False: There were already '15-minute cities' in Poland during the Nazi occupation; they were called 'ghettos.'

By: Christian Haag
March 17 2023

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Context

A claim has been shared on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram comparing the 15-minute city concept to the ghettos implemented by the Nazi occupiers of Poland during the Second World War. However, the claim is a false equivalence despite presenting two historical accuracies. 

In Fact

There are no plans to introduce permits for execution measures in any 15-minute city initiative. 15-minute cities are a new concept of urban planning meant to improve citizens' quality of life by increasing proximity between residential areas and essential services. Some 15-minute city plans include traffic scheme proposals: measures to reduce motor congestion and gas emissions and make other types of transportation safer. Place de la Bastille in Paris, for example, has been repurposed from a huge roundabout to a large park for bicycles and pedestrians, with more affordable housing and community facilities. 

Ghettos in Poland were intended for Jews and Roma and comprised one of the stages of the holocaust and the final solution. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, they made different attempts to solve what they called "The Jewish question" through relocation and forced migration. In 1939-1940, they began creating ghettos to isolate the Jewish population from the non-Jewish as a control measure. This was carried out widely in Poland, where Jews were crowded into small neighborhoods. Warsaw was the largest ghetto, with 350,000 inhabitants in 2.4 percent of the city's area. Ghettos were overcrowded, had no plumbing, sanitation, or heating during winter, and diseases spread rapidly. The Nazis deliberately starved the population, causing many to die. 

The video presents two historical accuracies – that you could not leave the ghettos without a pass and that the death penalty was implemented. Both are historically correct in isolation regarding the ghettos in Poland. The ghettos were prisons and required a special permit to go outside. In 1941, the General Government in Poland issued a decree warning that Jews who left the ghetto would be executed. Residents will not be required to have permits to leave their residences. Logically has previously debunked this claim. Regarding the death penalty, this has not been included in any proposal.

The Verdict

Comparing the ghettoes implemented by the Nazis in occupied Poland is factually incorrect. The 15-minute cities initiative attempts to improve cities and the lives of the residents within them and does not confine or control people, nor does it have genocidal ambitions. Thus, we have marked this claim as false.