for work camps. Men usually stayed home as they were often kidnapped, so in addition to caring for any children, women had to go out to look for work or sell what meager possessions they had for money and food. Men also had a much lower tolerance for starvation, so their spouses would come home to the food they had saved to share with their children eaten many times. Marital strife skyrocketed, mothers could not stand to see their children suffer and often adopted them into willing Polish families with whatever money they had. The lack of running water and sanitation also led to Typhus outbreaks, a disease spread through lice, that hospitalized and killed thousands. By 1941, Jews could no longer step outside their ghetto’s boundary. and Poles could not enter. Violation of this rule, again, led to execution. But even if they followed all the rules, Nazis would still come around to execute or torture those named on lists, or even whoever they wanted. Starvation, illness, and fear were now rampant in the ghettos.
(above) With little notice, Jewish families take as many belongings as they can carry before being forced into the ghettos. Most of these belongings would have to be sold for lack of space or for money and food.
But there was still a glimmer of hope bolstered by Jewish teachings and customs. Before the war, Jewish youth groups affiliated with different political parties (the same ones that had been vying for control over Poland) provided a sense of community and guidance to young Jews who felt lost and alone and continued to do so now with their new lives in the ghettos. Many groups, including the various Labor Zionist youth groups which were more secular, promoted nationalism, heroism, and individual sacrifice and put them into Jewish contexts; the people you cared about and the connections you made Jewish Sisters
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