9. The Nazis cleared the Jewish Ghetto in Rome
When the Germans moved to clear the Jewish Ghetto, they did not use Italian police or troops. The Italians had come to be considered unreliable by the SS. German Order Police and SS troops surrounded the Jewish community, which was believed to hold up to 2,000 Jewish men, women, and children. The SS then entered the ghetto, seizing and incarcerating its residents as a preliminary step toward deportation. Approximately 350 German police and SS troops entered the ghetto that day, searching from house to house and building to building, rounding up the Jewish residents and refugees. Despite their efforts, some escaped the manhunt.
Some escaped the densely populated area by crawling across the rooftops, jumping from building to building and eluding the SS below. Others secreted themselves in hidden rooms and attics, waiting for darkness to shroud them as they attempted to escape. Several were successful, but 1,259 persons were not. Of those rounded up by the Germans, 207 were children, 689 were women, and the remainder were men of varying age. Within two days they were packed into railway cars and on their way to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Following the war, 16 survivors returned to Rome. The rest died in the German camps, most of them upon arrival at Auschwitz.