314 Journal Prompt: What is the impact of the ghetto (in both the old sense and a contemporary sense) on the people inside and the people outside?
The Jewish Ghettos of Rome hold much history behind them. The ancient ghettos of Rome were completely different than they are today, but they still hold much value in our contemporary world. Both the people inside and outside of the ghettos were impacted and large amounts of tourists still visit the ancient ghettos today and learn about the significance behind them.
The first Roman ghetto was set up in 1555 because Pope Paul IV though the Jews should be segregated from the Christians because they did not hold the same religious beliefs. The Jews were forced to live in a walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night. In a sense the Jews weren’t treated as human beings and almost all their rights were stripped away from them. The Jews had only few freedoms and were separated from the Christian majority and were given a limited amount of space. A common occurrence in the building of the ghettos were that they weren’t allowed to expand and built outward so they were forced to build up, resulting in 5-6 story buildings. On the contrary, some Jews felt that the ghetto was a safe haven against Christian mobs.
The people who lived outside of the ghettos liked the idea of them. Well at least the Christians liked the idea because the Jews did not believe the same things. The Jews were caged in and unable to communicate with the rest of the world and the people on the outside liked that because they chose this outcome for the Jews. As stated earlier the Christians on the outside did not have a problem with the Jews living in the ghetto because they condoned it, oppressing the Jews.
During the Roman Republic, the Ghetto was legally abolished and then its last remains of the Papal States overthrew the ghettos in 1870. Today, the ghettos of Rome, for the most part, are full of life and contain many charming and eclectic neighborhoods. Not only is it a beautiful area to live, many tourists come to visit to learn the history behind them and sit down at the delicious restaurants and enjoy the appealing marketplaces, and take in the surrounding landscaping.
Even though the ghettos were finally abolished during the Republic era, they were reintroduced to the Nazi party, but the ghettos remain intact and have so much history behind them. Learning about the ghettos of Rome really opened my eyes to what the Jews went through. It was such a rough time in history to learn about because they were treated so cruelly, for having different religious beliefs. Throughout the years the ghettos have impacted so many people’s lives. And it goes to show how much the Jewish community has changed for the better in our contemporary world.
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