Life in the Ghettoes During the Holocaust - Essay Example

Before the Holocaust, European Jews had lived peacefully enjoying freedom and autonomy. The consequences of racism, discrimination, and anti-Semitism are explored in the holocaust. Life in ghettoes was tough, intolerable and unbearable. The Jews existed under the complete control of the Nazi guards who mistreated and even murdered them. Jewish councils were responsible for carrying out Nazi orders in the ghettoes. The living conditions were poor and people were very crowded, with the smallest ghetto housing about 3,000 people.

The unsanitary conditions exposed people to many diseases especially the contagious diseases. Food was scarce forcing some people to beg or to be engaged in theft in order to earn their living. Sometimes in Warsaw ghetto, small children would crawl through narrow openings in the ghetto wall to smuggle food for their families and friends from the ‘Aryan side.’ In addition, smuggling of medicine, weapons or intelligence into the ghettoes via underground canals or by bribing guards at the gates was common.

Moreover, in order to keep the ghetto residents alive, some Jewish council encouraged illicit trade of goods. Most people became weak due to hunger and exposure to cold made them be at high risk of contracting diseases. Over 75,000 people died of starvation, illness and cold, while other hopeless individuals killed themselves, leaving many children orphaned.By April 1941, mortality rate in the ghettoes had increased to more than six thousand people per month.