Ghetto

Ghetto refers to a demarcated, isolated residential area in which a particular ethnic, religious or social group is forced to live. During the Second World War, many Jewish people in Nazi-occupied territories were deported to so-called ghettos, where they were forced to live in extreme conditions of hunger, disease and violence.

The best-known example is the Warsaw Ghetto, but there were many others in Poland, Eastern Europe and other occupied countries. The ghettos served as collection points before people were deported to concentration and extermination camps.

The term "ghetto" originated in 16th century Venice, where the Jewish community had to live in a segregated area called a "ghetto" - named after the Venetian word "geto", which means "waste" or "foundry", as there was originally a metal foundry in the area. The ghettos of the Second World War, however, were an extremely violent system of persecution and systematic extermination that took the history of the term in a new, tragic direction.