Places in Galicia
Lwów Ghetto
The Lwów Ghetto was set up in mid-1941 and liquidated in June 1943. All its inhabitants who survived prior killings were deported to Bełżec extermination camp and Janowska concentration camp. Those not deported were shot. In the winter of 1942, there was an outbreak of typhus as a result of lack of heating and sanitation. Living conditions were extrememly poor with severe overcrowding. There were few survivors.
Beginning of 1943 the Nazis decided to end the existence of the Jews in the ghetto. Most of the Jews were trying to hide, but the Nazis doused the buildings with gasoline and burned them down. Some Jews managed to escape in the sewer system and a few survived that way.
My cousins Maximillian Distenfeld and Czesława Wilder perished in The Lwów Ghetto. My father told me that Maximillian had a photograph of him in his bedroom. They were the same age, born in 1926. Czesława had a chance to escape with the help of a Polish woman, who had helped others. Czesława declined, as she chose to remain with her husband who was a doctor in the ghetto.