Many rumors floated around blaming Rumkowski for the lack of food, saying that he dumped useful food on purpose. The fact that each month, even each day, the residents became thinner and increasingly afflicted with dysentery, tuberculosis, and typhus while Rumkowski and his officials seemed to fatten and remained healthy just spurred suspicions. Searing anger afflicted the population, blaming Rumkowski for their troubles.
When dissenters of the Rumkowski rule voiced their opinions, Rumkowski made speeches labeling them traitors to the cause. Rumkowski believed that these people were a direct threat to his work ethic, thus punished them and later, deported them.
Fall and Winter 1941
During the High Holy days in the fall of 1941, the news hit - 20,000 Jews from other areas of the Reich were being transferred to the Lodz ghetto. Shock swept throughout the ghetto. How could a ghetto that could not even feed its own population, absorb 20,000 more? The decision had already been made by the Nazi officials and the transports arrived from September through October with approximately one thousand people arriving each day.
These newcomers were shocked at the conditions in Lodz. They did not believe that their own fate could ever really mingle with these emaciated people, because the newcomers had never felt hunger. Freshly off the trains, the newcomers had shoes, clothes, and most importantly, reserves of food. The newcomers were dropped into a completely different world, where the inhabitants had lived for two years, watching the hardships grow more acute. Most of these newcomers never adjusted to ghetto life and in the end, boarded the transports to their death with the thought that they must be going somewhere better than the ghetto.
In addition to these Jewish newcomers, 5,000 [link url=http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/gypsies.htm]Roma (Gypsies)[/link were transported into the Lodz ghetto. In a speech delivered on October 14, 1941, Rumkowski announced the coming of the Roma.
We are forced to take about 5000 Gypsies into the ghetto. I've explained that we cannot live together with them. Gypsies are the sort of people who can to anything. First they rob and then they set fire and soon everything is in flames, including your factories and materials. *
When the Roma arrived, they were housed in a separate area of the ghetto.
December 10, 1941, another announcement shocked the ghetto. Though Chelmno had only been in operation for two days, the Nazis wanted 20,000 Jews deported out of the ghetto. Rumkowski talked them down to 10,000. Lists were put together by ghetto officials. The remaining Roma were the first to be deported. If you were not working, had been designated a criminal, or if you were a family member of someone in the first two categories, then you would be next on the list. The residents were told that the deportees were being sent to Polish farms to work.
While this list was being created, Rumkowski became engaged to Regina Weinberger - a young lawyer who had become his legal advisor. They were soon married.
The winter of 1941-42 was very harsh for ghetto residents. Coal and wood were rationed, thus there was not enough to drive away frost bite let alone cook food. Without a fire, much of the rations, especially potatoes, could not be eaten. Hordes of residents descended upon wooden structures - fences, outhouses, even some buildings were literally torn apart.
