Lodz Ghetto: list of survivors (microfilm)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1556 WL 518
Held at	: Wiener Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.wienerlibrary.co.uk/ ›
Full title	: Lodz Ghetto: list of survivors (microfilm)
Date(s)	: 1945
Level of description	: collection
Extent	: 99 frames
Name of creator(s)	: Unknown

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

On the eve of World War Two, the city of Lodz in Poland had a population of 665,000 people of which 34 per cent were Jews. The Jewish population was very active in the industrial sector and the community had a very vibrant cultural life, consisting of sports clubs theatres and newspapers. The Jewish community also produced many renowned authors, artists and poets.

After the German army occupied Lodz on 8 September 1939 there began a campaign of anti-semitic persecution of increasing severity reaching a peak with the creation of the Lodz ghetto, which was officially sealed off from the outside world on 1 May 1940. Thousands were brutalised and hundreds were murdered in the process. The ghetto was only ever conceived of as a temporary measure and ultimately it was planned to rid the city of its entire Jewish population. In the meantime the population of the ghetto, nominally represented by a council of Jewish elders, was forced to live in appalling overcrowded conditions with minimal food and no sanitation. 43,500 people died during the ghetto's existence mostly through starvation and disease.

The deportations, initially to Chelmno, began in January 1942. In total 70,000 inhabitants were sent to their deaths during this first stage. There followed a period of relative quiet when the ghetto became a giant labour camp. The death camp at Chelmno was reopened in June 1944 on the orders of Himmler, who wanted to finally liquidate the ghetto and over 7000 ghetto inmates were murdered in the space of 3 weeks. Another 65,000 Jews were deported to their deaths at Auschwitz during the remainder of 1944. The remaining 1000 Jews at Lodz were liberated by the Russians on 19 January 1945.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Partial alphabetical list (letters R-Z) of names of the survivors of Lodz ghetto, Poland, during World War Two, including date of birth and last known address (1939). Created, 13-27 June 1945.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
N/A

System of arrangement:

Alphabetical

Conditions governing access:

Open

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Finding aids:

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Jewish Central Information Office

Allied Materials

Related material:

The following is a list of additional document collections held at the Wiener Library on the subject of the Lodz ghetto: 1416; 559; 1048; 1578; 1387; 557; 539a; 578; 1118; 1610; 1569; 611; 629.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Sources: The Holocaust Encylopedia, Walter Laqueur, editor, (Yale University Press, 2001). Entry by Howard Falksohn.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Oct 2007