Lodz Ghetto Photos

[Jim O]

Following are some photos of the Lodz (Łódź, Litzmannstadt) Ghetto. Initaially part of the General Government in occupied Poland, Łódź was annexed to Germany in November 1939 and renamed Litzmannstadt. The ghetto was established in February 1940, initially housing local Jews who numbered 160,000. In 1941 Jews and Roma from elsewhere in Germany and Austria were deported to the ghetto which had been sealed on April 30, 1940 and was being used essentially as a labor camp. Conditions were extemely harsh and many ghetto residents succumbed to starvation and to typhus and other diseases.

The Aktion Reinhardt extermination camp at Chelmno was established in December 1941 and shortly thereafter residents of the ghetto were being deported for gassing. The method used was the sealed gas van where exhaust was redirected into the rear "passenger" compartment. This was before the more efficient mass murder used in the gas chambers at Auschwitz II (Birkenau) and Majdanek which employed Zyklon B gas.

Over the course of time the ghetto also held prisoners from Central Europe. As Soviet forces neared the ghetto the pace of liquidation sped up and prisoners were now deported to Auschwitz. The ghetto was liberated on January 19, 1945. Of 204,000 Jews forced into the ghetto, only 900 remained alive at the time.

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Map of the ghetto in Łódź


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Cattle cars used in deportations from Łódź ghetto


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One of the bridges connecting different parts of the ghetto (Zgierska Street)


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German postcard showing the entrance to the Lodz ghetto. The sign reads "Jewish residential area--entry forbidden." Lodz, Poland, 1940-1941

[Jim O]

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Poverty in the ghetto: residents wait for soup at a public kitchen. Lodz ghetto, Poland, between 1940 and 1944.


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Head of the Jewish Council Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski (with white hair) and SS chief Heinrich Himmler on Himmler's first visit to the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, June 5, 1941.


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Jews deported from Germany and Austria march towards the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, October 1941.


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Jews carrying their possessions during deportation to the Chelmno extermination camp. Most of the people seen here had previously been deported to Lodz from central Europe. Lodz, Poland, between January and April 1942.

[Jim O]

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Jews deported to the Lodz ghetto. Poland, 1941 or 1942.


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Deportation of Jewish children from the Lodz ghetto, Poland, during the "Gehsperre" Aktion, September 1942.


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Jews, mostly children, proceed on horse-drawn wagons to assembly points for deportation. They are guarded by the Jewish police. Lodz ghetto, Poland, during the "Gehsperre" Aktion, September 5-12, 1942.


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German police raid a vandalized Jewish home in the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, ca. 1942.

[Jim O]

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Jews from the Lodz ghetto are forced to transfer to a narrow-gauge railroad at Kolo during deportation to the Chelmno extermination camp. Kolo, Poland, probably 1942.


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Jewish children forced to haul a wagon. Lodz ghetto, Poland, wartime.


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Jews at forced labor, transporting excrement down a ghetto street. Lodz ghetto, Poland, wartime.


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Motto of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Lodz ghetto Jewish council: "Our only path [to survival] is [through] work." Lodz, Poland, wartime.

[Jim O]

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Ghetto residents, wearing mandatory yellow stars, at forced labor in a clothing factory. Lodz ghetto, Poland, 1941.


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Jewish women at forced labor in a sewing workshop. Lodz ghetto, Poland, between 1940 and 1944.


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Gypsy camp in the Lodz ghetto. Poland, 1941-1944.


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Deportation of Jews from the Lodz ghetto. Poland, August 1944.

[Jim O]

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A rabbi from Frankfurt am Main, Germany, being deported from the Lodz ghetto


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"The last journey of the Jews of Lodz": transport destined for Auschwitz in August, 1944, during the final liquidation of the ghetto


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Boys hauling bread in the Lodz Ghetto


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Children carting away human waste. Lodz Ghetto.

[Jim O]

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Girl in Lodz ghetto


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Children wait outside the bread distribution center in the Lodz ghetto.


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New arrivals in the overcrowded Lódz ghetto. October, 1940.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Zydów Polsce 1939-1945


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A German soldier and a Jewish policeman direct Lódz ghetto residents crossing the street between the two parts of the ghetto in 1940 or 1941. The German sign forbids entry into the Jewish area. This photograph was printed as a postcard.
Photo credit: National Archives, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives

[Jim O]

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People at the market in the Lódz ghetto selling goods to survive in 1941. Lódz is a city in central Poland about 100 miles southwest of Warsaw.
Photo credit: Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives.


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Two German soldiers execute a Jewish man in the Lódz ghetto in 1941.
Photo credit: Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archives.


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This scene of a makeshift market place in the Lódz ghetto shows how some people tried to sell personal belongings for a little extra money.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Zydów Polsce 1939-1945. Poland. No. 102.


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A young child helps an older man cut paper in the Lódz ghetto paper factory.
Photo credit: Zydowski Instytut Historyczny Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy

[Jim O]

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Identity card of Rudolf Kohn, deported from Vienna to the ghetto in Lódz.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Aydów w Polsce 1939-1945. Poland. No. 68.


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Scene from the ghetto.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Aydów w Polsce 1939-1945. Poland. No. 79


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Design of a postage stamp in the Lódz ghetto. In the upper right-hand corner, Ch. M. Rutkowski; in the lower left-hand corner, the ghetto bridge.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Aydów w Polsce 1939-1945. Poland. No. 104.


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Five Mark note used in the Lódz ghetto.
Photo credit: Dr. Romuald Wroblewski, University of Uppsala, Sweden

[Jim O]

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Fifty Mark note used in the Lódz ghetto.
Photo credit: Dr. Romuald Wroblewski, University of Uppsala, Sweden


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Ten Mark coin used in the Lódz ghetto. The ten Mark coins were made of aluminum whereas the five Mark coins were made of magnesium and could be used for starting fires.
Photo credit: Dr. Romuald Wroblewski, University of Uppsala, Sweden


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A ghetto newspaper published in Yiddish in the Lódz ghetto from March 4, 1941 to September 21, 1941.
Photo credit: Meczenstwo Walka, Zaglada Zydów Polsce 1939-1945. Poland. No. 148.


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Jewish children say goodbye to parents through the fence of the Central Prison, the assembly point for deportations. Lodz ghetto, Poland, between 1942 and 1943.