German troops occupied Lodz in September 1939. In 1940, the Germans established a ghetto there, confining 160,000 Jews into a small area and later deporting Jews and Roma (Gypsies) there as well. Many people died in Lodz as a direct result of the ghetto's harsh living conditions. In early 1942, German authorities began to deport ghetto residents to the Chelmo killing center.
Jewish forced laborers at work in a leather refining factory. Lodz ghetto, Poland, between 1941 and 1944.
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German police raid a vandalized Jewish home in the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, ca. 1942.
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Jews from the Lodz ghetto are forced to transfer to a narrow-gauge railroad at Kolo during deportation to the Chelmno killing center. Kolo, Poland, probably 1942.
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Jewish children forced to haul a wagon. Lodz ghetto, Poland, wartime.
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Jews at forced labor, transporting excrement down a ghetto street. Lodz ghetto, Poland, wartime.
Item View![Motto of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Lodz ghetto Jewish council: "Our only path [to survival] is [through] work."](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/4a64f479-f9d0-4f31-b95e-896c5ebc9e97.jpg "Motto of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Lodz ghetto Jewish council: \"Our only path [to survival] is [through] work.\" [LCID: 74527]")
The motto of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, chairman of the Lodz ghetto Jewish council: "Our only path [to survival] is [through] work." Lodz, Poland, wartime.
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Ghetto residents, wearing mandatory yellow stars, at forced labor in a clothing factory. Lodz ghetto, Poland, 1941.
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Jewish women at forced labor in a sewing workshop in the Lodz ghetto. Lodz, Poland, between 1940 and 1944.
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"Gypsy camp" area in the Lodz ghetto. Roma (Gypsies) were confined in a segregated block of buildings. Poland, 1941–44.
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Jews, mostly children, proceed on horse-drawn wagons to assembly points for deportation. They are guarded by the Jewish police. Lodz ghetto, Poland, during the "Gehsperre" Aktion, September 5-12, 1942.
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Deportation of Jewish children from the Lodz ghetto in German-occupied Poland during the "Gehsperre" Aktion, September 1942.
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Jews deported to the Lodz ghetto. Poland, 1941 or 1942.
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Family members say goodbye to a child through a fence at the ghetto's central prison where children, the sick, and the elderly were held before deportation to Chelmno during the "Gehsperre" action. Lodz, Poland, September 1942.
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Jews from the Lodz ghetto are loaded onto freight trains for deportation to the Chelmno killing center. Lodz, Poland, 1942–44.
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Jewish women sort confiscated clothing in the Lodz ghetto. Photograph taken by Mendel Grossman between 1941 and 1944.
Mendel Grossman photograph collection
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A German postcard showing the entrance to the Lodz ghetto. The sign reads "Jewish residential area—entry forbidden." Signs forbidding entrance to Poles and Germans were posted at all entrances to the ghetto. Lodz, Poland, 1940–1941.
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Poverty in the ghetto: residents wait for soup at a public kitchen. Lodz ghetto, Poland, between 1940 and 1944.
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An official visit of Heinrich Himmler to the Lodz ghetto. Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, head of the Jewish council, greets the Nazi officials. Lodz, Poland, June 5, 1941.
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The Jews of Lodz move into the ghetto in March 1940.
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![A German postcard showing the entrance to the Lodz ghetto. [LCID: 07065]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/94ccf8d8-4cbd-4149-8fff-e7461c9949c1.jpg)