Comparing Ghettos and Concentration Camps

Do you know the difference between Concentration Camps and Ghettos? Well at first neither did I, if you continue to read this essay you will see many comparisons between Concentration Camps and Ghettos! Sadly, did you know that on average about 6,000 Jews died in a day at Concentration Camps versus, at Ghettos, only about 300 Jews died in a day? Unfortunately, this is true but if you want to see more facts, statistics, and more read on... Although there are evident similarities between Concentration Camps and Ghettos the differences are striking!

To start off both Concentration Camps and Ghettos had similar living conditions and had similar daily challenges.  One author states that people in Concentration Camps and in Ghettos looked like living skeletons and that most people living in these places had little hope of survival (Wachsmann 2). Most humans living in these places only lived for weeks and sometimes if you were lucky, a few months...People in Concentration Camps and in  Ghettos would most likely die from diseases, starvation, or from being shot…Diseases would spread rapidly due to the unsanitary living conditions, and because of this most people living in these places were ill.  Life in Concentration Camps and in Ghettos was usually unbearable and overcrowded. People weakened day by day from the exposure of the cold during the long winters... And because of the cold, it made it hard for the people to survive living in these places from the lack of clothing to keep them warm! And finally, I think all of these facts contribute to the idea that there were some similar daily challenges, living conditions, and more between these 2 places!

Although there were similarities between both of these places, the differences are striking. To start off one difference between these two places was where they lived…People in Ghettos would stay in apartments with plumbing that was broken down and sometimes up to seven families would stay in one apartment (Life in Ghettos 1).

In Concentration Camps, people would stay in scarcely ventilated barracks and would sleep on bunk beds. People would be crammed into tiny bunks with no blankets or pillows, and since the bunk beds were so small some people would have to sleep on the floor...Another striking difference is that kids in Ghettos were able to escape by crawling under the walls of the Ghetto to help find resources for their families. But in Concentration Camps, people were held captive 24/7 unable to escape the perimeter. Another difference between these two places was what their purposes were, Ghettos were designed to segregate Jews from everybody else but on the other hand Concentration Camps were forced labor camps. And you might be wondering what clothes they had, well… At Concentration Camps, people were given uniforms and shoes or clogs (The Struggle to Survive 7). But at Ghettos, people were not given certain uniforms or clothes nor shoes. And finally different types of Concentration Camps and Ghettos...There really were not different types of Concentration Camps because they all had the same intention, but for Ghettos it was different. There were open and closed Ghettos, open Ghettos had no fences or walls around the perimeter but closed Ghettos had fences and walls surrounding them. And I believe that all of these facts contribute to my theory that there are some striking differences between Concentration Camps and Ghettos.