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In this photograph we see Jews riding in rickshaws, which was a very unique method of transportation
that was used by the Jews in the ghetto because cars and vehicles were banned.
This was the way they had to deal with their restricted reality, but what we don't see
in the photo speaks volumes about the life that they were forced to build. Encircled
by walls, the Jews were cut off from food supplies, they had their businesses taken
away, they were completely dependent on the Germans for their rations, and those were
completely insufficient. They were forced into a reality where they had to smuggle.
"The traffic of rickshaws -- the Warsaw ghetto's distinctive means of transport, which the
Jews...have taken over from the Japanese and the Chinese....[They] couldn't even dream
about fixing up the rickshaws the way the Jews have done. Under the seat there is an
empty space where several sacks of flour can be squeezed, and the driver sits on top feigning
innocence: I am just taking a ride down the street...."
Illegal smuggling brought in fully 80% of the food that was consumed by the Jews in
the ghetto. There were big, organized smugglers who quickly became very rich and they became
the ghetto's elite. And there were other types of smugglers - these were usually very small
children, who smuggled food into the ghettos just to keep their families alive. This type
of smuggling really turned family life on its head because it went against the normal
fabric of the family and of society. Smuggling was also very, very dangerous: anyone who
was caught outside the ghetto smuggling was immediately and unceremoniously shot. This
of course created an awful dilemma for parents who allowed their children to smuggle, because
they never knew whether their children would return.