back...New source materials on the camp on Przemyslowa Street

“During preliminary research in foreign archives, in the National Collection of Aerial Photography in Scotland, the Museum’s historians found a series of photographs of Lodz taken from a Luftwaffe plane on August 12, 1944. Thanks to them, it was possible to develop an accurate plan of the camp, which differs from previously known reconstructions,” said Dr. Ireneusz Piotr Maj, director of the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism, in connection with gaining access to new source materials.

As part of ongoing scientific research aimed at reaching new information on the functioning of the German concentration camp for Polish children in Lodz, the staff of the Museum of Polish Children – Victims of Totalitarianism has acquired a valuable historical source. It includes German aerial photographs of vital importance for capturing and recording the 1944 topographical image of Lodz and investigating German war crimes in theLitzmannstadt area.

“Until now, historians were familiar with German aerial photographs taken in May 1942, i.e. a few months before the establishment of the camp on Przemyslowa Street, as well as photographs from the post-war period, taken 4 years after the end of the German occupation of Lodz (which became the basis for the current reconstructions of the camp). During preliminary research in foreign archives, in the National Collection of Aerial Photography in Scotland, the Museum’s historians found a series of photographs of Lodz taken from a Luftwaffe plane on August 12, 1944. Thanks to them, it was possible to develop an accurate plan of the camp, which differs from previously known reconstructions,”Dr. Ireneusz Piotr Maj explained.

Thanks to the finding of new source materials, the camp's post office building, which has survived to the present day, has been identified among other things. The existence of watchtowers connected to the camp fence, depicted on the reconstructions of the camp that are known, was unequivocally denied. 

The accompanying illustrations show close-ups of the camp grounds and the contours of the camp buildings and reconstructions developed so far.

1943 expansion plan

The site of the former German concentration camp for Polish children in a 1949 aerial photo

The site of the former German concentration camp for Polish children in an aerial photo dated 12 Aug 1944

Aerial photograph of Polen-Jugendverwahrlager Litzmannstadt, 12 Aug 1944.