Warsaw ghetto

Area in the centre of Warsaw established by the Nazis in 1940 into which some 433,000 Jews were crowded.

In September 1940 non-Jews were ordered to leave a predominantly Jewish area in central Warsaw, and in October Jews living elsewhere in the city were sent into the ghetto. The ghetto, covering an area of approximately 2.5 sq km/1.5 sq mi, was walled in and gated. An estimated 43,000 of its inhabitants died from starvation and disease in 1941, followed by some 37,000 in the first nine months of 1942. In July 1942 shipments of Jews to the extermination camp at Treblinka began. On 19 April 1943 a detachment of SS were sent into the ghetto to round up the remaining inhabitants and destroy the buildings. Rather than submit, the Jews fought back with small arms and grenades they had managed to acquire. Resistance ended on 16 May when the main synagogue was blown up. Many Jews escaped via the sewers and joined the Polish Home Army.