Warsaw was the largest Jewish community in Europe before World War I. After the start of World War I, the Nazis invaded Warsaw and turned it into a ghetto. Jews were kept in Warsaw until they could be transported to the Treblinka death camp.The Germans packed Jews into the ghetto from surrounding areas. The ghetto housed from 400,000 to 500,000 Jews at its peak. The Warsaw ghetto was so crowded that people were housed about nine people per room, still leaving people homeless. Disease spread quickly in these close quarters and food was scarce. Warsaw was first surrounded by a barbed wire fence and later walled in with brick. The Nazis forced the Jews to build a wall ten feet tall and eleven miles long around their ghetto. On July 22, 1942, the Nazis began deporting over 5,000 Jews to Treblinka per day. From July to September, over 265,000 Jews had been transferred out of Warsaw. Most of the 55,000 Jews left were young and determined. They felt that they had nothing to lose …show more content…
because their families had probably been killed. The Jews formed a group called the Jewish Fighting Organization or ZOB. ZOB was lead by twenty four year old Mordechai Anielewicz.
The Jewish Fighting Organization slowly but effectively took control of Warsaw.ZOB sent out this call “Jews of Warsaw, the hour is drawing near.
You must be prepared to resist. Not a single Jew should go to the railroad cars. Those who are unable to put up active resistance should resist passively and should go into hiding… Our slogan must be ‘All are ready to die as human beings.’" Heinrich Himmler went to the ghetto and ordered the deportation of 8,000 additional Jews. The Jews resisted and didn’t go to the deportation areas. They launched an attack on the Germans by using guerilla warfare. The Jewish fighters would attack quickly and escape using rooftops. The Nazis were cautious and wouldn’t go into cellars to the Jews set up bunkers in cellars and sewers. The Germans retreated after a few days of fighting and the Jewish fighters were encouraged. After this attack on the ghetto, ZOB fortified their bunkers and gathered more weapons to prepare for the next
battle.
German troops reentered the ghetto on April 19, 1943 to deport the rest of the Jews still in Warsaw. This operation was to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. Jewish freedom was in the hearts and minds of the Jews because the deportation was on the eve of the passover. After the Jews heard about the deportation, resistance forces were in their positions within fifteen minutes. The 750 Jewish fighters left were determined and fought back with all they had. ZOB members and other small bands of fighters ambushed the Nazis and destroyed much of their weaponry. The Germans began using gas, police dogs, and flamethrowers to defeat the Jewish fighters. The Jews continued to use sewers as bunkers even after the Nazis flooded them and even used smoke bombs to try to force the Jews out of hiding. The head of the German police, General Jürgen Stroop ordered the ghetto to be set on fire. The Jewish fighters were greatly outnumbered by the German troops but still refused to surrender.
On May 8, the German troops took over ZOB headquarters. Some Jews saw that the end was near and took their own lives to avoid being captured. The Jewish fighters ran out of ammo and the rebellion ended on May 16, 1943 when every Warsaw Jew was captured or killed. Around 7,000 Jews from the original 55,000 were shot and the rest sent to death camps. General Stroop wrote in his report on the rebellion “the ghetto is no more." The Nazis had thought the rebellion would be destroyed in three days or less but the Jews defended themselves for twenty seven days. The Jewish fighters understood the importance of resisting. They chose to defend themselves and the other Jews of Warsaw even though their chances of survival were low.