The last remaining piece of the Warsaw ghetto wall

My photo of the last remaining piece of Warsaw ghetto wall

I signed up for GBTV yesterday and learned that when Glenn Beck went to Poland in July this year, he included a visit to the remains of the Warsaw ghetto wall.  He was surprised to find that the wall was so high.

The last remaining piece of the wall is ten feet high, as shown in my photo above, taken in 1998 on my first visit to Poland. According to my tour guide, parts of the wall which connected two buildings, such as this remaining section, were built higher than the rest of the wall, which was mostly lower than 10 feet.  Apparently Beck’s tour guide forgot to tell him that.  

To create the Warsaw Ghetto, the Germans built 11 miles of brick walls around the existing Jewish quarter.  Non-Jewish residents were forced to leave the Ghetto and this area was then closed to non-Jews on November 15, 1940. The wall was torn down in 1943 when the Ghetto was liquidated. The remaining section of the wall was outside the Ghetto when the original Ghetto became a smaller area after most of the Jews had been deported to the Treblinka death camp.

My photo of the Warsaw ghetto wall, 1998

On the remaining section of the wall is a map showing the original area of the Ghetto. The courtyard in front of the wall is located at ul. Zlota 62. (Some guidebooks says the address is Number 60 Zlota Street.)

The map shows the Ghetto divided into two parts. The top section, on the northern border, is where the Umschlagplatz and Mila 18 were located. The bottom section is where the Nozyk Synagogue, the only one that survived, still stands today.

My photo of bricks on the ground shows where the Warsaw ghetto wall once stood, 1998

The photo above shows the view of the little courtyard in front of the Ghetto wall, looking from the wall toward the gate. The row of large bricks along the path extend from where the remaining section of the wall ends. The bricks mark the spot where the Ghetto wall used to be.

Words on bricks: "Tu byl mur getta."

The photo above shows a close-up of the stones which mark the former location of the wall. The inscription says “Tu byl mur getta.” which in English means “Here was the wall of the ghetto.”