Poland The Warsaw Ghetto The Germans established first Jewish ghettos in the German territory and later on in other European countries they invaded. Jewish ghettos were created in Poland, in the Soviet Union (also in the former Polish lands), and in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Greece. In Belgium, the Germans ordered Jews to reside only in Brussels, Antwerp, Liège and Charleroi; in the Netherlands Jews were allowed to reside in Amsterdam only. Jews from various occupied countries of Europe were deported to the ghettos in the East, amongst them to Łódź, Lublin, Mińsk, Ryga, and to extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Bełżec, Sobibór.
In Poland, the largest ghettos were established in Warsaw (500,000 residents), Łódź and Białystok. Initially some ghettos were not sealed off; crossing the boundaries, however, was punishable by death. Poles who provided help to Jews were also sentenced to death. Despite these cruel restrictions, Poles rescued approximately 200,000 Jews. Occasionally, a single Polish family provided shelter for over a dozen Jews. For such help, the entire family of Cz. Sawicki – 26 people in total – was shot dead in the village of Grabówka near Białystok, whereas in the Ciepielów county 33 Poles were burnt alive. Poles active in the resistance movement organized escapes from the ghettos or the camps and arranged
Jewish youth from various continents pay homage to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw 54