Radom Ghetto

Radom Ghetto was created in Radom by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland in March of 1941. Liquidation of the Ghetto begun in August 1942 and ended in July 1944.

Background

Radom fell to Germans during the invasion of Poland in September 8, 1939; at that time Radom population was at 81,000, out of which 25,000 were Jews.^[1] Many Jews were pressed into forced labor, one of their first tasks was the rebuilding the local arms factory which would serve as the major local employee throughout the war.^[1] Germans also forced the Jews to pay contributions, and seized their property.^[1] Around September-October of 1939 the Radom Synagogue was desecrated by the Germans.^[1] A Judenrat was estabilished in Radom around December 1939 / January 1940, and played a major role as the intermediary between the Germans and the local Jewish community.^[1] Around late 1940 and early 1941 about 10,000 Radom Jews were deported to other communities, and in turn, Radom received Jews deported from other places, such as Kraków.^[1] Around spring 1941 there were about 32,000 Jews in Radom.^[1]

Ghetto

An order to create the ghettos in Radom was issued in March 1941; at the same time a Jewish Ghetto Police force was created in Radom.^[1] The local Jews were given 10 days to move into the areas allocated for the ghetto. Ghetto's gates were closed by April 7.^[1] About 33,000 local Polish Jews were gathered there. Most of the ghetto was not walled; the barriers were formed by building themselves, and the street exists were guarded by Jewish and Polish police.^[1]

There were two ghettos in Radom, the "large ghetto" at Wałowa street at Śródmieście district and the "small ghetto" at Glinice district.^[1]

As with many other ghettos, starvation was not uncommon, as German allotted rations for a person in ghetto were 100 grams (3.5 oz) of bread per day. Nonetheless the conditions in the Radom Ghetto were on average better than in many other contemporary ghettos.^[1]

In the first months of 1942 German Nazis carried out several actions arresting or killing on spot various leaders of the Jewish community; this also decimated the Judenrat.^[1] Nazis begun to liquidate the Radom Ghetto in earnest starting with August 1942 as part of the Operation Reinhard.^[1] The first large deportation emptied the smaller Glinice ghetto.^[1] Later that month many Jews of the remaining larger ghetto were deported as well; hundreds were killed during the process.^[1] By the end of August only about 2,000 Jews remained in Radom.^[1] The deported Jews were sent to concentration camps (primarily Treblinka and Auschwitz). The remnants of the Radom ghetto were turned into a temporary labor camp.^[1]

The last Radom Jews were evicted in June 1944, when on June 26 the last inhabitants were deported to Auschwitz.^[1] Only a few hundred Jews from Radom survived the war.

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s “Radom” Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume VII (Poland), Translation of “Radom” chapter from Pinkas Hakehillot Polin, Published by Yad Vashem

External links

www.deathcamps.org/occupation/radom%20ghetto.html - Radom Ghetto
www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/radom.html Radom, Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team
From the Testimony of Marlot Wandel on Hiding in the Radom Ghetto, Yad Vashem
From the Testimony of Marlot Wandel on Work in Radom Ghetto, Yad Vashem

[radom-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s “Radom” Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Poland, Volume VII (Poland), Translation of “Radom” chapter from Pinkas Hakehillot Polin, Published by Yad Vashem

[1]

Background

Ghetto

Notes

Further reading

External links