What Were Passover Celebrations In Nazi Germany Like? Aish reports that when Jews were first sent to the Warsaw Ghetto (seen above), they were able to smuggle in foods that were not leavened in order to celebrate Passover.
Additionally, bootleg matzah factories were established. In some cases, Jews in hiding also celebrated the holiday. Moment Magazine writes that one set of brothers living in the Krakow Ghetto made matzah while they were holed up in an attic.
By using a flame to kosher a metal board, they made a makeshift oven. They then used borscht, a beet-based soup, for wine. As for the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, they celebrated their last Passover on April 18, 1943, at the same time that the Nazis were planning to liquidate the last of them.
What Were Passover Celebrations In Nazi Germany Like?
According to Yad Vashem, many of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto had been preparing for the holiday for some time. They were able to get matzah and wine for the Seder. One Holocaust survivor, Roma Frey, explained that her family even acquired candles and a white table cloth for the occasion. They did their best to make their basement feel special, despite knowing that liquidation was imminent.
Others, like 12-year-old Itzchak Milchberg, celebrated in bunkers while the chaos of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. He had never missed a Seder before and took his chance sneaking into his uncle’s bunker in the ensuing violence. That night during the Seder, Milchberg’s uncle told him, “You may die, but if you die, you’ll die as a Jew. If we live, we live as Jews.”
