Governor Übelhör created a team made up of representatives from the major policing bodies and departments.
Lodz had a Jewish population estimated at 230,000, living throughout the city.įor a ghetto of this scale, real planning was needed. There had already been a couple of ghettos established in other parts of Poland, but the Jewish population had been relatively small and those ghettos had remained open - meaning, the Jews and the surrounding civilians were still able to have contact. Also, enclosing the Jews made it relatively easy to extract the "hidden treasures" that Nazis believed Jews were hiding. The Nazis wanted Jews concentrated in ghettos so when they found a solution to the "Jewish problem," whether it be emigration or genocide, it could easily be carried out. On December 10, 1939, Friedrich Übelhör, the governor of the Kalisz-Lodz District, wrote a secret memorandum which set out the premise for a ghetto in Lodz. The armband was the precursor to the yellow Star of David badge which was soon to follow on December 12, 1939. It was easy to distinguish between Pole and Jew because on Novemthe Nazi's had ordered Jews to wear an armband on their right arm. The next several months were marked by daily round-ups of Jews for forced labor as well as random beatings and killings on the streets. On November 7, 1939, Lodz was incorporated into the Third Reich and the Nazi's changed its name to Litzmannstadt ("Litzmann's city") - named after a German general who died while attempting to conquer Lodz in World War I. While Warsaw was still fighting off the Germans (Warsaw finally surrendered on September 27), the 230,000 Jews in Lodz were already feeling the beginnings of Nazi persecution. For this High Holy day, the Nazi's ordered businesses to stay open and the synagogues to be closed. Six days after the occupation of Lodz, on September 14, 1939, was Rosh Hashanah, one of the holiest days within the Jewish religion.
Within days of Lodz's occupation, the Jews of the city became targets for beatings, robberies, and seizure of property. Only seven days after the attack on Poland began, however, Lodz was occupied. When the Nazis attacked, Poles and Jews worked frantically to dig ditches to defend their city. Lodz, located in central Poland, held one of the largest Jewish communities in Europe, second only to Warsaw. Using blitzkrieg tactics, Poland fell within three weeks. On September 1, 1939, Hitler shocked the world by attacking Poland. The following years revealed persecution of Jews, but the world head steadfast in the belief that by appeasing Hitler he would remain within Germany. When Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the world watched with concern and disbelief. The Lódz Ghetto: Table of Contents| Photographs| Police Battalion 101
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