ghetto

Graves in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto quarter of Prague. The cemetery was established in the 15th century, and was in use until 1787. The ghetto was crowded, and with very little land allowed for the cemetery, graves had to be dug several deep.

Any deprived area occupied by a minority group, whether voluntarily or not. Originally a ghetto was the area of a town where Jews were compelled to live, decreed by a law enforced by papal bull 1555. The term came into use 1516 when the Jews of Venice were expelled to an island within the city which contained an iron foundry. Ghettos were abolished, except in Eastern Europe, in the 19th century, but the concept and practice were revived by the Germans and Italians 1940-45.