Advancement of Jewish Policies, 1940-1941

February 1940 - Lodz Ghetto built. The ghetto was built in one day with barricades and 320,000 Jews were held there. A Council of Jewish Elders was established to take control of the daily runnings of the Ghetto. Jews sent to Lodz had their property taken and the belongings they had would have been likely traded on the black market, since supplies were intentionaly low. The nazis restricted supplies on purpose, and overcrowding was paert and parcel. The rules in the ghetto was laid out by the Nazis but the Jews would try to find loopholes: there was illegal black market trading, schools and printing presses.

October 1940 - Warsaw Ghetto Built. It contained more than 400,000 Jews at first and later more gypsies and Jews were sent from the countryside to live in the ghetto. The average figure for the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto was 300 calories a day. Malnutrition and overcrowding led to an outbreak of killer diseases and more than 100,000 people died in the ghetto between 1940 and 1941. The ghettos were designed to ensure that Jews died in large numbers (from starvation, cold, disease, forced labour) - between 1940 and 1942, 500,000 people died in the ghettos. 

June  - OKH Authorises Invasion of USSR. Many Jews some Under Nazi occupation due to swift invasion. The war in the east aimed to eliminate the 'Bolshevik Jew'. The war with Soviet Russia intensified the pressure on Hitler to deal with the 'Jewish question'. The Nazis were trying to deal with the German Jews but as they were conquering more Lebensraum, they were having to deal with more Jews.

Einsatzgruppen A, B, C, D, Formed to deal with partisans and Comissars, but more zealous Officers authorised jewish killings. by 1941 This was standard practice for All Gruppes

1941 - More and more legislation was brought in to combat the increasing amount of jews, and limit the threat of those already in control ready for the Final solution:

Radio sets were confiscated from Jewish households
They were banned from buying radios
They were banned from buying luxuries e.g. chocolate
They were excluded from war time rationing allowances
They had to have a police permit to travel
Jews had to wear the yellow Star of David