Editing Warsaw Ghetto (section)

== Establishment of the ghetto ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-001-0285-05A, Warschau, beschädigtes Gebäude.jpg|thumb|Karmelicka Street 11 from Nowolipia September/October 1939]]
{{location mark|type=thumb|image=Warsaw Ghetto.svg |width=250 |x%=46.2 |y%=22.6 |caption=Anachronistic map with borders of the Warsaw Ghetto in November 1940, with location of ''[[Umschlagplatz]]'' for awaiting [[Holocaust train|death trains]] |mark_width=6 }}
{{main|Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland}}
[[File:Aerial photograph of the destroyed Warsaw Ghetto.jpg|thumb|Aerial photograph of the northern Warsaw Ghetto area after its destruction, probably 1944]]
By the end of the [[September campaign]] the number of Jews in and around the capital increased dramatically with thousands of refugees escaping [[Battle of the Border|the Polish-German front]].<ref name="Berg"/> In less than a year, the number of refugees in Warsaw exceeded 90,000.<ref name=Bielawski/> On October 12, 1939, the [[General Government]] was established by Adolf Hitler in the occupied area of central Poland.<ref name=Grzesik/> The Nazi-appointed Jewish Council ([[Judenrat]]) in Warsaw, a committee of 24 people headed by [[Adam Czerniaków]], was responsible for carrying out German orders.<ref name=Bielawski/> On October 26, the Jews were mobilized as forced laborers to clear bomb damage and perform other hard labor. One month later, on November 20, the bank accounts of Polish Jews and any deposits exceeding 2,000 [[Polish złoty|zł]] were blocked.<ref name=Grzesik/> On November 23, all Jewish establishments were ordered to display a [[Jewish star]] on doors and windows. Beginning December 1, all Jews older than ten were compelled to wear [[Yellow badge|a white armband]], and on December 11, they were forbidden from using public transit.<ref name=Grzesik/> On January 26, 1940, the Jews were banned from holding [[Jewish prayer|communal prayers]] due to "the risk of spreading epidemics."<ref name="Trunk"/> [[Ration stamp|Food stamps]] were introduced by the German authorities, and measures were stepped up to liquidate all Jewish communities in the vicinity of Warsaw intensified. The Jewish population of the capital reached 359,827 before the end of the year.<ref name=Bielawski/>
[[File:Warsaw Jews 1940 - 50994.jpg|thumb|[[Roundup (history)|Roundup]] of Jewish men for forced labor by the [[Order Police battalions]], [[Krakowskie Przedmieście]], March 1940]]

On the orders of Warsaw District Governor [[Ludwig Fischer]], the ghetto wall construction started on April 1, 1940, circling the area of Warsaw inhabited predominantly by Jews. The work was supervised by the Warsaw Judenrat.<ref name=Fuks/> The Nazi authorities expelled 113,000 ethnic Poles from the neighbourhood, and ordered the relocation of 138,000 Warsaw Jews from the suburbs into the city center.<ref name=Bergman/> On October 16, 1940, the creation of the ghetto was announced by the German governor-general, [[Hans Frank]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDonough |first1=Frank |title=The Holocaust |date=2008 |publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education |location=London |isbn=978-1-137-02048-2 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4kdBQAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> The initial population of the ghetto was 450,000 confined to an area of {{convert|307|ha|acre}}.<ref name=Bielawski/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Sakowska |first1=Ruta |title=The Warsaw Ghetto 1940–1945 |date=1996 |publisher=R. Nowicki |isbn=978-83-904639-1-9 |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xz0pAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> Before [[the Holocaust]] began the number of Jews imprisoned there was between 375,000<ref name=Levin/> and 400,000 (about 30% of the general population of the capital).<ref name="USHMM1"/> The area of the ghetto constituted only about 2.4% of the overall metropolitan area.<ref name="warsaw-life"/>
[[File:Warsaw Ghetto footbridge 05.jpg|thumb|Warsaw Ghetto wall and footbridge over Chłodna Street in 1942]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-270-0298-10, Polen, Ghetto Warschau, Drahtzaun.jpg|thumb|right|Corner of Żelazna 70 and Chłodna 23 (looking east). This section of Żelazna street connected the "large ghetto" and "small ghetto" areas of German-occupied Warsaw.]]

The Germans closed the Warsaw Ghetto to the outside world on November 15, 1940.<ref name="Berg"/> The wall around it was {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} high and topped with [[barbed wire]]. Escapees were shot on sight. German policemen from [[Order Police battalions|Battalion 61]] used to hold victory parties on the days when a large number of prisoners were shot at the ghetto fence.{{sfnp|Browning|1998|p=41}} The borders of the ghetto changed and its overall area was gradually reduced, as the captive population was decreased by outbreaks of infectious diseases, mass hunger, and regular executions.<ref name=Bergman/>

The ghetto was divided in two along Chłodna Street ''{{ill|Ulica Chłodna w Warszawie|pl}}'', which was excluded from it, due to its local importance at that time (as one of Warsaw's east–west thoroughfares).<ref>{{cite AV media |year=2016 |title=Chłodna Street |location=Warsaw |publisher=Google Maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/52%C2%B014'13.0%22N+20%C2%B059'18.0%22E/@52.236011,20.9878609,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d52.236944!4d20.988333 |id=52°14'13.0"N 20°59'18.0"E }}</ref> The area south-east of Chłodna was known as the "Small Ghetto", while the area north of it became known as the "Large Ghetto". The two zones were connected at an intersection of Chłodna with Żelazna Street, where a special gate was built. In January 1942, the gate was removed and a wooden footbridge was built over it,<ref name=Kajczyk/> which became one of the postwar symbols of [[the Holocaust in occupied Poland]].<ref name=JDC>John D Clare (2014), [http://www.johndclare.net/Nazi_Germany3_WarsawGhetto.htm The Warsaw Ghetto, 1940–43.] Modern World History Topics.</ref>