What+was+the+common++sentiment+in+the+Warsaw+Ghetto?



The ghetto residents' thoughts and feelings slowly evolved from hope to reckless despair as they approached their own destruction. When the Nazis had first entered Warsaw on September 29, many of the Jews had seen them as saviors rather than oppressors. The citizens of Warsaw had had to endure the constant bombardment and air attacks of the Nazis for almost a month, and many were looking forward to a peaceful occupation, believing that the violence was now over. "The Poles had been fighting over bits of raw horseflesh and were drinking contaminated water from the nearby Vistula River, unable to sanitize it by boiling because of the lack of fuel. The German army, which in a display of strenght and victory came goose-stepping into Warsaw, could not have been more different from these half-starved citizens. The Jews of Warsaw had heard tales of the violent anti-Semitism the Nazis practiced, but these soldiers hardly looked the part. They were confident, robust, and well fed--and to some residents of Warsaw they seemed far more heroic than evil" (Stewart 22). Many also remembered that during a similar occupation during World War I, the Germans had behaved with decency and respect towards Poland. Many were expecting the same treatment again, despite the disturbing rumors that Hitler had something much more horrible in mind (Stewart 22-23).

The citizens' ideas about the Germans soon proved false as all Jews were ordered into the 1.3 square mile Warsaw Ghetto. As conditions worsened, and many began to die of starvation and disease, the mood of the ghetto residents rapidly changed to one of hopelessness and despair. The Jews realized that they had been condemned to a horrible fate. When the [|deportations] began, they became rebellious. They had heard the rumors of what awaited them in the concentration camps, and many Jews decided that they would rather go down fighting, even though they knew that they would never be able to win (United States Holocaust Museum 18-21). Their goal, instead, was to avenge those that had fallen, and to show the Nazis that eliminating an entire people wasn't as easy as they thought. It was this mood of reckless despair that led to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (Jewish Resistance).

Written by Wyatt Falcone

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