Jewish Litzmannstadt – Jewish Lodz

Lodz is the third largest city in Poland that hundred years ago used to be the center of the polish industry. This is the place where fortunes of the most powerful polish businessmen were made. For that reason Lodz used to be called the Promised Land or the Polish Manchester. However, the greatest strength of this city comes from its history.

During World War II, the Nazi Germans annexed Lodz to the Reich and changed its name to Litzmannstadt. Shortly after that, they built a ghetto and locked over 200.000 Polish Jews up inside it. Only few people survived. The district has survived though, and today it commemorates those tragic events.

Lodz is the city of contrasts. In the middle of the maze of factories and workshops the picturesque center is hidden. It’s the most beautiful part of the city. There are plenty of splendid, pre-war buildings with rich decorated facades. They represent a unique style that you will find neither in Warsaw nor in Krakow. Why? The answer is very simple: the richest people, who were in charge to decide about the future of the city, lived exactly in this place. Here, the smoke from factory chimneys was mixing with the smoke from their owners’ cigars. It takes only one hour and a half to get to Lodz from Warsaw and it’s really worth doing it.