Courage under siege: starvation, disease, and death in the Warsaw ghetto

The Warsaw ghetto was forced to become a self-contained city with a peak population of almost half a million. The medical and medically related needs were immense and the attempts to meet them were complicated and ultimately unsuccessful. The Judenrat had to create a health department to fulfill these needs. There were many preexisting institutions to be run, as well as new institutions to be created