Final answer:
The ghettos during the Holocaust were overcrowded, unsanitary, and designed to segregate and control the Jewish population. Lack of food, medicine, and basic needs led to starvation and disease, causing the deaths of approximately 500,000 Jews before many were sent to concentration camps.
Step-by-step explanation:
The conditions of the ghettos during the Holocaust were incredibly harsh and inhumane. Jews were forced into extremely cramped and unsanitary living spaces, often enclosed with barbed wire or walls. The Nazis set up these ghettos in cities to segregate Jews from the general population and to control them more easily. One of the most infamous ghettos was the Warsaw Ghetto, which held over 400,000 Jews at its peak. People living in ghettos faced severe shortages of food, medicine, and other basic necessities, leading to widespread malnutrition, starvation, and disease. The official food ration for Jewish workers, who were forced to perform slave labor, was about 600 - 800 calories a day, significantly below the amount needed for health. Life in the ghettos was a daily struggle for survival, and it is estimated that around 500,000 people died from the conditions in the ghettos before many were deported to concentration camps.