Camps and places of isolation for Polish children in the city of Łódź

1. Camps within the city of Łódź.

- Central Resettlement Camp No. 1 at ul. Łąkowa 4.
Place Central Resettlement Camp No. 1 (Durchgangslager I der Umwanderzentralstelle-Posen Dienstelle Litzmannstadt).
Location Łódź, ul. Łąkowa 4 (then Wiesenstraße, later Flottwelstraße), in the buildings of the former patterned fabric factory of Baruch Gliksman.
Subordination to the Resettlement Headquarters in Poznań, Łódź Branch (Umwanderzentralstelle-Posen Dienstelle Litzmannstadt - UWZ), from 1942 onwards transports leaving the camp were most probably subordinate to the Labour Office (Arbeitsamt).
Commandants Albert Sauer (until May 1940), Erich Lorenz (until 6 August 1941), Otto Ertl (until 25 January 1943).
Period of operation 1939/1940-1944
Numbers Most likely several dozen thousands of adults and children. The maximum number of people in the camp at any one time was up to 5,000. The names of 39 children who died in the camp have been established. 
Description The first inmates were residents of the Montwiłł-Mirecki housing estate. Poles from lands incorporated into the Third Reich were brought to the camp. The prisoners were assessed in terms of their suitability for work and pre-selected for further racial research. Those qualified for labour were sent to forced labour via other resettlement camps located in Łódź. Those unable to work, including women with children, were deported to the General Gouvernement. Those selected for Germanisation were transferred to the race camp at ul. Sporna 73. The stay in camp lasted on average about two weeks. 

- Resettlement Camp No. 2 at ul. Żeligowskiego 41/43.
Place Resettlement Camp No. 2. (Durchgangslager II der Umwanderzentralstelle-Posen Dienstelle Litzmannstadt).
Location Łódź, Żeligowskiego 41/43 (then Gneisenaustraße), in the buildings of the former cotton wool factory (today there is a new residential development in this place).
Subordination to the Resettlement Headquarters in Poznań, Łódź Branch (Umwanderzentralstelle-Posen Dienstelle Litzmannstadt - UWZ).
Commandants Arthur Schűtz (later commandant of the resettlement camp in Zamość), Fritz Jobski, Karol Goede.
Period of operation Mid 1940 - late 1944 
Numbers Thousands of adults and children. At least 289 people died. The names of 94 children who died in the camp have been established. 
Description Displaced people and workers destined for forced labour were brought to the camp. Among those imprisoned in the camp there were, for instance, 100 children aged 1 to 14 from Lidice and Ležaki. Seven of them were destined for Germanisation, the others were probably killed in the extermination camp at Chełmno upon Ner. The stay in the camp lasted on average about two weeks; the shortest stays lasted for a few days, the longest ones several weeks.  

- Resettlement Camp at ul. Kopernika 53/55.
Place Resettlement camp (Durchgangslager, Auffanglager, Sammellager).
Location Łódź, ul. Kopernika 53/55 (then Milchstraße, later Friedrich-Gosslerstraße), in the buildings of the former spinning, finishing and weaving mills of Friedrich Abel, periodically also at number 49. 
Subordination to the Resettlement Headquarters in Poznań, Łódź Branch (Umwanderzentralstelle-Posen Dienstelle Litzmannstadt - UWZ), from April 1941 placed at the disposal of the Labour Office (Arbeitsamt).
Commandants Max Andritzke, deputy E. Weick, later Oskar Gruszczyński. 
Period of operation 1940-1944 
Numbers Several dozen thousands of adults and children (1942 - 20,772 people, 1943 - 20,259 people sent to forced labour). At least 21 people died in the camp. The names of 6 children who died in the camp have been established.  
Description Poles who were later sent to forced labour in the Wartheland or the Old Reich (Altreich) were brought to the camp.

- Resettlement Camp at ul. 28. Pułku Strzelców Kaniowskich 32.
Place Resettlement camp (Durchgangslager, Auffanglager, Sammellager).
Location Łódź, ul. 28. Pułku Strzelców Kaniowskich 32 (then Luisenstraße, later Tauentzienstraße), in the buildings of the former shelter run by the Albertine Sisters.
Subordination to the Resettlement Headquarters in Poznań, Łódź Branch (Umwanderzentralstelle-Posen Dienstelle Litzmannstadt - UWZ).
Commandants Ludwig Witthinrich, Ernst Krűger.
Period of operation 1940-1944
Numbers Several thousand adults and children, including pregnant women. At least 165 people died. The names of 183 children who died in the camp have been established.   
Description In April 1940, a collective hospital was established in a part of the camp for sick and disabled prisoners from the resettlement camps from Łódź and Konstantynów Łódzki. Sick people sent back from forced labour were also placed there. 

- Race Camp at ul. Sporna 73.
Place Race camp (Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt SS Aussenstelle Lager)
Location Łódź, ul. Sporna 73 (then Landsknechtstraße vel Wotanstraße), in the buildings of the Bernardine Fathers' monastery.
Subordination to the Main Office for Race and Settlement (SS-Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt - RuSHA).
Period of operation Autumn 1940 - January 1945
Numbers Adults and children. On average, approximately 1,000 people. At least 41 people died in the camp. The names of 25 children who died in the camp have been established. 
Description In the camp, racial tests were carried out on prisoners to select those to be Germanised. Those evaluated positively were deported to the Old Reich (Altreich). Children up to the age of 7 years stayed with their mothers; older children were divided by age and sex and placed in separate rooms. The infants were separated from their mothers and transported to the orphanage in Bruczków and, from December 1942, to the district orphanage in Kalisz. Those not qualified for Germanisation were sent to other camps, forced labour or released. The stay in the camp lasted from a dozen or so days to a dozen or so months.  

- Security police camp for Polish children and young people on Przemysłowa Street.
Place Security police camp for Polish children and young people (Polen-Jugendverwahrlager der Sicherheitspolizei in Litzmannstadt). 
Location Łódź, Przemysłowa Street (former Fauststraße). Today there is a residential area on the site. Five buildings from the time of the camp have survived, including the commandant's office. 
Subordination to the Reich Security Main Office (Reichssicherheitshauptamt - RSHA). Sicherheitspolizei in Litzmannstadt.
Commandants Friedrich Camillo Ehrlich (Kripo)
Period of operation December 1942 - January 1945
Numbers Children of both sexes from 2 to 18 years of age. It is assumed that around 3,000 children passed through the camp. The names of 77 children who died in the camp have been established. 
Description Children were sent to the camp for political reasons in retaliation for their parents' connections with the independence underground or refusal to sign the Volksliste, as well as children who broke laws introduced by the occupying forces. The prisoners worked in workshops and gardens located in the camp and carried out demolition work in the city and agricultural work in the Dzierżązna branch of the camp. Due to the sanitary and living conditions as well as the punishment system and hard work, after the war it was considered that the site was like a concentration camp.

- Educational labour camp at Sikawa at ul. Beskidzka 54.
Place Educational labour camp at Sikawa, from October 1944 organisationally connected to the extended police prison at Radogoszcz (Arbeitserziehungslager [6] Litzmannstadt - Stockhof; Geheime Staatpolizei, Staatspolizeistelle Litzmannstadt; Der Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei in Litzmannstadt Erweitertest Polizeigefängnis und Arbeitserziehungslager - AEL).
Location Łódź-Sikawa, ul. Beskidzka 54 (then Litzmannstadt-Stockhof, Am Bach 40), in the area of the farm. Today it houses Penal Institution No. 1 in Łódź.
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium).
Commandants Wilhelm Becker (Gestapo)
Period of operation December 1943 - January 1945
Numbers Adults and young people of different nationalities. On average, 1,000 people stayed there. At least 84 prisoners died. The names of 4 minors who were the fatal victims of the camp have been established. 
Description The camp served as a police detention centre. Prisoners served sentences there for, among other things, escaping from forced labour and sentences of the so-called punishment camps (3-6 months). Prisoners were also incarcerated there for minor offences pursuant to weekend sentences. 


2. Isolation sites in the city of Łódź

- Gestapo Detention Centre at ul. Anstadta 7/9 (then Gardestrasse).
Place Gestapo detention centre (Staatspolizeistelle in Litzmannstadt).
Location Łódź, ul. Anstadta 7/9 (then Gardestrasse).
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium).
Period of operation November 1939 - 18 January 1945
Numbers Adults and children.
Description Among the inmates of the detention centre there were also young people who were later sent to the camp on Przemysłowa Street.

- Criminal Police Detention Centre at ul. Kilińskiego 152.
Place Criminal Police Detention Centre (Kriminalpolizeistelle Litzmannstadt Polizeigefängnis. 
Location Łódź, ul. Kilińskiego 152 (then Buschline).
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium).
Period of operation December 1939 - 18 January 1945
Numbers Adults and children.
Description Among the inmates of the detention centre there were also young people who were later sent to the camp on Przemysłowa Street.

- Police Presidium Detention Centre at ul. Kopernika 29.
Place Police Presidium Detention Centre (Polizei Präsidium Polizeigefängnis).
Location Łódź, ul. Kopernika 29 (then Friedrich-Gosslerstraße).
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium).
Period of operation 1 January 1940 - prison, from 1 January 1942 - original camp (detention centre), until January 1945.
Numbers Adults and children. The detention centre had 330 places for men and 90 for women. On average, 700 people stayed there. 192 deaths were reported, 129 of them as a result of executions (verdict of a special court - Sondergericht). 
Description Place of isolation for remand prisoners and, until 1943, inmates with custodial and short-term prison sentences from within the territorial jurisdiction of the national court in Łódź. The ordered executions were carried out by hanging. Prisoners worked in workshops. Young people who were held there were then sent to the camp on Przemysłowa Street.

- Lebensborn, Łódź-Helenówek, ul. Krajowa 15.
Place Lebensborn (“Source of life”).
Location Łódź-Helenówek, ul. Krajowa 15 (formerly Humuserde), in the former Jewish orphanage building demolished in 2004.
Subordination to the SS General Office of Race and Settlement (RuSHA).
Period of operation 1941-1945
Numbers In 1942, there were 500 people (boys and girls) aged between 15 and 18 in the centre. Cases of suicide among raped girls were registered. 
Description The centre was intended for young people who had previously passed racial tests. They were required to maintain sexual relations. The impregnated women were taken to the Third Reich, where they would give birth. 

- Place of children selection, ul. Piotrkowska 38.
Place Place of selection 
Location Łódź, ul. Piotrkowska 38 (then Adolf Hitler Straße), building gate
Description Children caught during street round-ups were segregated into two groups: for Germanisation or forced labour in camps and factories. 

- Place of examination and selection of children, ul. Piotrkowska 113. 
Place Site of racial testing and selection
Location Łódź, ul. Piotrkowska 113 (then Adolf Hitler Straße), seat of the Health Department (Gesundheitsamt).
Description The site for the racial testing and selection of children for Germanisation.

- Prison camp at ul. Liściasta 17 / Extended police prison at ul. Zgierska 147. 
Place Prison camp (Gefangenlager), from 1940 an extended police prison (Erweitertes Polizeigefängnis), from 1943 an extended police prison and educational work camp (Erweitertes Polizeigefängnis und Arbeitserziehungslager)
Location Łódź-Radogoszcz, ul. Liściasta 17 (then Krakowska Street) in the former factory of Michał Glaser, from 1940 at ul. Zgierska 147 (then Hohensteiner Straße) in the former textile factory of Samuel Abbe. 
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium). Initially subordinated to the Gestapo, then to the Schutzpolizei commandant. 
Commandants Ehlers, Müller, from July 1940 Walter Pelzhausen. 
Period of operation 9 November 1939 - 18 January 1945
Numbers Adults and male adolescents, until 1940 also women and children. It is estimated that 40,000 prisoners passed through the prison, 20,000 of whom were murdered. In the massacre that took place on the night of 17-18 January 1945, around 2,000 people were burnt alive.  
Description From 1943 onwards, prisoners in the camp were divided into political and other prisoners. Executions of prisoners were carried out inside and outside the camp (in the Lućmierski Forest, the Okręglik Forest near Zgierz, the Chełmy Forest near Nowa Gdynia, the Wiączyński Forest). Young people were also detained there, who were then sent to the camp on Przemysłowa Street.

- Vocational training centre in German industry for Polish youths, the so-called labour “camp” for Polish youths at ul. Wodna 34/36. 
Place Vocational training centre in German industry for Polish young people, the so-called labour “camp" for Polish young people
Location Łódź, ul. Wodna 34/36 (then Ostmarkstraße/Askanierstraße) in the buildings of the School of Crafts of the Salesian Society and the boarding school at ul. Piramowicza 11/15 (then Pulvergaße).
Subordination to the Arbeitsamt
Period of operation 1940-1944/1945
Numbers Young people aged 15 and over, with an average of 100 to 300 students. 
Description Juveniles from the Wartheland were held there and apprenticed to work in German industry, mainly in the aircraft industry. There was a possibility of weekend exemptions there. On average, apprenticeships lasted for about three months. After this time, young people were mostly sent to the arms industry.

- Police Prison at ul. Sterlinga 16
Place Police prison (Polizeigefängnis)
Location Łódź, ul. Sterlinga 16 (then Robert Koch Straße).
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium), actually at the disposal of the Gestapo.
Period of operation 9 September 1939 - 17 January 1945
Numbers Men, in the initial period also women and young people. On average, 450 people. Number of victims not determined. 
Description On the prison grounds, the Gestapo conducted brutal interrogations. Death sentences were carried out by hanging prisoners on the prison gallows, by shooting them on the prison grounds and in public executions in Wiskitno, Zgierz and Karsznice, among other places. In March 1940, 16 secondary school pupils and scouts were imprisoned there. Young people held there were then sent to the camp on Przemysłowa Street.

- Police Prison for Women at ul. Gdańska 13.
Place Police Prison for Women (Polizeigefängnis fűr Frauen, Polizeigefängnis Danziger Straße, Frauen- Gefängnis Danziger Straße)
Location Łódź, ul. Gdańska 13 (then Danzigerstraße)
Subordination to the State Police (Polizeipräsidium), actually at the disposal of the Gestapo.
Period of operation September 1939 - 17 January 1945
Numbers Women, young people, men (as maintenance workers). On average, around 300 people. Female prisoners were also held there, who were then sent to the camp on Przemysłowa Street.
Description In the first months of operation, people detained in round-ups and mass arrests were incarcerated. Later, mainly Polish women from the Łódź region suspected of political activities. On the prison grounds, the Gestapo conducted brutal interrogations. Female prisoners were executed outside the prison grounds.