What having a gold star meant in occupied Kutno, Poland

In September 1939, two weeks after the Nazis invaded Poland, Jewish residents were ordered to report to specified areas in Polish cities. This established the Jewish ghettos, a hellish district in many cities of forced labor, horrific living conditions, and death from starvation and disease.

These five images were taken in 1939 at Kutno, Poland, soon after the Jewish ghetto had been established. Doubtless the expensive Agfacolor was used to show what a benevolent occupation was going on in Poland, though of course such benevolence was not to last as soon as the cameras were gone.

Prior to World War II, approximately 6700 Jews lived in Kutno (Lodz district), constituting more than 25% of the total city population. The Germans entered Kutno on September 15, 1939 and during the first months of the occupation the synagogue was destroyed, and many Jews were taken for forced labor. A Judenrat was apparently appointed as early as November 1939, but the ghetto was only established officially in June 1940. Before that, the Jewish population increased considerably due to the constant influx of Jewish refugees from peripheral areas.

With the ghetto’s establishment, all the Jews were transferred to the grounds of the “Konstancja” sugar factory. More than 7000 Jews were crammed into the grounds of the factory, several buildings of which had been bombed, forcing many of the new tenants to make outdoor living arrangements. The Germans surrounded the area with barbed wire and watchtowers. Thanks to efficient organization, black market business and smuggling, the ghetto prisoners managed to preserve a semblance of normality, apart from the terrible living conditions. However, from time to time epidemics broke out, and food was often scarce.

In July 1941, the Germans conducted a census of the Ghetto, the original of which is now in the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw. There were almost 6600 individuals with more than 1000 family names in this “List of Inhabitants.” While the majority were residents of Kutno, approximately 1300 were originally from more than 100 other towns in the area.

The ghetto was liquidated at the end of March/beginning of April 1942, with the deportation of all its remaining inhabitants to the Chelmno extermination camp.