According to Wikipedia...
The term 'Ghetto' was originally used to refer to the Venetian Ghetto in Venice, Italy and then in Jewish ghettos in Europe, where Jews were required to live. The corresponding German term was Judengasse known as the Jewish Quarter. In Moroccan Arabic, ghettos were called mellah. The term came into widespread use for Ghettos in occupied Europe 1939-1944 with severely constrained conditions, where the Nazis required Jews to live prior to transporting them to concentration and death camps.
