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Description

The Jewish Ghetto at Lodz, Poland--Second Largest WWII Jewish Ghetto in Poland.

Scarce city plan of Lodz, Poland, then called by the Germans, Litzmannstadt, during World War II.

The map shows German occupied Lodz in 1942. The most notable features, as shown in part on the index on the verso, are 61 different streets identified by number and letter as "Strasse Getto Norden".

The area called "Nord" on the map roughly identifies the Jewish Ghetto.

The index can be seen here: /gallery/enlarge/48188a

The Lodz Ghetto (Litzmannstadt), was a World War II ghetto established for Polish Jews and Roma, following the 1939 invasion of Poland. It was the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe after the Warsaw Ghetto. Situated in the city of Lodz, and originally intended as a preliminary step upon a more extensive plan of creating the Judenfrei (Jewish-free) province of Warthegau, the ghetto was transformed into a major industrial center, manufacturing much needed war supplies for Nazi Germany and especially for the German Army. The number of people incarcerated in it was augmented further by the Jews deported from the Reich territories.

Because of its remarkable productivity, the ghetto managed to survive until August 1944. In the first two years, it absorbed almost 20,000 Jews from liquidated ghettos in nearby Polish towns and villages, as well as 20,000 more from the rest of German-occupied Europe. After the wave of deportations to Chełmno death camp, beginning in early 1942, and in spite of a stark reversal of fortune, the Germans persisted in eradicating the ghetto: they transported the remaining population to Auschwitz and Chełmno extermination camps, where most died upon arrival.

Lodz was the last ghetto in occupied Poland to be liquidated. A total of 204,000 Jews passed through Lodz, but only 800 remained hidden when the Russians arrived. About 10,000 Jewish residents of Lodz, who used to live there before the invasion of Poland, survived the Holocaust elsewhere.

When German forces occupied Lodz in September 1939, the city had a population of 672,000 people, including over 230,000 Jews. The city was renamed Litzmannstadt in honor of a German general, Karl Litzmann, who had led German forces in the area in 1914.

The first known record of an order for the establishment of the ghetto was issued on December 10, 1939, by Nazi governor Friedrich Übelhör, who called for the cooperation of major policing bodies in the confinement and mass transfer of the local Jews. By October 1, 1940, the relocation of the ghetto inmates was to have been completed, and the city's downtown core declared Judenrein (cleansed of its Jewish presence).

On February 8, 1940, the Germans ordered the Jewish residence to be limited to specific streets in the Old City and the adjacent Bałuty quarter, the areas that would become the ghetto. To expedite the relocation, the Orpo Police launched an assault known as "Bloody Thursday" in which 350 Jews were fatally shot in their homes. Over the next two months, wooden and wire fences were erected around the area to cut it off from the rest of the city. Jews were formally sealed within the ghetto walls on 1 May, 1940. At the time, the ghetto population was about 164,000.

To organize the local population and maintain order, the German authorities established a Jewish Council commonly called the Judenrat or the Ältestenrat ("Council of Elders"). The chairman of the Judenrat appointed by the Nazi administration, was Chaim Rumkowski. Even today, he is still considered one of the most controversial figures in the history of the Holocaust. Known mockingly as "King Chaim", Rumkowski was granted unprecedented powers by the Nazi officials, which authorized him to take all necessary measures to maintain order in the Ghetto.

Rumkowski adopted an autocratic style of leadership in order to transform the ghetto into an industrial base manufacturing war supplies. Convinced that Jewish productivity would ensure survival, he forced the population to work 12-hour days, producing uniforms, garments, wood and metalwork, and electrical equipment for the German military. By 1943, some 95 percent of the adult population was employed in 117 workshops. Rumkowski systematically singled out for expulsion his political opponents, or anyone who might have had the capacity to lead a resistance to the Nazis. Rumkowski relied on his "Jewish police" to quell the discontented workers, although at least in one instance, the German Order Police was asked to intervene.

Condition Description
Minor fold breaks, reinforced on verso.