ly and economically, the actual physical isolation of the Eastern European population did not begin until December 1939. The purpose of the ghetto was to create a total confinement for the Jewish population, entire neighborhoods were turned into prisons. In the ghettos, the food ration was one quarter of that available to the Germans, barely enough to survive. The water supply was contaminated in many ghettos, and epidemics of tuberculosis, typhoid, and lice were common. In the Warsaw ghetto, more than 70,000 people died of exposure, starvation, and disease during the first two winters alone. Almost all of those who survived the Warsaw ghetto were either killed when the ghetto was destroyed in 1943 or died in the death camps. The Theresienstadt ghetto was built by the Nazis in an 18th century fortress in Czechoslovakia on November 24, 1941. Over 150,000 Jews passed through that ghetto during its four-year existence. Theresienstadt was used as a “rest stop” for those eventually bound for Auschwitz. The ghettos served as holding areas for eventual transport to the camps for those who were able to survive. The Nazi concentration camps were established beginning in 1933 for the purpose of imprisoning political opponents. After the "Night of the Long Knives" management of the concentration camps was turned over to the S.S. Under this new management, the concentration camp system was expanded, and these new facilities were used to house other "undesirables," including hundreds of thousands of Jews. Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen were among the first concentration camps built.Upon arrival at a camp, the prisoners were usually stripped of their valuables and clothes. All body hair was removed, they were then disinfected, given a shower, assigned a number, and issued a prison uniform without any regard to size. The process was designed to dehumanize and demoralize the prisoners, both physically and emotionally (a broken man c...
