Lodz Ghetto

The Last Months of the Lodz Ghetto

A team of historians associated with the Archives Department of the Lodz (in German, Litzmannstadt ghetto kept a daily chronicle for 1,296 days, from November 1940 until 30 July 1944, when the last entry was written. The record provides us with a detailed view of all aspects of ghetto life. In 1944 it reveals the resumption of deportations from Lodz to the killing center at Chelmno, the soup strike and other abortive attempts at resistance, and the impending liquidation of the ghetto. At the end of July 1944, there were still 68,561 Jews alive in the Lodz ghetto-the largest surviving Jewish population in incorporated Poland. In late summer 1944 the Lodz ghetto was dissolved and the remaining population deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Reprinted from Lucjan Dobroszycki, ed., The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944, trans. Richard Lourie et al. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984), excerpts from pages 428-536. Copyright ©1984 by Lucjan Dobroszycki.

Saturday, January 8, 1944

News of the Day

Yesterday, Dr. Bradfisch, mayor and commander-inchief of the Gestapo, visited the ghetto. He spent roughly an hour at Balut Market. Immediately thereafter a new proclamation concerning the mandatory salute was posted. Apparently the mayor had ascertained that people were not saluting cars that drive through the ghetto, as regulation prescribes. The text of the proclamation is as follows:

Proclamation No. 406

Re: Obligation to Salute All Uniformed Persons and German Officials (Civilians).

Citing my memorandum of June 3, 1942, and the memorandum, addressed to all departments, workshops, and factories, of June 16, 1942, I again emphatically point out that all ghetto inhabitants (male and female) must unconditionally and unprompted salute all uniformed personnel and all German officials (civilians) in the street as well as in the workshops and factories.

It makes no difference whatsoever whether the uniformed personnel or German civilians are in the ghetto on foot or in an auto.

There thus exists a rigorous obligation to salute. Failure to observe this order will result in extremely severe penalties.

At inspections of departments, workshops, and factories, [by Germans both from outside] and from the Ghetto Administration, everyone must rise from his seat at the command, "Achtung!" [Attention!].

When all the visitors have entered, work will continue, after the same person who called "Achtung!" has ordered, "Weiterarbeiten!" [Continue work!]

The manager of each workshop must delegate a specific individual to call out the above orders, “Achtung" and "Weiterarbeiten," at every inspection or visit.

Litzmannstadt, 6 January 1944
Ch[aim] Rumkowski

Amtsleiter Biebow has still not returned from his winter vacation; this fact has been noted by the populace and is causing uneasiness.

Saturday, January 15, 1944

Sketches of Ghetto Life: The Privileged Cats

One of the peculiarities of the Litzmannstadt ghetto is the absence of any pets. The horses one encounters in the streets do not support the contention that man and beast constitute a social unity, in the sense of a normal communal existence. Even man's best friend, the dog, is gone. Only sparrows and jackdaws give the ghetto dweller the illusion that there is such a thing as the animal kingdom.

And yet, even in this respect, the ghetto has its "specialty": a very few persons have the right to keep a cat. These are the managers of specific grocery shops, the socalled food distribution points.

In these shops the cats pursue their naturally ordained task of destroying mice. The chronicle has neglected to mention that there are mice here in great numbers, chiefly in places where food is stored. They chew up the sacks of flour, [rye] flakes, peas, and so forth; they get into the containers of marmalade, sugar, bread.

To ward off this danger, to destroy the mice-this is the job of the cats. They too have to demonstrate produktsye [productivity], like all ghetto residents. In return, they receive their allotment: one kilogram of meat per week— good, fresh, wholesome meat.

The employees in these shops envy the privileged cats, and rightly so. For the past week, since the beginning of January, no meat has been reaching the ghetto, and the residents sorely miss this special-nutrition dish.

But now there is no meat for the good little cats either. Their heads droop, their tails drag sadly. A pitiful sight. The cats accept no other food; they are slowly perishing.

They spurn the ghetto dweller's diet-turnips, radishes, or soup). Truly deplorable. Even they, the privileged creatures, must now know misery and the grim reality of life. In January, 1944, they too must share the fate of the ghetto's masses and starve along with them. All are equal before the law of the ghetto, man and beast. Eating one's fill is not the norm, but the exception. Remember that, O cat in the food shop!

O[sker] R[osenfeld]

Thursday, January 20, 1944

News of the Day

Today, another small commission arrived in the ghetto

Sunday, January 30, 1944

Food Supply

Today, Sunday, there are absolutely no deliveries of commodities to report. The food situation in the ghetto grows more critical by the hour. People have nothing but their meager grain rations to fall back on. How they are to manage for fourteen days on 800 grams of grain is an enigma. Beyond this, the ration contains only one kilogram of radishes and a half-kilogram of fodder carrots-this is supposed to suffice for fourteen days. What in the world do people cook? In ghetto apartments one sees at best a pot of water with a little bouillon powder and onionseed flour, plus some radishes or carrots-insofar as this ration has even been distributed, for distribution depends on how much has actually been delivered. The only solid food every day is a kind of dough made of a pinch of grain flour, [ersatz] coffee, and onionseed flour which is usually panfried without fat. Only a lucky few have some potato peel mush to mix into this splendid dish. If, by pulling strings, someone manages to obtain such potato peels, he adds flour to produce a sort of babka or a tsholnt. The price of a kilogram of potato peels fluctuates between twenty and twentyfive marks.

The authorities have ordered the Meat Clearinghouse to empty the "cinema" warehouse in Radogoszcz of the canned meat there. The approximately 250,000 cans must be transferred to the Meat Clearinghouse at 40 Brzezinska Street by the weekend. For this purpose, the street-front wing of the building at that address is being cleared of all meat reserves, which will be stored elsewhere.

Workshop News: An Incident in the Leather and Saddlery Workshop

The commissioner of this factory scheduled one of the compulsory air raid and fire drills for the end of a shift. But vehement protests were made by several women who refused to spend another hour in the workshop after ten hours of work. In the excitement, Commissioner [Maksymilian] Seligman struck one of these women, whereupon he was soundly beaten by several men. The Order Service was called, and a squad under the command of Commissioner [Abram] Feldhändler arrived. Having immediately sized up the situation, Feldhändler wisely chose not to intervene. He told the worker that he would not make an issue of the matter if they agreed to calm down. The workers, however, were not satisfied, and they demanded to see the Chairman, who, in fact, arrived on the scene. The Chairman instructed Commissioner Seligman

in private that if any workers needed hitting, it would be done by him personally and no one else. The matter was resolved.

On Friday and Saturday, the Chairman visited the jewelry factory at 7 Ciesielska Street, where he held meetings about the imminent relocation.

Tuesday, February 1, 1944

Food Supply

The serious hunger crisis continues, as no alleviation of any sort appears likely. Today 12,750 kilograms of potatoes were delivered to the ghetto and, naturally, allocated to the kitchens. These potatoes are not of the best quality, since the incoming trucks are always "skimmed." The 4,000 kilograms of margarine that arrived today ensure the next margarine ration. The scheduled quotas of rye flour, rapeseed oil, and mustard powder have been delivered.

Sketches of Ghetto Life: Don't Waste a Drop!

The pail of soup is carried up the two flights to the Loan Fund Office at 17 Zgierska Street. The women carrying it jostle against the edge of a step, and a bit of soup with diced potato is spilled on the staircase. The carriers ignore this minor accident and continue on their way. Behind them, a man is dragging himself up the stairs. He is here to pick up a loan at the office. His tired bones can scarcely support him, he trudges from one step to the next. And then he notices the spilled soup. His eyes fill with tears: soup on the stairs!...

The man doesn't even stop to think. He pulls out his spoon-the essential tool that every ghetto dweller always has with him he sits down on a step and ... spoons the soup off the filthy stone staircase. The serendipitous "additional soup" is more important to him at this moment than the measly few ghetto marks he is calling for at the office. The few drops of soup won't satisfy his hunger, but he can't help himself. Nor does he care to think that the stairs are filthy and that he might become ill. It's not a problem, he's already immune to typhoid fever.

If a novelist had written this scene for a book about famine in India or China, no one would believe it. But the ghetto can easily compete with India and China.

Saturday, February 26, 1944

Sketches of Ghetto Life: Night Life: in the Ghetto

Like America, the ghetto of Litzmannstadt is the land of unlimited possibilities. Something that was strictly prohibited yesterday will be the law tomorrow. The ghetto can be turned upside down in a matter of hours. And now this has happened again.

On Monday, February 14, 1944, the ghetto suddenly developed a "night life." Not, however, in bars or at brightly lit cafe<«<l concerts with cheerful, well-dressed people; but rather in the ghetto streets and at the distribution stores.