The first Jews moved to Łódź in the late 18th century. However, a period of accelerated influx began in the 1860s, with the boom in local industry.
Initially, residents of surrounding towns migrated to Łódź, later also including Jews from more distant regions of the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire. They were attracted primarily by the dynamic development of the industrial city, which opened up employment opportunities and created prospects for independent business activity. Jews settled in large numbers not only within the then administrative boundaries of Łódź but also in Bałuty, which was formally incorporated into the city only in 1915. At the beginning of the 20th century, half of Łódź's industrial plants were owned by Jews. However, the largest factories in the city were predominantly German-owned, and the majority of Jews living in Łódź were low-income individuals engaged in retail trade or worked in small workshops.
Interwar Łódź had the second largest Jewish population in Poland after Warsaw. Immediately before the outbreak of World War II, the city, then with a population of approximately 670, housed 233 Jews. Between 1918 and 1939, Łódź's development was not as dynamic as before World War I. The economic situation deteriorated, in part because, after Poland regained independence and the Bolsheviks took power in Russia, Łódź businesses lost the ability to export goods to the Russian market. Nevertheless, Łódź remained a key center of Jewish social and cultural life. Representatives of the Jewish literary and artistic avant-garde, such as Moses Broderson and Jankiel Adler, were associated with the city. The poet Yitzhak Katzenelson lived here. The Jung Yiddish artistic group and the Ararat chamber revue theater were active here.
German troops occupied Łódź on September 8, 1939. On November 9, it was formally incorporated into the Reich. The occupiers almost immediately began implementing anti-Jewish regulations, many of which pertained to economic life. Jews were forbidden to keep large sums of money, access to savings accumulated in bank accounts was blocked, Jewish-owned businesses were seized, and Jewish workers were ordered to be fired. Jewish freedom of movement was restricted, with curfews imposed, public transportation banned, and entry to Łódź's main street, Piotrkowska Street, banned. Their religious life was also attacked, with synagogues closed and even destroyed. From November 1939, Jews were forced to wear badges—patches in the shape of the Star of David—on the front and back of their outerwear.
In addition to the introduction of discriminatory legal regulations against Jews, from the very first days of the occupation, beatings, murders, and looting occurred. These were committed by German soldiers and members of other uniformed forces, but also by civilians – Nazi sympathizers recruited from among the German residents of Łódź. Jewish community leaders and intellectuals who did not leave the city during the September Campaign of 1939 were arrested, sent to concentration camps, or shot. The terror and the aforementioned incorporation of Łódź into the Reich led to many thousands of Jews leaving the city. Others were among those deported to the General Government. German plans called for the Germanization of Łódź. Consequently, the occupation authorities decided to expel both Jews and Poles from the city. Deportations began at the turn of 1939 and 1940. However, they were interrupted following protests from Governor-General Hans Frank.
The first mention of the intention to establish a ghetto in Łódź appeared in a document prepared on December 10, 1939, by Friedrich Übelhör, president of the Kalisz district, which then included Łódź. Confining Jews to the ghetto was intended as a short-term solution, preceding their removal from the city. The formal decision to establish the ghetto was made on February 8, 1940, by Police President Johannes Schäfer. From April 30, 1940, crossing its borders became prohibited.
A special unit was established within the Łódź city council (renamed Litzmannstadt in April 1940) to administer the ghetto. From the autumn of 1940, it operated under the name Gettoverwaltung. It was headed by Hans Biebow, an entrepreneur from Bremen who had run a large trading company there before the war.
Following the dissolution of prewar Jewish organizations, on October 13, 1939, the occupation authorities appointed Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski as Chairman of the Eldership of the Jews of Łódź. Rumkowski, a prewar social and educational activist, was the only member of the Łódź Jewish community board who did not leave the city in September 1939. The German authorities left him free to create the administrative apparatus necessary to carry out their orders. Rumkowski began building it even before the ghetto was established. He established a Jewish order service, units responsible for social assistance and food supplies, and for assigning workers to forced labor, which the Germans demanded.
Chaim Rumkowski and Hans Biebow (public domain)
During the ghetto's creation, the Housing Department became another key institution, allocating housing to those resettled to the ghetto from other parts of Łódź. Initially, the resettlements were planned. From the end of February, when the Germans decided the process was too slow, they began to organize roundups of Jews who had not yet moved into the ghetto. The most tragic days were March 5 and 6, 1940. Armed groups of Germans dragged Jews from their apartments. At least 200 people were shot.
The Łódź ghetto covered over 4 square kilometers. It encompassed the Old Town, Bałuty, and Marysin, mostly poor and neglected parts of the city. The ghetto was fenced with a wooden fence and barbed wire. German Schupo (Order Police) checkpoints were set up every 50–100 meters. Buildings near the ghetto border were demolished. Approaching the fence was prohibited. It is estimated that during the ghetto's existence, approximately 180 Jews were shot for approaching too close. The ghetto was isolated. Opportunities for contact with the outside world, including escape or smuggling food, remained limited.
The ghetto administration continued to expand. At its peak, in August 1942, it employed nearly 14 people. Civil status records were maintained, internal currency was issued, healthcare, cultural life, and an education system were organized. Primary and secondary schools were operational, as was a court and a prison.
The Chairman of the Elders of the Łódź Jews saw the ghetto's survival in maximum productivity. The Central Bureau of Labor Departments oversaw the ghetto's manufacturing plants. By the end of 1943, nearly 120 factories ("departments") operated in the ghetto, employing nearly 74 workers. These factories fulfilled orders from the Wehrmacht and large German companies.
At the beginning of the ghetto's existence, over 160 people were imprisoned there. In the autumn of 1941, nearly 20 Jews from Prague, Vienna, Luxembourg, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg, Cologne, and Emden were sent there, along with nearly 3 from Kalisz and other towns in Kujawy. In November, over 5 Roma were also brought from Austria. Including children born in the ghetto, its population reached 210.
In December 1941, the extermination center in Chełmno on the Ner River began operating. Between January and July 1942, the Germans deported and murdered 55 people imprisoned in the Łódź Ghetto, deemed unfit for work. Further deportations to Chełmno took place in September. Due to the total ban on leaving their homes (Allgemeine Gehsperre) in effect from September 5th to 12th, this was referred to as the "Great Shepherd's Day." Approximately 15,7 Jews were murdered then, mostly children, those over 65, and the sick. From that time on, the ghetto became a de facto labor camp. Rumkowski's influence declined. The administrative apparatus he had created was reduced. Biebow began making the most important decisions personally. Representatives of the Gettoverwaltung appeared in the "labor departments," tasked with ensuring production efficiency and quality. Nearly 18 Jews were brought to Łódź. Skilled workers from ghettos in small towns in the Wartheland. Working hours were extended, and leave was discontinued. Schools and the healthcare system were no longer operational. However, no further deportations to the extermination camp took place. In 1943 and early 1944, over 4,6 people were sent to labor camps, including the armaments factories in Skarżysko-Kamienna.
The intention to liquidate the Łódź Ghetto emerged in mid-1943. On June 11, Heinrich Himmler issued an order to transform it into a concentration camp, and in December, to relocate the production plants and their workers to the Lublin region. Due to unfavorable developments at the front for the Germans, as well as the dismissal of Odilo Globocnik from his position as SS and Police Commander in the Lublin District, the idea of locating production there, previously based in Łódź, was abandoned. However, preparations for the creation of the camp continued. Hans Biebow opposed these plans, fearing the loss of income from the ghetto's production to the SS. He was supported by the Wehrmacht command, which considered the goods produced in the ghetto crucial. Ultimately, in February 1944, during a meeting between Himmler and Artur Greiser, Governor of the Warthegau, it was decided that the ghetto would continue to exist for a while, serving as the central point for the entire province, but that another selection of its inhabitants would be carried out. Only those directly employed in production essential to the German economy would be allowed to survive.
Economic considerations lost their importance as the Red Army approached Łódź. In June 1944, with 75 people still in the ghetto, the extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem resumed operations. Between June 23 and July 14, nearly 7,2 people were transported there and murdered in 10 transports from Łódź. Although deportations were briefly suspended, they resumed in early August. Both Biebow and Rumkowski appealed to the ghetto population to volunteer. Assurances were given that the operation aimed to relocate production plants deeper into the Third Reich, where their workers could expect good treatment. These appeals were ignored. Ghetto prisoners attempted to hide. From August 9, German police and armed fire brigades began blockading individual streets and rounding up their residents. The issuance of ration cards was also suspended to force people to report through starvation.
An anonymous diarist, probably a teenager working in the underwear and clothing department, noted: "The action began today at 8:00. At 9:00 they came to our street. Shouts of 'Everything is coming down!' […] Oh, what terrible hours we lived through. The Germans knock, and we didn't say a word, we sat silently, our hearts pounding. They tore down all our neighbors' doors to see if anyone was hiding there. They looked into the trees to see if anyone was hiding there. They shouted. They told us to get out. […] From 9:00 to 12:00 we sat there, not moving. My dear God, who knows what would become of us."
Deportees were sent to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, where the overwhelming majority were sent directly to the gas chambers. Rumkowski and his family were most likely sent to the camp on August 29th, the last day of deportation. The exact circumstances of his death are unknown.
Jakub Poznański, one of those who ignored the summons to report for deportation, wrote on August 28: "On Saturday evening I went out into the city. The ghetto looked eerie. The streets seemed deserted. Here and there, you could see a few people creeping towards the Supply Department." In the following months, he would meticulously count the days he spent in the hiding place in his diary...
After the deportations, approximately 1400 people were left in the ghetto. Of these, 600 were deported in October 1944 for forced labor. Most survived the war. Another group, over 800 people, formed a maintenance commando, tasked with sorting the belongings of the deportees and cleaning up the ghetto. The Germans planned to execute its members, but they were unable to do so. In addition to the members of this commando, approximately 100 people likely survived the Red Army's entry into Łódź in hiding places within the ghetto. It is estimated that, including survivors of Auschwitz and those previously sent to labor camps, the Łódź ghetto may have had between 5 and 7 survivors.
Bibliography
- Andrea Löw, Łódź Ghetto – Litzmannstadt Ghetto: living conditions and ways of survival, Lodz 2012.
- Łódź Ghetto – Litzmannstadt Ghetto 1940-1944, ed. Julian Baranowski, Sławomir M. Nowinowski, Łódź 2009.
- Faces of the Ghetto: An Anthology of Texts from the Łódź Ghetto, ed. Krystyna Radziszewska, Ewa Wiatr, Łódź 2017.
- Jakub Poznański, Diary from the Łódź Ghetto, Warsaw 2002.
- Adam Sitarek, "A country surrounded by wire": the structure and functioning of the Jewish administration of the Łódź ghetto, Lodz 2015.
- Boat w: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of camps and ghettos 1933–1945, vol. II Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe, Editor Martin Dean, Bloomington 2012.
- Boat w: YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe: https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Łodz (accessed: 23/06/2024)
