Executive Summary.

This is going to take the form of a sketch of a history of the Ghetto from the perspective of research material prior to developing outlines for the Black Box Factory stories. It is not intended to be a full book review or a historical treatment of Mr. Gutman’s work, but a simple set of notes I think might be useful or otherwise important to the development of the Black Box Factory world, in particular the first story detailing how that world came about and what it actually means.

I would thoroughly recommend becoming familiar with the book itself in the event of any need to contextualize these notes. The notes themselves are no substitute for being personally familiar with the history itself, especially if this book is combined with the history through the eyes of another writer than Mr. Gutman. One source is never really enough.

My Notes.

The story of the Warsaw Ghetto can be divided into six sections and I’ll run through them very quickly since my goal isn’t to write either a history paper or a book review.

1 – The Occupation.

• From the start of the Occupation, the Nazi forces engaged in kidnappings to supply forced labor, frequently physical, demeaning, dehumanizing and in hostile conditions, conscripting an initial average of 381 per day in October ’39 and rising to 9,000 per day in August of the following year, with the complicity of the Judenrat, the Jewish representative council.
• Importantly, from the beginning of the Occupation the Youth Movements began trying to seek out their members in the confusion with the goals including cohesion and member welfare.
• Jews within the Occupied Territory were quickly subjected to limits to their financial activities, such as restrictions in pay, restrictions in how much cash could be withdrawn at a time, and how much cash on hand could be maintained.
• The Nazi occupiers wasted little time in surveying the religiosity of the residents. The purposes of this are obvious in hindsight. Not at the same time, but as part of the overall process, Jewish converts were identified to the Occupiers as well. The identifying Star of David armbands were mandated about 11 weeks into the occupation.
• “Trustees” were appointed over Jewish owned businesses and began firing Jewish employees. This was the beginning of the complete disenfranchisement of Jews from the wider economy. Coupled with the restrictions on pay for Jews and the massive restriction on rations issued to Jews, this was an effective part of the plan to starve the Jewish population, giving relief efforts the dilemma of whether to feed a limited section of the population deemed able to survive or attempt to feed everyone and have the whole population starve slowly.
• As part of the overarching “Aryanization” plan, the Nazis began deporting Jews from the Reich itself to the East, including to Warsaw.
• On 21 January 1940, bread retailed for 150 Zlotys – approx. $900 (2015 USD) – per kilo. A typical modern loaf weighing about half a pound or 250g would therefore cost $225 in 2015 dollars.
• By April 1940 there were 72 Joint Distribution Committee soup kitchens in operation, reducing to 33 in September. The soup kitchens would become extremely important later in the life of the ghetto.
• Beginning 13 April 1940, the Nazi Occupiers ordered the construction of the wall, to be paid for by the Jewish residents, ostensibly to protect the Jewish residents from attacks by Poles.
• In September 1940, Goering ordered the confiscation of all property of Polish Jews except for clothes, furniture and one thousand marks cash.
• The ghetto was officially established on 2 October 1940 and closed on 16 November 1940. During that time, any and all Jewish residents of Warsaw were required to relocate within the ghetto walls.
• The 13 Network, a mafia style organization working as Nazi stooges began to operate within the ghetto in December of 1940, smuggling and extorting until their power base, the Office to Combat Usury, was closed in July of the following year, after which their operations were curtailed rather than ended. The strong possibility exists that Auerswald, the Ghetto Kommissar, closed the office with the goal of impeding the 13 Network he viewed as operating under the protection of the SD, the SS Intelligence.
• By December of 1941, over 200,000 residents of the Ghetto had been reduced to destitution. The total population was a little over a quarter of a million.
• The Jewish Police, established with the Nazi goal of ending the smuggling of food into the Ghetto, were initially comprised mostly of educated members of the upper class. Before long, the Police were active participants in the smuggling. The Nazi effort to end smuggling reduced the number of gates from 22 at the time of the Ghetto establishment to 4 at the start of mass deportations on 22 July 1942.
• By February 1942, Einsatzgruppe A were actively involved in ethnic cleansing murders in the Occupied territories.
• 18 April 1942 saw a night of slaughter during which scores of Jewish residents were murdered, the target seemingly being the 13 Network and the Jewish underground, forcing the Jewish underground leaders further underground.
• Rumors of the commencement of mass deportations were denied by all members of the SS up to and including the Ghetto Kommissar right up until the day prior to their implementation.

2 – Mass Deportations.

• Beginning on 22 July 1942 and operating until 12 September 1942, over a quarter of a million Jewish Ghetto inhabitants were involuntarily deported to Treblinka II.
• The Mass Deportations began with threats to hostages, including the wife of the Chair of the Judenrat, who committed suicide within 48 hours, and gradually became more brutal, quickly ignoring papers exempting workers for German companies and instilling fear in the population in order to maintain the quota of 6,000 deportees per day. The population were repeatedly misled both about the extent of the deportations and about the selection process for deportees, in other words who would be deported and who would remain.
• In August and a number of times after, promises of food, such as bread and jam, were made as a motivation for starving members of the population to come forward for deportation.
• Also beginning in August, the Jewish Fighting Organization began arson attacks on factories and workshops slated for closure and whose employees faced deportation.
• On 21 August, the first shipment of arms arrived for the Jewish Fighting Organization.
• By the end of the Mass Deportations, the official population of the Ghetto stood at 36,000, mostly male. With effectively no children or residents over 60, the Ghetto functioned as a mass labor camp.

3 – Intermission.

• Between the end of Mass Deportations on 12 September 1942 and 18 January 1943, the situation in the ghetto changed. The underground grew, especially the Jewish Fighting Organization, and preparations were made for a resumption of Mass Deportations which, although denied by the Nazi Occupiers, were nonetheless expected.
• The Ghetto was broken up into four sections, the largest being the Central Ghetto. The other satellite ghettos were centered on industrial operations, these being the “Shops” District, the “Brushmakers’ Shop” area, and the enclave of “Little Tobens'” shop, named after the German owner of that particular shop.
• Jewish residents were further concentrated close by these operations and tighter curfews were enforced.
• The Jewish Fighting Organization became more directly active and began targeting collaborators and conducted a number of assassinations.
• In January, Himmler made a personal visit to the Ghetto and ordered liquidation by 15 February 1943.

4 – The January Aktion.

• The January Aktion began 18 January 1943 and lasted through 21 January.
• The population was significantly less compliant and on the second day the streets were deserted.
• Five of the Jewish Fighting Organizations combat groups gave battle and the Jewish Fighting Organization quickly learns to avoid frontal clashes, concentrating instead on ambushes to secure additional weapons.
• As well as the few armed resisters, unarmed resistance also impeded the Nazi operation and in one instance some 60 Bund members refused to comply and were killed.
• It is still unclear whether the aktion was as abortive as it appears, or whether the goals were different, but those conducting the operation were harassed by armed gunmen, faced with an intransigent population and resorted to open slaughter before the operation ended.

5 – Jewish Control of the Ghetto.

• The most noticeable change following the withdrawal of Nazi forces was the absence of curfews. Suddenly the streets were available at all hours and significantly safer. .
• During this period, the residents began establishing bunkers, becoming increasingly more elaborate and sophisticated, including power and water supplies.
• The Jewish Fighting Organization took the opportunity to reorganize and consolidate, establishing a policy of permanently having active combat units deployed across the Ghetto in readiness fora resumption of the deportations.
• Attempts to encourage voluntary deportations continued as Himmler ordered the Ghetto liquidated and all German business operations using Jewish labor relocated. Tobbens, perhaps the largest, certainly the most prominent German businessman operating in Warsaw described in Guttman’s book, actively worked to encourage cooperation, but was directly opposed by the Jewish Fighting Organization.
• The attempts to encourage volunteers were not entirely unsuccessful, however, Nazi quotas were not met.

6 – The Liquidation.

• The final effort to liquidate the Ghetto began on 20 April 1943, with the Nazis expecting resistance similar to the January Aktion.
• In one instance, Nazi forces, receiving fire and unable to proceed, under a white flag called for a 15 minute truce and negotiations. They were answered with gunfire. While I personally can’t condone opening fire on a white flag, it was unbelievably naive of the Nazis to expect more honor for the flag of truce than they had ever shown in the Ghetto, and given the treatment the Jews had endured for so long, their reaction was entirely within reason.
• The Nazis quickly switch from large groups to small bands.
• The Jewish Fighting Organization quickly finds itself unable to hold static positions and switches to mobile tactics.
• On the third day of the liquidation aktion, the Nazi losses are reported as 86 dead and 430 wounded.
• The Nazi slog against armed opposition and fortified bunkers continued well beyond the declared completion of the operation on 16 May 1942, with Nazi and Polish police forces continuing to take casualties in their efforts to subdue the remnants of the Ghetto.