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Deportation to Annihilation
Jews were forced to trudge with their bundles down a main street in Krakow, Poland, during the liquidation of the city's ghetto, while armed SS guards controlled their movement and deportation.
Resettlement and DeportationThe Nazis' destruction of the Jews was systematic. At first, Jews had their civil liberties restricted, and their properties were confiscated. They were dismissed from universities and from civil service jobs, and were forbidden to practice their professions. Jewish businesses were appropriated by Aryans. Jews were isolated and not allowed to use public facilities.
Beginning in 1938, Jews were ordered by the Nazis to wear the Jewish star on their clothing as a visual identification system. (Other groups were also marked for indentification with special symbols.)
In Poland, ghettos were established soon after the Nazi invasion. Ghetto life was one of squalor, hunger, disease, and despair. There were three ways out of the ghetto: death within its walls, a perilous escape, or deportation to a death camp.
By the summer of 1942, the Nazis began liquidating the ghettos in Eastern Europe. Two years later, more than two million Jews had been transported to concentration camps, and there were few ghettos left.
Deportation was called by the Nazis "resettlement in the East"; those chosen for "resettlement" were put on transport trains, told they were going to labor camps, and advised to bring their valuables and as many belongings as they could carry. The train trip in sealed cattle cars was long and arduous. In the summer, the suffocating heat was stifling, and in the winter the cars were freezing. There was little food or water, and only a bucket for bodily functions. The stench was overwhelming. Upon arrival, the passengers were exhausted and disoriented. SomeÑnot allÑbelieved the worst was over.