Biographies | Celina Lieberman

III. The Lvov Ghetto

The Lvov Ghetto (Map) started. It was miserable. At this point we were not in any danger, but I slept in a bed with my mother. Families were living on top of each other. There were nine people in a room. Conditions in the ghetto were beyond description. One of the most annoying things was the lice in our hair. It was something to be ashamed of. You could not get a bar of soap and there was no hot water. You couldn't wash clothes. My mother made hamburgers out of chopped beet leaves and fried them in oil. I think the oil came from a car, because no one in the ghetto had cooking oil. The smell was horrible, and the taste was unforgettable.

I. Childhood in Poland

II. "Things began to change"

III. The Lvov Ghetto

VI. Looking for a Home

VII. Voyage and Arrival

Ghetto
The Nazis revived the medieval term ghetto to describe the compulsory "Jewish Quarters" often in the poorest section of the city, where Jews from the surrounding areas were forced to live. Surrounded by barbed wire or walls, the ghettos were sealed before the deportation of Jews to the concentration camps. Established mostly in Eastern Europe, the ghettos were characterized by overcrowding, starvation and forced labour.

Lvov Ghetto
Established in 1941 in Lvov in Eastern Galicia, Ukraine. Became a labour camp in January 1943. In June 1943 Jews staged an armed revolt as the Nazis tried to liquidate the ghetto. Thousands died or were deported to Janowska concentration camp.