The Lodz Ghetto

My topic for National History day is the Lodz Ghetto. I chose this topic because I am interested in the treatment involving children. The Lodz Ghetto was created because of the Nazi invasion of Poland. It is the second largest ghetto that the Nazis created. On September 1,1939 the Nazi Germans attacked Poland and the Lodz were captured that same month. The majority of the population was made up of Jews. The Nazis believed having the Jews in one area would make administration much more simple. As far as the children, majority of them were killed. Germans and collaborators killed as many as 1.5 million children. Over a million of those children were Jewish. If a child was 13-18 years old, their chances of living were much higher than those 12 and under. The older kids would still be forced to do labor. The children’s fate became categorized. Any children would be killed once they arrived in killing centers. Most children were killed immediately after birth or standing foot in an institution. If a child was born in a camp or the ghetto; they were killed as well. Kids 12 and older were used for labor or for medical experiments. Jewish children typically died from starvation and lack of clothing or shelter. Germans wanted to kill all the young kids because they thought of them as “useless eaters.” The young kids we not stable enough to be deployed to labor jobs, so the young kids, the ill people, and old people were shipped to killing centers. They would then shoot them. Once Auschwitz-Birkenau and other killing centers arose, the camp authorities sent the majority of the children to gas chambers. A non-Jewish child from a certain groups would not be killed. If a child was spared and used as a medical experiment; they would typically still die. The children attempted just about any task in order to remain living. The children and people of the Lodz Ghetto had few to no rights. The Nazi Germans has all control of them and kept a strict handle on people. I am really excited to learn more and more about this topic. 






Reading Post:

Title: Lightening Thief

1-8-14  (20 min)
1-9-14 (30 min)
1-10-14 (30min)
1-12-14 (45 min)

total = 125 min