Social History of the Holocaust

In Germany, during the Holocaust, the ghettos were secluded sections of a city where the Jews were expected to live. This was the only way to guarantee that they did not interact freely with the rest of the citizens. The ghettos were characterized by scarce food, poor sanitation, poor drainage, and cramped housing systems. There were many ghettos across Europe all through the Holocaust era with the largest being Warsaw Ghetto in Poland. All the Jews were in confined spaces within the ghetto, which each ghetto being surrounded by 19-foot walls to separate it with the city. In order to differentiate the Jews from other people, Nazis forced them to wear David’s band on their coats. The bands were supposed to be worn all the time.

Life in the concentration camps depicted the most inhuman manner in which people could survive; they became known as death camps. They worked as hard laborers with minimal or no food to eat. They wore striped clothes or uniforms with identification badges to indicate the different groups of people in concentration camps. Most people in the concentration camps died from starvation, disease, and harsh treatment they experienced within the camps. Those who survived the concentration camps were herded to death camps to be killed.

The anti-Semitism feeling drove the Nazis to try to wipe out the Jewish, as they believed that they were the cause of their problems. Nazis managed to convince the ordinary citizens in where the Jews occupied of this theory, which fanned the anti-Semitic resents. People were forced to turn in any Jews they knew or risk persecution by the Nazi government. Most people decided to cooperate with the Nazis by handing over the Jews to them. They made the choice from the fear of retribution from the Nazi government. Only a few helped them to escape the country.