back...78th anniversary of the end of the camp on Przemysłowa Street

“In the last days of the camp, we were terrified. We were afraid that the Germans would kill us, so we hid under the lower bunks (...). On the last day after waking up, when I went outside, I noticed that there were no guards on the camp grounds," recalled Henryk Łyszkowicz, a former prisoner of the camp on Przemysłowa Street, in an interview with Dr. Ireneusz Piotr Maj, director of the Museum.

Today marks the 78th anniversary of the opening of the gates of the German concentration camp for Polish children on Przemysłowa Street in Łódź. In connection with the anniversary, the director of the Museum, representatives of the city authorities, a delegation from the Heroic Children of Łódź Elementary School No. 81 and Barbara Sawicka, daughter of Stefan Marczewski – a former prisoner of the camp, laid flowers and lit symbolic candles at the Monument to the Martyrdom of Children, Pęknięte Serce [“Broken Heart”] in Łódź.  In this way, the young prisoners of the camp on Przemysłowa Street were commemorated.

“In the last days of the camp, we were terrified. We were afraid that the Germans would kill us, so we hid under the lower bunks (...). On the last day after waking up, when I went outside, I noticed that there were no guards in the camp," said Henryk Łyszkowicz during his first meeting with the director of the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism.

As part of the commemoration, Dr. Andrzej Janicki, Head of the Museum's Collections Department, delivered a presentation at the Marszałek Józef Piłsudski Provincial Public Library entitled "An Extraordinary Polish Family. The fate of Gertruda Nowak – a child from the camp on Przemysłowa Street". A recent publication by Museum staff under the same title was based on the personal file the little prisoner took with her when she left the German concentration camp for Polish children in Łódź.