CU5-11

**1. Gain the attention of the learner** Ask the students whether they know what a ghetto is. “The compulsory ghettos officially disappeared in the 19th century, although in a number of cities Jews continued to live in separate quarters for various reasons. Compulsory ghettos, under the most inhuman conditions, were re-established in Poland during the Nazi occupation after 1939.”  **6. Close the lesson** Show students pictures of paintings and etchings of the old European ghettos and photographs of the same areas today.
 * 5:11** **The Origins of the Ghetto**
 * Goal** Students will learn about the origins of the ghetto and about life in these communities, including the particulars of identification, restrictions, and persecutions (which presages the treatment of Jews during the Holocasust).
 * 2. Relevant past learning** Review the expulsion of the Jews from the Spain, the Ashkenazi Diaspora, and the role of the Church in the persecution of the Jews.
 * 3. Introduce new material** In 1516, the church ordered that walls be built around the Jewish Quarter of Venice. The name ghetto came from the foundry near the walled community. These ghettos began spreading all through this portion of Europe. Now their choice of maintaining separate lives was used against them as the walls were built so were other forms of persecution. Jews were forced to wear badges on their clothing. They weren’t allowed to own land, joining craft guilds, or do any work Christians did. The Jewish communities were taxed heavily. It encouraged Jews to create strong communities. Life inside the ghetto was better than life for Jews outside the ghetto. Outside the ghetto it was everyone for oneself. Inside the ghetto the rich helped the less fortunate. Everyone was treated decently regardless of the economic fortune. There lives were cramped together, but they made the best of it: working together, praying together, celebrating and morning together. From “The New Jewish Encylcopedia,” p.167: “Compulsory ghettos existed in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, of which the best known were those in Rome, Venice, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Prague and Triests. The efrorced ghettos were intended as a means of persecution and as a measure for the prevention of contact between Jewish and the non-Jewish populations. However, in the course of Jewish history there were also voluntary ghettos established by Jews themselves, in order to protect themselves behind walls when living in other areas of a city was dangerous, and often a tightly-knit self-government resulted.
 * 4. Provide guided practice** Think about groups in your community who live together as a group. Do any of these situations resemble the ghetto?
 * 5. Provide independent practice** Ask students to imagine living in the ghetto and write a description of what their lives would be like as students living in this time period in an outside of the ghetto. Remember there wasn’t any formal schooling for girls.