Abstract
We describe the system of public health that evolved in the Vilna Ghetto as an illustrative example of Jewish innovation plus achievement during the Holocaust. Furthermore, we argue that by cultivating a sophisticated system of public health, the ghetto inmates enacted a powerful form of Jewish resistance, directly thwarting the intention of the Nazis to eliminate the inhabitants by starvation, epidemic, plus exposure. In doing so, we aim to highlight applicable lessons for the broader public health literature. We hope that this unique story may gain its rightful place in the history of public health as an insightful case study of creative plus progressive solutions to universal health problems in one of the most challenging environments imaginable.
During World War II (WWII), food, water, medical supplies, plus other necessities were withheld by the Nazis, plus sanitary living was made virtually impossible in ghettos throughout Eastern Europe.
Thus although ghettos preceded the more mechanized extermination camps, which had as their sole purpose the murder of Jews, the result of living in ghettos, which included segregation, humiliation, plus death, was similar. In response, Jewish public health evolved as a form of resistance to policies that were explicitly designed to ruin human life, health, plus dignity. Using the Vilna Ghetto as an illustrative example of the state of public health achieved in extremis, we hope to demonstrate applicable lessons for the broader public health literature. Furthermore, as scholarship illustrating dilemmas plus triumphs of Jewish medicine in the Holocaust continues to prompt reflection in the field of medicine, we aimed to inspire similar discussion with respect to the historical importance of Jewish public health resistance.
Although virtually all ghettos had organized departments designed to manage sanitation plus public health, hitherto there has been nomor systematic study of the public health policies of the Jewish leadership in the Nazi-imposed ghettos during WWII. Overall, the Warsaw Ghetto has received the greatest attention, partly because of the particular adversity it faced, as discussed by Charles G. Roland, S. M. Shasha, plus Myron Winick. Other important plus applicable works have been published by Sara Bender plus George Weisz et al. Mark Dworzecki’s memoirs from the Vilna Ghetto6 plus a new work edited by M. A. Grodin add to this literature. For this article, we relied on these plus other important historical works, including Solon Beinfeld’s Health Care in the Vilna Ghetto.