Sieradz Ghetto

Members of the Boys and their families were imprisoned in the Sieradz Ghetto.

It was one of many ghettos established by Nazi Germany following its invasion of Poland in September 1939.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

Overview
Sieradz, a historic town in central Poland, had a long-established Jewish community before the war, numbering around 3,000. Following the German occupation in 1939, anti-Jewish measures were rapidly introduced, including forced labour, confiscation of property, and restrictions on movement. In early 1940, the Jewish population of Sieradz and surrounding areas was confined to a ghetto.

The ghetto was overcrowded and conditions were harsh. Families were forced to live in cramped quarters with limited access to food, sanitation, and medical care. Disease and starvation were widespread, and many individuals were subjected to forced labour both inside and outside the ghetto. At its peak, the ghetto held between 4,000 and 5,000 individuals.

Deportation
In August 1942 the ghetto was liquidated. The majority of those imprisoned there were deported to the Chełmno extermination camp, where they were murdered shortly after arrival.

Others were sent to labour camps in the region, where survival conditions remained extremely difficult. By the end of the war, only a small number of individuals from Sieradz and its surrounding communities had survived.

Memorialisation
Today, memorials and plaques in Sieradz commemorate the community that once lived there and the individuals who were persecuted and murdered.