The Jewish district was strictly separated from the rest of the city, surrounded by a fence (vide Druty) and guarded by officers of the Schupo and other authorities. Apart from the Łódź ghetto – sealed on April 30, 1940 – there were other closed ghettos in the countryside (Wartheland), namely: in Brzeziny, from May 31, 1940 (vide Brzeziny); in Kutno, from August 1940; in Kalisz, from September 1940; and later in 1940, in Turek and Koźminek.

Ostensibly, these ghettos were camps meant to concentrate the Jews and keep them strictly isolated from the rest of the population. In charge of the internal administration of ghettos were the Eldest of the Jews.

As a result of preventing outside food supply and making ghettos dependent on meager food rations allocated by the authorities, border strips surrounding such Jewish districts became a place where smuggling (vide Szmugiel) developed on a large scale.

Józef Uryson