About the German Ghetto in Otwock

While many are aware of the existence of concentration camps and ghettos under the Nazi regime, several big name locations receive the bulk of the attention. While the Warsaw ghetto was heinous, less well-known ghettos, such as the German ghetto in Otwock, were no less terrible.

The Otwock ghetto

Otwock is a town in Poland located only about 15 miles from Warsaw. After the 1939 invasion of Poland, the Germans set up a ghetto in Otwock to confine and exploit the city's Jewish population. Some of the confined Jewish men agreed to work for the Nazis as a police force within the ghetto to ensure their own family's safety. Unfortunately, these men faced discrimination from their fellow Jews and ultimately were not treated preferentially by the Germans. Outside the ghetto's walls, some lower class Poles turned into "Jew trackers" who reported on the activity of Jews in the community and led the Germans to Jews attempting to flee.

Closing of the Otwock ghetto

The Otwock ghetto was in existence from December 1939 until September 1942. At this time, the Germans decided to liquidate the ghetto. Approximately 75 percent of the ghetto's population were deported to extermination camps such as Auschwitz, while the remaining 25 percent were shot in the streets. Prior to the camp closure, approximately 15,000 lived within its confines, later in the year, virtually every one of the Jewish prisoners were dead.

Just because the town of Otwock was smaller than other German occupied cities does not make the story of its infamous ghetto any less tragic. Between 12,000 and 15,000 Jews lost their lives as a result of this facility alone.