Szydłowiec Ghetto

Members of the Boys were imprisoned in the Szydłowiec Ghetto.

The Szydłowiec Ghetto was one of a network of ghettos set up by Nazi Germany in which Jews were forced to live in occupied Poland. As with other ghettos in Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, the Szydłowiec Ghetto was established to contain the region’s Jews and isolate them from the rest of the population until the Nazi leadership could decide on an answer to the so-called “Jewish Question.”

The Boys and their families spent years living in dire conditions. The ghettos were not designed for the vast numbers of people forced to find space to live within them. As a result, multiple families shared cramped and insanitary accommodation.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

Overview

The Szydłowiec Ghetto was established in occupied Poland in 1941. At its peak, the ghetto held an estimated 16,000 Jews, including residents from Szydłowiec and those deported from surrounding areas. To find out more about Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship and the Boys who grew up there click here.

Layout

The ghetto was concentrated in the central part of Szydłowiec, near the market square and adjacent streets where many Jewish families had lived before the war. It was enclosed by wooden fences and guarded by German and Polish police. Movement in and out of the ghetto was heavily restricted, and curfews were strictly enforced.

Daily Life

Conditions in the Szydłowiec Ghetto were harsh. Families were crowded into small wooden and brick houses, with multiple families occupying each building. Sanitation was poor, leading to frequent outbreaks of typhus and other diseases. The Judenrat (Jewish Council) attempted to organise limited medical aid, but the shortage of medicine and medical staff made it difficult to control illnesses.

Food rations provided by the Germans were insufficient, forcing many to barter their remaining possessions or rely on smuggling to survive. Starvation was widespread, and deaths from malnutrition became a daily occurrence. Despite these hardships, clandestine religious and cultural activities continued, with makeshift prayer gatherings and secret lessons for children.

Most able-bodied men and older boys were forced into labour at nearby industrial sites, including ammunition factories in Skarżysko-Kamienna and railway maintenance projects. Women were assigned to sewing workshops or agricultural labour when required, while children and the elderly were largely left to fend for themselves.

Deportations

The first major deportation from the Szydłowiec Ghetto took place in early 1942, when hundreds of people were transported to Treblinka extermination camp. Many elderly and sick individuals were shot on the spot for being unable to keep up with deportation orders.

In September 1942, the final mass deportation was carried out. Nearly all of the remaining Jewish population was forcibly taken to Treblinka, where they were murdered. A small number of individuals, primarily skilled labourers, were sent to forced labour camps, including those operated by HASAG in Skarżysko-Kamienna.

Those who resisted or attempted to hide were executed in the streets or in mass graves on the outskirts of the town.

Jewish Resistance
While there was no organised uprising in the Szydłowiec Ghetto, A small number of residents managed to escape into the surrounding forests, seeking refuge with partisan groups or sympathetic Polish families. However, many of those who escaped were later captured and executed by German forces or local collaborators. A number of Jewish youth made efforts to resist during the final liquidation, but they were quickly overpowered.

Memorialisation
Today, the history of the Szydłowiec Ghetto is commemorated by a memorial at the site of the town’s Jewish cemetery. Occasional ceremonies are held by Jewish heritage organisations and local historians. To find out more about visiting Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship click here.

Teachers’ Corner

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The ’45 Aid Society is active in Holocaust Education. To find out more about the resources we offer click here.

Our Education Team can advise on how to deliver the story of the Boys by booking a suitable speaker and can help teachers devise lesson plans.

Critical Thinking Questions

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• How did Jews attempt to keep a certain amount of ‘normalcy’ and their dignity in the ghetto?
• What sort of resistance did Jews undertake in the ghetto?
• What prompted the mass deportation in 1942?
• What was the importance of slave labour to the Third Reich?

Glossary

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Aktion A Nazi military or police operation to forcibly assemble Jews prior to shootings or deportation.

Deportation Forced removal of Jews in the Third Reich and German occupied countries from their homes.

Extermination Camp A camp set up by the Nazis for the mass murder of Jews, primarily by poison gas.

Ghetto Under the Nazis a ghetto was a very clearly defined district, often walled or fenced in and surrounded by armed guards, in which only Jews were forced to live in the worst possible conditions. All, except the Theresienstadt Ghetto, were eventually dissolved and the Jews were murdered. The word ghetto was first used in Venice in 1516 to describe an area of a town or city where Jews were required to live.

Judenrat Jewish councils set up to maintain order and carry out the orders of the German army.

Selection A term for the process of separating Jews deemed suitable for hard labour from the remainder, who were then sent to their deaths. This usually took place either in a ghetto roundup or on arrival at a concentration camp.

To see the full Glossary click here.