The Germans claimed the need to create ghettos was primarily out of concerns for safety. False information was spread that Jews carried infectious diseases and therefore their isolation was necessary to stop the spreading of these diseases to the non-Jewish inhabitants of cities. Other arguments were economic, for instance that isolating Jews allowed the German authorities to monitor their business activities. Moreover, Nazi propaganda spread the opinion that Jews allegedly did not like to work. In this respect the ghettos were treated as ‘educational’ measures aimed to force the Jews to work.
All these justifications were made up for propaganda purposes and had nothing to do with the real plans concerning the ghettos. Practically from the very start the Germans planned to eliminate the Jews, so the ghettos were treated as a stage in the realisation of this policy. As evidence may serve a letter sent by the president of the Kalisz Regierungsbezirk, Friedrich Übelhör, on 10 December 1939, concerning the organisation of an isolated and closed neighbourhood for Jews in Łódź. He stressed out, that ‘the creation of the ghetto is of course only a transitional measure. … The goal is to burn out this ulcer completely’. Therefore, from the beginning on, the ghetto was to one of the main instruments for annihilating the Jews. The living conditions created in ghettos served to realize German plans for the economic exploitation of the Jews, followed by their complete extermination in death camps.
