Jewish Lodz Tour

In the 19th century, Lodz became a powerful manufacturing center in the European textile industry. In the beginning, the city owed its great development to a unique multicultural mix of Poles, Germans, Jews and Russians, but it was a small percentage of the population. Before WWII, 10 % of the 670,000 inhabitants claimed German roots, and more than 30 % of the population was Jewish. Lodz had the second-largest Jewish population in Poland- approximately 233,000. The Ghetto in Lodz was officially sealed off and isolated from the rest of the city on April 30, 1940. Approximately 45,000 people died of starvation, cold and emaciation in 1942. They were buried in the Jewish Cemetery, mainly in the so-called Ghetto Field the same year. The Lodz Ghetto functioned until the summer of 1944. It lasted longer than any other ghetto. All other ghettos in Poland were razed to the ground in 1942 and 1943. During Jewish Lodz Tour You will explore with me:

  Izrael Poznanski’s Palace – called also „Łodz Louvre”– is the most impressive residence in Łódź with a collection of memorabilia of Arthur Rubinstein, Jerzy Kosiński and other famous citizens. We will drive thru the former Litzmannstadt Ghetto – the area of the former ghetto including Radegast Station, Bałucki Market Square, Kripo „Red House” Building on 8/10, Koscielna Street (Criminal Police in the Getto). Jewish Cemetery – the biggest Jewish Cemetery in Europe, where approximately 160,000 Lodz’s inhabitants were buried.

Itinerary:

• „Radegast” Station  – the train station from where Ghetto inhabitants were transported to the extermination camps in Chelmno am Ner, Stutthof and  Auschwitz
• Bracka Street with the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe the cemetery is opening:from  Sunday till Friday (except a Jewish Holidays)
  1st April – 1st November
  9 A.M – 5 P.M
  2nd November – 31st March
  9 A.M-  3 P.M – entrance 20 PLN per person 
• the area of the former Litzmannstadt ghetto
• Reicher’s  Synagogue at Rewolucji 1905 street  no 28  – the only one that survived WW II in Łódź and where the famous Polish pianist Artur Rubinstein was born 
• Piotrkowska Street- the main artery of Łódź  including house number 78 where Artur Rubinstein was raised 
• Izrael Poznanski’s Palace – called also „Lodz Louvre”– the palace is closed on Fridays –  entrance 25 PLN per person 

YOU MAY COMBINE THIS TOUR WITH THE FOLLOWING OF MY TOURS:

• Polin Museum Tour
• Treblinka Extermination Camp Tour
• Majdanek Concentration Camp Tour
• Auschwitz Birkenau Tour
• Tykocin Tour and Bialystok
• Jewish Warsaw Tour

Duration:  10 – 12  hours

ACTIVITY LEVEL: MODERATE