“THERE ARE NO CHILDREN – THERE ARE PEOPLE”
JANUSZ KORCZAK

The occupied city of Łódź was transformed into a transhipment hub, not for goods but for people. The German authorities defined the humanity of the inhabitants of these lands in their own peculiar way, according to their “usefulness” to the Third Reich. Amidst all this was a child, who lost their rights and basis for functioning overnight. A child, that is, who?

• “Prisoner child” incarcerated in camps and ghettos.
• “Orphaned or semi-orphaned child” placed in children's homes or foster families.
• “Regermanised child” entered with parents on the Volksliste.
• “Stolen child” intended for Germanisation.
• “Convict child” incarcerated in detention centres and prisons.
• “Pupil – «Zőgling»” incarcerated in the Jugendschutzlager in Przemysłowa Street, in Dzierżązna and in Konstancin Łódzki.
• “Child apprentice” of the Training Workshop of the Ministry of Aviation of the Third Reich.
• “Displaced child” incarcerated in resettlement and transit camps.
• “Child forced labourer” sent to slave labour.
• „«Banditen Kinder», «Terroristen Kinder» children” from families involved in the Polish independence

Photo source:

Displacement of the population probably from the Poznań region (Institute of National Remembrance).

FORGOTTEN PLACES – GERMAN CHILDREN'S HOMES

“... as I mentioned, the conditions there [the orphanage in Brzeźna Street] were very bad, even terrible. We were starved and were mostly fed rotten vegetables, often even half raw. I remember that most of us were constantly sick to our stomachs and, what’s more, we were constantly hungry. There was a strict camp regime, and we were systematically tormented. They organised punitive assemblies combined with beatings regularly...”

Zdzisław Baranowski, born 23 November 1933 in Łódź, a pre-war orphan, went through orphanages

in the following streets: Karolewska, Wodna, Cmentarna, Brzeźna.

During the occupation, there were at least eight children's homes in Łódź run by the Department of Social Welfare. Each of them could house from 60 to 160 persons. The most severe, almost camp-like conditions were at the Municipal Children's Home at ul. Brzeźna 1/3. The largest establishments were the children's homes at ul. Przędzalniana 66, Lokatorska 12, Karolewska 51 and the Home for Little Children at ul. Krzemieniecka 5. Between 850 and over 1,000 children went through each of these centres between 1939 and 1944. The establishments housing mainly children selected for Germanisation were closed between July and November 1944, and the pupils were transferred to the Reich. Other such outlets include the transit children's home at ul. Kopernika 36 and the children's homes at ul. Cmentarna 10a and ul. Przyszkole 38.

Source of quote:

Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Łódź, Interview report of witness Zdzisław Baranowski (1967), ref. S 4/00/Zn, t. IIIa, k. 59.

Photo source:

Städt-Kinderheim – ul. Brzeźna 3 (Erhard-Patzerstrasse).

Kinderheim – ul. Przędzalniana 66 (Mark-Meissenstrasse).

Kinderheim – ul. Lokatorska 12 (Zobtenweg).

Säuglingsheim – ul. Krzemieniecka 5 (Am Volkspark).

Übergangsheim – ul. Kopernika 36 (Friedrich Gosslerstrasse)

Kinderheim – ul. Cmentarna 10a (Friedhofstresse)

Kinderheim – ul. Przyszkole 38 (Ardenenstrasse)

 (Museum of Polish Children, photo by R. Borowska). 

THEY DISPLACED OUR ENTIRE FAMILY

“My family was placed in room 3, which housed 800 people in total. There were no beds or bunks, it was as if there were sectors or sleeping places separated from the passage by wooden planks. There was straw scattered on the floor and we slept on it. We covered ourselves with whatever clothing we had; some had blankets. The sanitation of the room, like that of the rest of the rooms, was very bad, as the whole place was smelly and dirty. And it was extremely cramped. The sleeping space for one person was 45 cm wide. [...] The primitive toilets – latrines – were located outside the building.”

Ildefons Aleksy, born 14.03.1927 in Gniezno,

prisoner of the resettlement camp in Konstantynów Łódzki, forced labourer.

In late 1939 and early 1940, the Resettlement Headquarters in Poznań, Łódź Branch, in cooperation with the Labour Office, opened five resettlement camps in Łódź and Konstantynów Łódzki. One of them, the camp in Konstantynów Łódzki, was turned into a branch of the camp for Polish children in Przemysłowa street on 16 August 1943. Three of these camps operated until the end of 1944, with one serving as a hospital until January 1945.  The network of camps for displaced persons transported to Łódź included:

• Umwandererlager I (resettlement camp) – ul. Łąkowa 4
• Umwandererlager II (resettlement camp) – ul. Żeligowskiego 41/43
• Auffanglager/Sammellager (reception/collection camp) – ul. Kopernika 53/55
• Sammellager/Krankenlager (collection camp / hospital) – ul. 28. Pułku Strzelców Kaniowskich 32
• Umwandererlager in Konstantinow (resettlement camp) – ul. Łódzka 27

Source of quote:

Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Łódź, Interview report of witness Ildefons Aleksy (1979), ref. Ds. 37/67, t. II, k. 387-388.

Photo source:

Resettlement camps (Institute of National Remembrance).

“HUMANITY OWES TO THE CHILD THE BEST THAT IT HAS TO GIVE”
The 1924 Geneva Declaration

Between April 1940 and January 1945, a hospital for patients from other resettlement camps and for workers returned from forced labour due to ill health or disability operated at the resettlement camp in Strzelców Kaniowskich Street.

“The medicines supplied to the camp by illegal means by the Polish staff could not even begin to meet the demand. […] In the so-called children's ward, the only section with beds, there were several children to a single bed. If one child fell ill, the others were soon infected.”

“My husband, my 16-year-old daughter and I were loaded onto a lorry without any belongings and were taken to Łódź, to a camp in Łąkowa Street. After four days, my daughter, who suffered from a nervous illness, was taken from the camp and led, accompanied by me and under escort, to the buildings in Strzelców Kaniowskich Street. […] The nervously ill, the mentally ill and those unable to work were grouped together there. […] The Germans arrived in the morning and took away all the people imprisoned in the camp. […] My daughter disappeared without a trace.”

“There was a children's hospital nearby to which ill children were taken from us. I couldn’t accompany my sick son Zdzisław* to the hospital because I would have had to leave the rest of the children and my sick husband unattended. They didn’t take sick children to the hospital without an accompanying adult.”

 *he died on 13 December 1944 at the age of seven months.

Text source:

Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Łódź, Information on the camp in Łódź at ul. Strzelców Kaniowskich 32, ref. Ds. 37/67, t. I, k. 139; Ibidem, Interview report of witness Kornelia Gralewska née Przybył (1967), ref. Ds. 37/67, t. I, k. 176; Ibidem, Interview report of witness Maria Jaskólska née Grygiel (1971), ref. Ds. 37/67, t. I, k. 122.

Photo source:

Propaganda photographs of a hospital room from a resettlement camp in Łódź (Institute of National Remembrance).

CAMP OR WORKSHOP? WODNA 34

“Our entire group was transported to Łódź and accommodated in the church of the Salesian priests […] and as soon as we arrived, each of us was photographed, and then we were issued identity cards. […] Next to the church, there was a production hall where all the girls worked. The area around the church was fenced off, and guards with guns kept watch at the entrance gate 24 hours a day. […] Our living conditions were very difficult. We were placed in a church building that was not heated. We slept on wooden bunk beds with bedticks on them, and we covered ourselves with blankets. […] We received small, low-calorie rations and were therefore constantly hungry. The sanitation was also poor.”

Krystyna Kubiak née Sulej, born 31 May 1928 in Kalisz, detained in a workshop in Wodna Street, trained in technical drawing and lathe work, worked as a forced labourer in an armaments factory in Kalisz.

The German occupiers, in cooperation with the Műeller-Seidel company, established the Reich Ministry of Aviation's Training Workshop in the former School of Crafts of the Salesian Society. The facility functioned as part of a larger system, with similar facilities located in Poznań, Kraków, Częstochowa, Warsaw and Lviv. Young people aged 14 to 21 were trained there. After completing the course, the trainees were sent to work in armaments factories in the Third Reich. The trainees lived on the premises of a school or were accommodated in the dormitory at ul. Piramowicza 11/15.

Source of quote:

Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Łódź, Testimony of Krystyna Kubiak (1990), ref. S 4/00/Zn, t. IVa, k. 85-87.

Photo source:

ID photo of Krystyna Kubiak from the workshop at ul. Wodna 34 (Institute of National Remembrance).

DETENTION CENTRES – TEMPORARY ISOLATION FOR CHILDREN

There were three detention centres operating in Łódź. All of them served as places of isolation for children and young people, who were subsequently sent to other locations, including the camp in Przemysłowa Street. One of the youngest individuals held in Criminal Police custody, and later at the camp in Przemysłowa Street, was Michał Zdanowski (born in 1936). After his mother's arrest, six-year-old Michał was left alone in their flat for three months.

“I don’t remember the precise date, but I believe it was in the autumn of 1942, when a man in civilian clothing came to the flat and told me that he would take care of me. He took me from the flat to the police detention centre in Kilińskiego Street in Łódź. I was held there for several months and then, with a group of other young boys, I was transported to a camp for Polish children and young people, also in Łódź.”

Source of quote:

Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Łódź, Interview report of witness Michał Zdanowski (1970), ref. S 36.2019.Zn, k. 1410v.

Photo source:

Staatspolizeistelle in Litzmannstadt (Gestapo Detention Centre) – ul. Anstadta 7/9 (Gardestrasse).

Kriminalpolizeistelle Litzmannstadt-Polizeigefängnis (Criminal Police Detention Centre) – ul. Kilińskiego 152 (Buschline).

Polizei Präsidium Polizeigefängnis (Police Presidium Detention Centre) – ul. Kopernika 29 (FriedrichGosslerstrasse).

Museum of Polish Children, photo by R. Borowska). 

RADOGOSZCZ – A SYMBOL OF GERMAN CRUELTY

Locations: A prison/collection camp at ul. Liściasta 17 (November 1939 – January 1940).

A transit/collection camp at the corner of Zgierska and Sowińskiego Streets (1939 – June 1940), which was later expanded into a police prison and from 1943 also served as a labour education camp.

The Radogoszcz massacre: The most horrific events occurred on the night of 17th-18th January 1945, when German prison personnel shot a number of inmates as they were preparing to flee Łódź. The personnel then set fire to the prison buildings, with people still trapped inside.

Teenagers at Radogoszcz: In May 1940, the Gestapo and Kriminalpolizei launched a campaign of arrests in Łódź targeting male teenagers and members of the intelligentsia. Among those arrested was Józef Sobczak, born on 26th February 1920 in Łódź, imprisoned at Radogoszcz and Dachau concentration camp. Prior to his deportation to Germany, he managed to send a secret message to his family.

“Stasiek! Please tell my parents that we left Radogoszcz between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m. We are being dealt with as if we were criminals. Tell everyone that there will be more arrests of Poles, as there is space in Radogoszcz. Those arrested range from 17 to 50 years of age. We are heading in the direction of Berlin (probably a three-day journey). Give this note to my brother. Give all your friends a hug from me. If I get the chance, I'll run straight away. The reasons for our arrests are various and completely unjustified. There are those who had registered, those who worked, students and others.  It seems we are going to be sent to forced labour. Bye, it will be fine. Józek.” 

Text source:

Museum of Independence Traditions, Secret message, ref. A-10933.

Photo source:

Gefangenenlager/Sammellager Radogosch (prison/collection camp) ul. Liściasta 17 (Wasserpfad)

Auffanglager/Sammellage/ Erweitertes Polizeigefängnis und Arbeitserziehungslager

(transit camp/collection camp, expanded into a police prison/labour education camp) ul. Zgierska 147 (Hohensteiner Strasse).

Museum of Polish Children, photo by R. Borowska). 

MARYSIN – AN ENCLAVE WITHIN THE GHETTO

Marysin, situated in the north-eastern part of the ghetto, holds a particular symbolic significance. On the one hand, it was the location of Radegast station, from which transports of Jews departed for the extermination centres. On the other hand, amongst the ghetto's inhabitants, it was regarded as a relative haven of prosperity. This was due to its farmland, gardens and recreational areas, and also as an enclave where children’s laughter could still be heard. Within this space, orphanages operated at ul. Marysińska 100 and ul. Okopowa 119 until 1941, when they were moved to a single site at ul. Franciszkańska 102. The area also housed a school at ul. Marysińska 48 and the hakhsharas, where Jewish young people were trained in agricultural work. Summer camps for the poorest was established there. The Children's Summer Camp Office and the Children's Kitchen Department were based at ul. Zagajnikowa 23. One unique place at Marysin connected the experiences of both Polish and Jewish children. Until the area was separated from the ghetto to become a German camp for Polish children, a preventorium for Jewish children functioned at ul. Przemysłowa 34. Later, the camp commandant's office was located at that address.

Photo source:

Preventorium for Jewish children (The State Archive in Łódź)

Jewish children at the Marysin orphanage during mealtime. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Jewish children taking a rest at Marysin (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

CHILDREN’S HELL: THE CAMP IN PRZEMYSŁOWA STREET

“I remember when we were led into a large barracks, the room was full of crying children, and among them my lamenting brother and quiet me, who didn’t yet realise that this was not a trip, but a prison.”

Ewa Gauss-Nowakowska, born 22 June 1938 in Poznań, a Polish child who was an inmate of the camp in Przemysłowa Street and in Potulice.

In an area isolated from the Łódź ghetto, the Germans established a camp for Polish children in December 1942. This camp was based on the German camp for minors in Moringen. Orphaned children, children of parents involved in the resistance, children whose parents had not signed the Volksliste, children of Jehovah's Witnesses and children caught for minor offences were all sent there. During the 25 months the camp in Przemysłowa Street was operational, between 2,000 and 3,000 children passed through it. The camp had two branches: a farm in Dzierżązna near Zgierz (from March 1943) and Ost-Jugendverwahrlager der Sicherheitspolizei in Tuchingen (in Konstantynów Łódzki from August 1943). The latter was intended for children from eastern Europe. It is estimated that around 200 young prisoners died at the camp in Przemysłowa Street. The camp ceased operations in January 1945, when the German staff fled from the advancing Soviet army.

Source of quote:

Sowińska-Gogacz, B. Torański, Mały Oświęcim. Dziecięcy obóz w Łodzi, Warsaw 2020, p. 98.

Photo source:

Appeal of prisoners of the camp in Przemysłowa Street (Institute of National Remembrance).

The camp layout (State Archive in Poznań).

NOT ONLY PRZEMYSŁOWA, NOT ONLY ŁÓDŹ…
SAVING MEMORIES FROM OBLIVION.

Attics, cellars and wardrobe drawers still hold memorabilia from the years of the Second World War and the German occupation, which tell children's war stories. This is a part of our national identity. There is no family in Poland that escaped the trauma of war between 1939 and 1945. Museum staff share fragments of their own family stories.

We encourage you to look at your own family history and share its story with us. Together, let’s save mementos of childhood memories from the war and occupation from being lost or destroyed.

Grandfather Władek– Władysław Tęgos, born 22 April 1926 in Dzierawy near Koło. At the age of sixteen, he was sent to forced labour in Munich, to a BMW factory producing aircraft engines for the Luftwaffe. He was accommodated in the Allach subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp. He survived the bombing of the factory. After liberation, he was taken by the Americans to Coburg. He returned to his homeland in July 1945. He died on 5th August 1996. (Fronczek family collection)

Grandmother Jasia– Janina Dudek née Wiedeńska, born 11 April 1928 in Laski near Bełchatów. At the age of sixteen, she was imprisoned in a resettlement camp in Łąkowa and Kopernika Streets, before becoming a forced labourer at the Bamberg AG silk factory in Wuppertal. She was evacuated to Belgium, the Netherlands and later to France, where she ended up in an American hospital in Mourmelon (Marne department). She returned to her homeland after August 1945. She died on 25th January 2021. (Dudek family collection).

Aunt Marianna – Marianna Łuczywek née Nowak, born 26th December 1932 in Wola Makowska near Skierniewice. As a result of German aggression, she was left without the care of her father, only with her mother and younger brother, Ryszard. In 1940, she sent this photo to Germany with the annotation “As a memento to my beloved Daddy, from his daughter”. Her father was in captivity as a prisoner of war at the time. (Collection of the Łuczywek and Nowak families).

Dad Zenek - Zenon Zbigniew Skalski, born 24 August 1927 in Budzynek. Pictured between his father, Stanisław, and mother, Anna. A half-orphan of war. At the age of fifteen, he lost his father, who, after two years of arrest, died in 1942 in Auschwitz. Dad was the head of the school in Budzynek and a member of the Union of Armed Struggle in Łęczyca. (Skalski family collection).