Łódź (memorial, exhibition)
See also:
PLAQUE – THE CME WALL
MURAL
Historical background
Between November 5 and November 9, 1941, the Germans brought 5,007 Roma, mainly from Burgenland (Austria), to the Łódź ghetto. It was 1,130 men, 1,188 women and 2,689 children (exact documentation of transports with personal data has been preserved). The Roma were detained in a specially created Gypsy camp (Zigeunerlager) in the Łódź ghetto. 15 buildings with 543 rooms were separated from the ghetto area and surrounded by an additional strip of barbed wire, separating them from the rest of the ghetto. The conditions of staying in the overcrowded camp were tragic, much worse than in the rest of the ghetto. After a few weeks, a typhus epidemic broke out and within seven weeks more than 700 people died, most children. They were buried in two quarters at the local Jewish cemetery. The sick were killed in a gas chamber in a nearby camp in Kulmhof am Nehr (Chełmno nad Nerem). Finally, around 4,300 Roma who remained alive were gassed by Germans between January 5 and January 12, 1942. Zigeunerlager in Łódź was liquidated. It was the largest extermination camp for Gypsies in Europe after Birkenau. It was located in the quarter marked by the following streets: Brzezińska, Towiańskiego, Sikawska, Głowackiego Streets (current street names are: Wojska Polskiego, Starosikawska, Westerplatte, Głowackiego). Pictures taken by Germans showing fragments of Zigeunerlager can be seen at the exhibition devoted to the martyrdom of the inhabitants of Łódź. It is located in the Museum of Martyrology and Fighting (a branch of the Museum of Independence Traditions) located in the surviving remains of a prison in the Radogoszcz district, where Poles were imprisoned during the German occupation.
In 2009, the building of the former smithy in the Litzmanstadt Ghetto was adapted for exhibition purposes. The exhibition presents the history of the ghetto and is under the care of the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź.
Description of commemoration
In January 2004, at the initiative of the city of Łódź, a ceremony commemorating the Zigeunerlager extermination was organised. A metal plaque with a trilingual inscription: Polish, Romani, English was embedded on the wall of the former smithy building in the Zigeunerlager (currently Wojska Polskiego Street No. 84).
Since then, every year on January 12, on the anniversary of the last transport of prisoners from the Lódź ghetto to the Kulmhof am Nehr camp (Chełmno nad Nerem), memorial gatherings take place at this plaque with the participation of Roma and city authorities.
Inscriptions
In Polish:
TU, W KWARTALE ULIC WOJSKA POLSKIEGO, / WESTERPLATTE, SIKAWSKIEJ I GŁOWACKIEGO / OD 5 XI 1941 R. DO 12 I 1942 R. ISTNIAŁ OBÓZ / DLA CYGANÓW (ZIGEUNERLAGER) / WŁADZE HITLEROWSKIE ZAMKNĘŁY W NIM / OKOŁO 5 000 ROMÓW PRZYWIEZIONYCH Z AUSTRII. / WSKUTEK CHORÓB I ZABÓJSTW ZMARŁO PONAD 600 / WIĘŹNIÓW. POZOSTAŁYCH OK. 4 300 MIESZKAŃCÓW / W DNIACH OD 5 DO 12 I 1942 R. ZAGAZOWANO W OBOZIE / ZAGŁADY W CHEŁMNIE NAD NEREM.
In Romani:
MASKARAL ANDE BUT DROMA: / WOJSKA POLSKIEGO, WESTERPLATTE, SIKAWSKIEJ I GŁOWACKIEGO / KATAR O 5 XI 1941 BERŠ ŽI KA O 12 I 1942 BERŠ SAS / KOTE ROMANO LAGERI (ZIGEUNERLAGER). / MANUŠ HITLEROSKE PHANDADE ANDE 5 000 ROMEN / KATAR O UNGRO / TAJ ANDAJ AUSTRIA. KOTAR O NASVALIMO, O MUDARIMO / MULE O PRAL 600 MANUŠ. / SO ASILE KARING 4 300 MANUŠ ANDO DIES MAŠ KAR / O 5 ŽI KO 12 I BERŠ O / NIAMCO MUDARDAS ANDO GAZO KADO SAS ANDO / LAGERI CHELMNO PAŠ O PAI NER.
In English:
AT THIS SITE, NAZI AUTHORITIES ESTABLISHED / A CAMP FOR GYPSIES / (ZIGEUNERLAGER) IN AREA BORDERED BY / WOJSKA POLSKIEGO, WESTERPLATTE,
SIKAWSKA AND GŁOWACKIEGO STREETS / OF THE 5 000 ROMA MEN, WOMAN AND CHILDREN / DEPORTED FROM AUSTRIA AND INCARCERATED HERE / BETWEEN NOVEMBER 5, 1941 AND JANUARY 12, / 1942 OVER 600 DIED FROM DISEASES / IN THE DEATH CAMP AT CHELMNO UPON NER (KULMHOF) / DURING THE WEEK OF JANUARY 5 TO 12, 1942.
Date of the unveiling
2004
Address
- Wojska polskiego 84, Łódź
Location
51°47’11.9″N 19°28’06.0″E
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Materials
Kuźnia Romów [The Romani Smithy] at Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych [Museum of Independence Traditions] in Łódź – http://www.muzeumtradycji.pl/kuznia-romow
Gallery
