Venice: Ghetto.

“The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It is from its name in Italian (‘ghetto’), that the English word ‘ghetto’ is derived: in the Venetian language it was named ‘ghèto’.

“The Venetian Ghetto (incidentally, the first Ghetto) was instituted in 1516, though political restrictions on Jewish rights and residences existed before that date.

“About 1,200 Jews were living in Venice when German troops occupied the city in 1943. Between 9 November 1943 and 17 August 1944, 205 people were deported to extermination camps, including Chief Rabbi Adolfo Ottolenghi. At the end of World War II, 1,500 Jews were living in Venice and the number gradually decreased over the years.”