Conditions inside the Warsaw Ghetto were very poor. An average of over seven people shared each room. Whilst the Jewish Council administered the ghetto, they did so at the jurisdiction of the Nazis. The Warsaw Jewish Council was led by its chairman, Adam Czerniaków .

Food

From the outset, rations for food were minimal and starvation was common. Rations were initially set at approximately 800 calories a day – less than half of the daily recommended allowance for women (2000 calories per day) and men (2500 calories per day). The rations consisted of bread, potatoes, and ersatz fat. In attempts to supplement their diets, ghetto inhabitants organised a thriving black market where goods could be exchanged for food.

Smuggling food into the ghetto became a common survival method. Children often wriggled through the sewers to enter the city outside of the ghetto and sneak food back in. Others paid off Nazi gate guards, and some even climbed the 10ft wall.  Some of those outside the ghetto also used the inhabitants’ unfortunate circumstances to their advantage, importing food and medicine into the ghetto to the highest bidder.

Work

Almost a year prior to the establishment of the ghetto, on 26 October 1939, forced labour was made compulsory for all Jewish men and boys aged 14 – 60. This was extended to men and boys aged 12-60 in January 1940. Some Jews managed to keep their jobs following ghettoisation in Warsaw, but most were made unemployed.

As the war effort continued, the need for cheap, and preferably free, labour increased. The Nazis increasingly turned to utilising the incarcerated Jews for forced labour such as construction work. By the summer of 1940, the Jewish Council in Warsaw was asked to supply lists of able-bodied Jewish men to work in labour camps. Failure to supply the amount of men asked for resulted in random round-ups of Jewish men in the streets. Conditions in the camps were abysmal , and workers sent there would often die as a result of the lethal conditions, or return back to the ghetto scarred by their experiences. Workers were not paid for their efforts.

Hygiene

With over 400,000 people crowded into an area of 1.3 square miles, hygiene immediately became an issue in the ghetto. Many homes did not have access to running water. Soap was sparse and of poor quality. In addition to this, there were just five public bath houses, serving approximately 17,000 people a month.

Whilst conditions in the ghetto were extremely difficult, some inhabitants were determined to continue cultural aspects of their previous life.

Despite education being banned at almost all levels, there were schools throughout the ghetto. Adults could also attend seminars and lectures , often led by those at the top of their field, such as Professor Hirszfeld , a prominent bacteriologist who led lectures for medical students. Until 1942, Jewish book stores also operated in the ghetto.

There were also several theatres which showed plays, as well as artists, musicians, bands and writers, who published covertly.

From 15 January 1941, inhabitants of the ghetto could also send and receive post through the Warsaw Post Office based in the ghetto. Post was unreliable and could be temporarily suspended. It was also censored and could only be sent to neutral countries not at war with Germany.  Despite these challenges, the postal service meant that inhabitants could receive food packages from relatives in Poland or abroad, and spread the word about the poor conditions there, albeit using indirect language or drawings.

Jews in the ghetto resisted Nazi rule and the conditions imposed on them in different ways.

Perhaps the most common form of resistance took place in the form of smuggling basic supplies over, under or through the ghetto walls. Estimates suggest that between 80 – 97.5% of the total food intake of all inhabitants entered the ghetto this way. Without this form of resistance, thousands more people would have died from starvation.

Others Jews imprisoned in the ghetto resisted the Nazis by continuing to take part in religious activities and holidays, despite these often being banned. Participants were subject to extreme punishments if caught. An example of this religious resistance in the ghetto was the group prayers held in secret at the house of Rabbi Szapiro .

Similarly, some set up schools, despite the ban on education for Jews. Others created or attended other cultural activities, such as plays, exhibitions, cabaret performances, and cafés with live music.

The historian Emanuel Ringelblum , in collaboration with others such as Rachel Auerbach , resisted Nazi rule from within the ghetto by creating an archive documenting the Nazi crimes. Ringelblum’s collection became known as the Oyneg Shabes  archive. Facing the threat of deportation to Treblinka extermination camp , Oyneg Shabes buried their extensive collection in milk cans and metal boxes to prevent the archive from falling into the hands of the Nazis. After the war, some of this record was dug up and rediscovered.

Some Jews also physically resisted the Nazi rule. The most largest and most significant case of armed resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

On 22 July 1942, the Jewish Council of Warsaw published a Nazi notice to the ghetto, stating that almost all of its inhabitants would be deported to camps in the east, regardless of age or gender. Mass deportations began, and by 12 September 1942 approximately 300,000 of the ghetto’s inhabitants had been deported to the Treblinka extermination camp or murdered. Roughly 50,000 people remained in the ghetto.

When the deportations halted in September, the utter despair felt by many Jews throughout the mass deportations hardened into growing resistance. As the historian Emanuel Ringelblum , who was incarcerated in the ghetto, noted ‘it seems to me that people will no longer go to the slaughter like lambs. They want the enemy to pay dearly for their lives. They’ll fling themselves at them with knives, staves, coal gas…they’ll not allowed themselves to be seized in the street, for they know that work camp means death these days’ [The Journal of Emanuel Ringelblum, Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto, Jacob Sloan (ed.) (McGraw-Hill Book Company, USA, 1958), p.326].

Inhabitants of the ghetto had heard rumours of the extermination camps operating in the east, and many guessed what fate awaited them. Determined not to be taken to their deaths, preparations were made to resist the Germans should any more deportations take place. These preparations were led by a variety of resistance groups, such as the Jewish Combat Organisation and Jewish Military Union .

At 6am on 18 January 1943, deportations from the ghetto were resumed. As the Germans began to gather Jews, the remaining inhabitants in the ghetto surprised the Nazis by defying orders, hiding, and putting up an armed resistance. Several Nazi soldiers were injured, and, by 21 January 1943, the deportations ceased. Between 5000 and 6500 Jews were taken to be deported to camps in the east.

Following this resistance, Jews built bunkers and hideouts for a defensive battle, assuming that the Nazis would soon retaliate. They continued to collect weapons and bullets through connections with the Polish underground, and prepared for an attack.

On 19 April 1943, the Nazis began their attack, led by SS General Jürgen Stroop. Within fifteen minutes, Jewish fighters retaliated , many with handmade weapons, initially forcing the German troops to retreat on the first day.

The Nazis changed tact, and slowly destroyed the ghetto, building by building, forcing Jews remaining in hiding to appear or be killed. 27 days after the initial April attack, on 16 May 1943, the uprising was crushed by the Nazis, and the ghetto destroyed. The 42,000 survivors of the uprising were deported to concentration camps and extermination camps in the east.

While the uprising ultimately failed, it was an extremely significant display of resistance from Jews in Warsaw. It delayed the Germans timeline of deportations, and inspired other resistance movements across the German-occupied areas.