim Rumkowski, Speech on 15 May 1944: ‘I’m just a Servant of the Authorities’” in Lodz Ghetto: Inside a Community under Siege, Penguin Books, New York and London, 1989, pp. 411-12 Dr. Elchanan Elkes,(K1) “Last Testament: Letter to his Son and Daughter in London, October 19, 1943” in Michael Berenbaum (ed.), Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words of its Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders, HarperCollins, New York, 1997, pp. 99-101. Ephraim G: Lithuania” in Donald L. Niewyk (ed.), Fresh Wounds: Early Narratives of Holocaust Survival, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, 1998, pp.246- 253. Emanuel Ringelblum’s Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto” (W3) in Michael Berenbaum (ed.), Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words of its Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders, HarperCollins, New York, 1997, pp. 225-232. Michael Berenbaum (ed.), (W2) “Excerpts from The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow” in Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words of its Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders, HarperCollins, New York, 1997, pp. 218-225. Michael Berenbaum (ed.), (W3) “Excerpts from The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow” in Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words of its Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders, HarperCollins, New York, 1997, pp. 218-225. Michael Berenbaum (ed.), (W4) “Call for Resistance by the Jewish Military Organisation in the Warsaw Ghetto, January 1943” Witness to the Holocaust: An Illustrated Documentary History of the Holocaust in the Words of its Victims, Perpetrators, and Bystanders, HarperCollins, New York, 1997, pp. 152-53 Read More

 

Read More