a: Height: 103.000 inches (261.62 cm) | Width: 137.000 inches (347.98 cm) | Depth: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) b: Height: 101.750 inches (258.445 cm) | Width: 184.000 inches (467.36 cm) | Depth: 2.000 inches (5.08 cm) c: Height: 100.250 inches (254.635 cm) | Width: 119.000 inches (302.26 cm) | Depth: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm)
Casting of a brick wall from the closed Warsaw Jewish Ghetto
after 1989 August 15-before 1991 March 18
Fiberglass casting of a segment of the brick wall surrounding the Warsaw ghetto, from the area at 51 Sienna Street, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. The casting was taken from one of three remaining sections of the ghetto wall, which the Jewish community was forced to pay for and was built in 1940, by the German firm of Schmidt & Munstermann. Prior to the war, Warsaw was a major center of Jewish life and culture, with a Jewish population over 350,000, making it the largest Jewish community in Europe. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, occupying Warsaw on September 29. German authorities ordered the creation of a Jewish council, which was headed by Adam Czerniaków. On October 12, 1940, German authorities in Warsaw decreed the establishment of a Jewish ghetto within a specified area of the city, and required over 400,000 Jews from Warsaw and nearby towns to relocate there. The ghetto was 1.3 square miles in area, and surrounded by a guarded, ten-foot-high wall, which was topped with barbed wire. It became a closed ghetto and was sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. Starvation and disease were rampant, and smuggling operations occurred over the walls, via the gates, and through bordering buildings. Between July 22 and September 12, 1942, approximately 265,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka killing center, and another 35,000 were killed inside the ghetto. On April 19, 1943, organized resistance groups within the ghetto fought back against the scheduled liquidation. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising lasted a month before the German military suppressed the resistance, razed the ghetto, and transported the remaining inhabitants to forced-labor camps and killing centers.
No restrictions on use
Painted, fiberglass casting of a brick and mortar wall in three sections, the dividing seams of which are invisible on the front side. The bricks are laid in alternating courses (rows) of headers (short sides) and stretchers (long sides) with the headers centered on the stretchers (also known as an English Bond pattern). In some areas, the pattern varies slightly where the vertical mortar joints between the stretchers in alternate courses do not align vertically. The bottom 4-5 rows reflect more discoloration and wear than the rest in order to represent the weathering and discoloration from the original, suggesting that the lowest portion was embedded into the ground. Some sections of the wall show additional losses and wear to the original bricks and mortar. Several of the stretchers along the entire wall are impressed with a circular manufacturing mark. The bricks are painted in various shades of red, brown, and gray, while the mortar is painted in shades of gray and white. On the reverse, the two large seams are visible, cut in a jagged pattern, mirroring the shapes of bricks on the front. These seams are reinforced by exhibition supports and caulking. a. Left section b. Center section c. Right section
No restrictions on access
The wall casting was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991.