The inmates value the opportunity to feel some control over their surroundings by controlling what they eat to an extent. They often find themselves hungry at night since dinner service begins at 4 p. Spread is a way to quench that hunger. What I found most fascinating about the article were the actual descriptions of how inmates created their Spreads and the ingredients that they used. Below is an example of a recipe from an inmate named Alexander who offers step-by-step instructions for making his Nacho Spread:.
I got four or five bowls.
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Start off with your two Top Ramen noodles in a small bag. Mix them around until you get that nice feel, like it is smooth and the noodles cooked. Mix in a bag of hot chips Hot Cheese Crunchies , adding more water if the cheese crunch sucks up some of the water. Keep this on the side. Rip open a package of chili beans and pour it into another bowl. Chop up a regular or hot pickle into small dice pieces. You now have, in separate bowls, noodles, cheese, chili beans, and pickle.
Throw the cheese and beans into the microwave and let them warm up to a nice, wonderful temperature, at least five minutes. Make sure you watch them in case they overboil. If they overboil, open the microwave door, mix them up, and warm them up about three more minutes. Lay down a flat bag. Put tortilla chips or Doritos down first. I pour the pickles nice and rice over it, then I pour the cheese on top of that. You can also read about other innovative jail cooking creations here. Only seven days after the attack on Poland began, however, Lodz was occupied.
Within days of Lodz's occupation, the Jews of the city became targets for beatings, robberies, and seizure of property. Six days after the occupation of Lodz, on September 14, , was Rosh Hashanah , one of the holiest days within the Jewish religion. For this High Holy day, the Nazi's ordered businesses to stay open and the synagogues to be closed. While Warsaw was still fighting off the Germans Warsaw finally surrendered on September 27 , the , Jews in Lodz were already feeling the beginnings of Nazi persecution.
On November 7, , Lodz was incorporated into the Third Reich and the Nazi's changed its name to Litzmannstadt "Litzmann's city" - named after a German general who died while attempting to conquer Lodz in World War I. The next several months were marked by daily round-ups of Jews for forced labor as well as random beatings and killings on the streets. It was easy to distinguish between Pole and Jew because on November 16, the Nazi's had ordered Jews to wear an armband on their right arm.
The armband was the precursor to the yellow Star of David badge which was soon to follow on December 12, The Nazis wanted Jews concentrated in ghettos so when they found a solution to the "Jewish problem," whether it be emigration or genocide, it could easily be carried out.
Also, enclosing the Jews made it relatively easy to extract the "hidden treasures" that Nazis believed Jews were hiding. There had already been a couple of ghettos established in other parts of Poland, but the Jewish population had been relatively small and those ghettos had remained open - meaning, the Jews and the surrounding civilians were still able to have contact. Lodz had a Jewish population estimated at ,, living throughout the city.
For a ghetto of this scale, real planning was needed. It was decided that the ghetto would be located in the northern section of Lodz where many Jews were already living. The area that this team originally planned only constituted 4. To keep non-Jews out of this area before the ghetto could be established, a warning was issued on January 17, proclaiming the area planned for the ghetto to be rampant with infectious diseases.
On February 8, , the order to establish the Lodz ghetto was announced. The original plan was to set up the ghetto in one day, in actuality, it took weeks. Jews from throughout the city were ordered to move into the sectioned off area, only bringing what they could hurriedly pack within just a few minutes. The Jews were packed tightly within the confines of the ghetto with an average of 3.
Prison Culture » “Making Spread:” Jail Food, Inmate Creativity and Social Control
In April a fence went up surrounding the ghetto residents. On April 30, the ghetto was ordered closed and on May 1, , merely eight months after the German invasion, the Lodz ghetto was officially sealed.
The Nazis did not just stop with having the Jews locked up within a small area, they wanted the Jews to pay for their own food, security, sewage removal, and all other expenses incurred by their continuing incarceration. For the Lodz ghetto, the Nazis decided to make one Jew responsible for the entire Jewish population. The Nazis chose Mordekchai Chaim Rumkowski.
Was it because he seemed like he would help the Nazis achieve their aims by organizing the Jews and their property? Or did he just want them to think this so that he could try to save his people? Rumkowski is shrouded in controversy - did he help the Nazis murder his people or did he save lives? Once the ghetto was sealed on May 1, , a relative calm followed. It seemed to many residents that the sealing not only locked them in the ghetto, but it also precluded non-Jews from entering and tormenting Jews through forced labor and random beatings.
Some thought that perhaps the sealing was a good thing - allowing Jews autonomy and protection from the outside world. What these people did not realize was that the ghetto was established simply as a temporary holding place until the Nazis could decide what they were going to do with Jews.
(1939 - 1945)
The ghetto and its residents were completely at the mercy of the Nazis. He had held various jobs including insurance agent, velvet factory manager, and director of the Helenowek orphanage before the war began.
Rumkowski was a firm believer in the autonomy of the ghetto. He started many programs that replaced outside bureaucracy with his own. Rumkowski replaced the German currency with ghetto money that bore his signature - soon referred to as "Rumkies.
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But what soon materialized was the problem of acquiring food. With , people confined to a very small area that had no farmland, food quickly became a problem. Since the Nazis insisted on having the ghetto pay for its own upkeep, money was needed. But how could Jews who were locked away from the rest of society and who had been stripped of all valuables make enough money for food and housing?
Rumkowski believed that if the ghetto became an extremely useful workforce, then the Jews would be needed by the Nazis and thus, the Nazis would make sure that the ghetto received food. On April 5, , Rumkowski petitioned the Nazi authorities requesting permission for his work plan. He wanted the Nazis to deliver raw materials, have the Jews make the final products, then have the Nazis pay the workers in money and in food.
On April 30, Rumkowski's proposal was accepted with one very important change - the workers would only be paid in food. Notice, that no one agreed upon how much food, nor how often it was to be supplied. Rumkowski immediately began setting up factories and all those able and willing to work were found jobs. Most of the factories required workers to be over fourteen but older people and children often found work in mica splitting factories. Adults worked in factories that produced everything from textiles to munitions.
Young girls were even trained to hand stitch the emblems for the uniforms of German soldiers. For this work, the Nazis delivered food to the ghetto. The food entered the ghetto in bulk and was then confiscated by Rumkowski's officials.
The Lódz Ghetto: History & Overview
Rumkowski had taken over food distribution. With this one act, Rumkowski really became the absolute ruler of the ghetto, for survival was contingent on food. The quality and quantity of the food delivered to the ghetto was less than minimal, often with large portions being completely spoiled. Ration cards were quickly put into effect for food on June 2, By December, all provisions were rationed.