Longest-Lasting Ghetto in Nazi-Occupied Poland
The Łódź Ghetto—established in early 1940 and also known as the Litzmannstadt Ghetto—enclosed Jewish district during the Nazi occupation. Since 1942, it was strictly converted into a forced labor camp. For the Wehrmacht and German companies, production in the ghetto was highly profitable. For this reason, it became the longest-operating in occupied Poland.
Gradual Destruction and Final Deportations
In spring 1944, following Heinrich Himmler’s order, the exhumation of the Kulmhof (Chełmno) extermination camp began, and mass deportations resumed. From June to mid-July, thousands were shipped to Chełmno, but the ghetto officially fell into its final stage with the transports to Auschwitz. On 29 August 1944, the last deportation marked the symbolic end of the Łódź Ghetto—one of the largest forced Jewish communities in the occupied regions.
Losses and survivals
It initially housed over 160,000 people. By the time the Red Army arrived in the city in 1945, only 877 Jews remained in hiding. Over its nearly five-year existence, more than 200,000 Jews passed through the Łódź Ghetto, with over 45,000 dying of starvation or exhaustion inside its walls—while only 7,000-10,000 survived the ordeal.
