ghetto

Jewish populations in Nazi-occupied territory were segregated into designated, enclosed districts called “ghettos.” Ghettos allowed Nazi forces to consolidate Jewish populations for deportation and extermination. These ghettos were extremely overcrowded and inadequately resourced; forced labor, starvation, and death were common. The Nazis established some 1,143 ghettos in occupied eastern Europe, the largest of which was the Warsaw Ghetto with over 400,000 people crowded into 1.3 square miles.