The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Middle Ages

In 1267 the Church Council of Wroclaw (Breslau) passed a law that provided for the separation of Jewish and Christian communities. This separation began in the city of Gnessen, which was the see of the oldest Polish diocese. After this other Polish cities began to follow the same procedure.

Although the church did not really have the authority to enforce such a law, it was able to circulate enough lies and rumors about the Jews to cause rampant anti-Semitism. Jews were only able to prosper in Poland until the 1640s because of a government decree issued by Prince Boleslaw of Kalisz defining their rights.

Answer: ghettos

Medieval Jews typically used ghettos to protect themselves and their religious traditions, and Christians used them to separate Christians from Jews. The ghettos were usually open during the day and locked at night. Jews could leave during the day to conduct business with non-Jews, and non-Jews could enter to make business transactions with Jews.

The ghetto gates were locked during Christian religious festivals. Chaim Kaplan, a ghetto resident, said the Nazis were always careful NOT to call the Jewish "quarter" a ghetto.

They said they wanted to create a new Europe, not to go back to medieval customs.

Answer: 450,000

When the Jewish Quarter was established in October of 1940, the population was estimated to be about 38% of the population of Warsaw. The area was, however, only about 4.5% of the size of the entire city; 450,000 people occupied 1.3 square miles of land. By 1943 the estimated population of the quarter was only about 71,000 due to deaths and deportations.

Answer: Judenrat

The Judenrat of Warsaw consisted of 24 members and 24 'alternates'. Most of the members were appointed by the Nazis, however. The actual decree stated that members of the Jewish community would be able to choose their membership, and the Nazis would have power to approve or change it.

The kehilla was the prewar Jewish Council. Food and clothing, among other things, were distributed by the Jewish Communal Self-Help. The Jewish police operated within the confines of the Judenrat to maintain law and order in the Quarter.

The Judenrat and Jewish police were widely seen by other Jews in the ghetto as collaborators.

Answer: cemetery

The cemetery was used because it bordered on the non-Jewish section of the city. Jews were only allocated 184 calories per day. It was impossible to observe kosher laws. Some of the Orthodox Jews preferred to starve rather than eat non-kosher food. Jews in the ghetto ran small workshops in order to have goods to barter for food (and for fresh materials for further goods).

By 1941 approximately 11,000 Warsaw Quarter inhabitants had died of hunger and this figure rose sharply in 1942-43.

Answer: None of these

The Warsaw Jews were very ingenious and imaginative; they did an admirable job of trying to carry on with life 'as usual'. While under the strict supervision of German authorities they circulated underground newspapers and even threw parties. Schools and even orchestras were organized. Emmanuel Ringleblum, whose journal was translated and published in 1953, commented that sometimes it was difficult to remember that a war was going on.

Answer: They gave medical assistance to ghetto residents

There were many organizations that were part of the Jewish Society for Social Welfare. TOZ was the Society for the Preservation of Health, CENTOS was the National Society for the Care of Orphans, and TOPOROL was the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. Believe it or not, TOPOROL planted flowers and vegetables within the walls of the Jewish Quarter, and even bred hens in incubators!

Answer: SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Rolf-Heinz Hoppner

Hoppner sent a memo to Eichmann on July 16, 1941. His plan was to exterminate the people who were not employable. Goering authorized all the necessary arrangements and preparations for a complete and 'final solution' of 'the Jewish question' in the German sphere of influence in Europe.

Answer: October 1942

Actually there were two groups in the Quarter, the Jewish Fighting Organization and the Jewish Military Organization, that organized resistance. Although they never joined, they did work together at times. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that took place in 1943 was the first major urban rebellion again the Nazi occupation anywhere in Europe.

It began on April 19 and lasted till May 16. Approximately 6,000 Jewish casualaties were reported; the remaining Jews were sent to concentration or extermination camps.

Answer: Treblinka

Deportation to a camp was thought to be the most "humane" solution, since there wasn't enough food to feed all the surviving Jews through the winter. The Jews who were not considered to be employable were deported to Majdanek (Lublin), Chelmno (Kulmhof), Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, or Auschwitz. Depending on the camp they were sent to they were either shot, sent to gas vans or gas chambers, where they were gassed with diesel fumes or with hydrogen cyanide (Zyklon-B).