The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 [Paperback]

Lucjan Dobroszycki (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 565 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300039247
• ISBN-13: 978-0300039245
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #844,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Longest-Surviving Ghetto in German-Occupied Poland, October 17, 2006

By 

Jan Peczkis "Scholar and Thinker" (Chicago IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 (Paperback)

After the German-Soviet conquest of Poland in September-October 1939, the area around Lodz was directly annexed into the Third Reich and named Wartheland (the land of the Warthe (Warta) River). The city itself was renamed Litzmannstadt (after a WWI German officer then active in the area). Owing to the intensity of German rule imposed upon the population, Poles and Jews were less able to interact with each other compared with, for example, Warsaw. Within weeks of the start of the German occupation of Lodz, both Jews and Poles were subject to cultural genocide. In his introduction, Dobroszycki describes the burning of all synagogues by the Germans and, that very same day, their annihilation of the statue of Kosciuszko (p. xxxiv). The destruction of Christian institutions by the Germans included the conversion of one of the main churches of Lodz into a storage facility, as shown in one of the not-numbered photos situated between pages 424 and 427.

The Lodz ghetto was created by the Germans but not fully liquidated by them until the late summer of 1944. At that time, nearly all of its remaining inhabitants were murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Earlier, the Jews of Lodz had been steadily gassed and cremated at nearby Kulmhof (Chelmno). Dobroszycki credits the Poles with playing a major role in bringing these crimes to light: "Since January 1942, both the Polish and the Jewish resistance movements had gradually learned about the existence of the camp in Chelmno and the fates of the Jews deported there. The first information was obtained from Polish railroad workers, local residents, foresters; later, more detailed accounts were to come from eyewitnesses..." (p. xxii). Dobroszycki (p. 40) also points out that Polish Mischlinge (Jewish-gentile "half-breeds") were simply reckoned Jews and exterminated. In contrast, German Mischlinge was spared.

In the chronicle itself, mundane matters predominate. Interestingly, positive references to Poles far exceed negative ones. For instance (May 20, 1942): "The civilian population, the Aryans, and particularly the Poles, were very favourably inclined toward the Jews and, in large measure, the Jews from Brzeziny owe them their lives. They tell of one baker who baked a special quota of bread for the Jews, which he would have little children bring into the ghetto. The little children would bring one batch of bread into the ghetto, and then, before anyone knew it, they'd be back with another. Aryan friends would pass the Jews bacon, meat, and other products through the ghetto fence, more often than not without being paid for it. The Jews from Brzeziny see no analogies with the pre-war situation; anti-Semitism seemed to have vanished completely there." (p. 183). There are reports of Polish smugglers caught and arrested for bringing goods into the ghetto (December 10, 1942; p. 299. February 15, 1943; p. 320).

The foregoing accounts parallel, in many ways, those of Emmanuel Ringelblum relative to the Warsaw ghetto. They suggest that Poles and Jews did in fact tend to draw closer together during the German occupation of Poland. This is contrary to the position held by Yisrael Gutman.

Unlike some authors, those of this chronicle do not cast Mordecai Chaim Rumkowski (Rumkovsky), the Eldest of the Jews, in a negative light. However, in common with chroniclers of other ghettos, they do present the Jewish ghetto police in a collaborationist light, at least during the time of the deportations to the death camps (September 14, 1942): "In the meantime, the Jewish police were searching the apartments and bringing out anyone who had been hiding or people who were ill." (p. 251). A similar situation is described as follows (Thursday, July 13, 1944): "A shameful, shocking street scene. Jews hunting other Jews like game. A real Jew-hunt, organized by Jews. But what is to be done; there is no choice. Anyone who is called up must report." (p. 525).

Oddly enough, the chronicle does not mention significant events occurring outside the Lodz ghetto itself. For instance, there is no mention of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (April-May 1943) or of the general Warsaw Uprising (August-October 1944).

1 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Missing pages, February 5, 2002

By 

Eleonora Vyadro (New York, US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, 1941-1944 (Paperback)

When I read the advertisement i have learned that list of names from Lodz ghetto should be in the book. I saw a few pages with the names , addresses etc. I was caught by surprise when I have opened this book - ther is no such list included. Could you, please, explain me how it's happened and more important how could I get those pages. Thank you very much.