History of the city of Łódź

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The history of the city of Łódź , today one of the largest cities in Poland , is mainly shaped by the development from a rather insignificant small town to the “ Manchester of Poland” triggered in the 19th century by means of the emerging textile industry .

Beginnings

Seal from 1577

Łódź had its origins as a small settlement not far from the river known today as Łódka . This river is currently mostly underground. The first written mention comes from 1332. In this document, Prince Władysław of Łęczyca granted the bishops of Kujawia more freedom over some of their possessions. Łodzia is mentioned in the list . The bishops were now allowed to create villages according to Neumarkt law , but the village of Łodzia was only granted this privilege on June 10, 1387 by Bishop Johann. In 1423 King Władysław II. Jagiełło granted the place city ​​rights under Magdeburg law . The certificate for this was issued in Przedbórz . Other sources indicate that the city of Łódź is said to have originated a little away from the old village, but this is considered less likely. As a city, it was asked in 1459 to provide an armed warrior for the fight of Greater Poland against Prussia . At the beginning of the 17th century, due to the powerful Szlachta (Polish nobility), which were an opponent of the urban system and the resulting increase in power of the citizens, there was stagnation and even a decline in urban development. In addition, the general decline of the Kingdom of Poland exacerbated the city's weak situation. In 1661 a great fire and plague raged in the city and did the rest. The main line of business was agriculture; wheelwrighters , shoemakers , butchers , millers , blacksmiths , brewers and carpenters were represented in Łódź. The first Germans can also be found in the city towards the beginning of the 17th century. With the construction of the Catholic St. Joseph Church in 1665, the city received its first sacred building .

After Prussia took over the area after the Second Partition of Poland in 1793 , consideration was given to depriving the town of city rights as part of the new province of South Prussia , and only the strong resistance of the Polish authorities could prevent this. In 1793 it was established on the basis of a Prussian survey that 201 people lived in the city. There were also 44 houses and barns as well as two bars. The city lived from agriculture and animal husbandry. A mayor, four city councilors and a city ​​clerk formed the city administration. The town's first public school opened in 1806.

Under Russian rule

After the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 and the dissolution of the short-lived province of South Prussia, the place became part of the Duchy of Warsaw . In 1815, the Congress of Vienna decided to convert the Duchy of Warsaw into the newly founded Congress Poland , within whose borders the city has since been. A decision between Austria-Hungary , Prussia and Russia on May 3, 1815 was the key to the later prosperity of the city of Łódź. The resolution said that the residents of the newly divided Poland were allowed to change their place of residence between the occupying states at will until 1821. The government of Warsaw tried to settle the cloth makers of the area occupied by Prussia in Congress Poland. Since the sales markets, including Russia, were easier to reach, this was also in their interests. The recruitment of new settlers was also extended beyond the border area and received the support of the Russian tsar . At his instigation, an ordinance was issued on March 2, 1816, assuring immigrant farmers and artisans exemption from military service, six years of tax exemption and, if they wanted, free return to their homeland. These lucrative incentives met with so much interest that the Polish authorities were overwhelmed by the onslaught of craftsmen. Therefore, on September 18, 1820, a new immigration law was passed, which now only encouraged the immigration of industrial workers . In this law industrial cities were classified as factory cities that were to receive perks, and the city ​​of Łódź, later known as Manchester of Poland , was also included in these cities.

Map of Łódź from 1853

After the law was passed, recruiters were mainly sent to Silesia , Saxony and Bohemia . On the basis of a contract dated March 30, 1821 between Congress Poles and representatives of the German immigrants, the new citizens were granted , in addition to the aforementioned tax exemption, a property of 1.5  acres in inheritance and other benefits. The center formed the New Ring Square (today Plac Wolności ). 202 building sites were designated in the area, but they first had to be cleared and drained by the settlers. The first five German cloth makers who had previously lived in Aleksandrów came to the city in 1821 . Because of the ineptitude of the authority they were pissed off again. For the settlers, an area south of the city was designated as a factory area by resolution of November 21, 1823. The Lamus , Wójtowski , Księży and Araszt mills belonged to the area . The area had an area of ​​188 hectares and thus represented about a fifth of the urban area at that time. In autumn 1823 the first drapers settled in the city.

In 1811 the city's first Jewish cemetery was opened on Wesoła Street . A hospital was built in the city as early as 1820.

Promotion to the Manchester of Poland

In 1824 Christian Friedrich Wendisch committed to building a factory for cotton and linen spinning. His project began with a four-story cotton mill at the mill Księży Młyn (Pfaffendorf) , which he completed 1826th In 1824 a dye works was completed. Furthermore, nine master cloth makers lived in the new settlement and in 1825 a fulling machine was put into operation. Around 1825 the urban area was expanded to make room for the planned factories, and at the same time the first post office was built in Łódź. On June 26, 1825, the first guild of cloth makers was officially founded in Łódź, but it had been active since 1824, the establishment of the linen weaver's guild took place on November 9, 1824. In 1826 the Evangelical Elementary School was founded as the first German school. Another industrialist, Titus Kopisch , committed in 1827 to set up a linen finishing and dyeing factory. In order to be able to use the facility, he recruited linen weavers who came mainly from Sudeten Germany and settled in the new district of Neu-Schlesing (Szlezyng) . Louis Geyer (also Ludwik Geyer ) came to the city from Zittau in 1828 as the third important industrialist . He undertook to build 100 looms in a factory building. In the same year he starts printing the weavers' percals in a hand printer . The Protestant St. Trinity Church was also inaugurated in 1827 . In 1830 the situation of the Wendisch cotton mill was bad. His company's sales fell far short of expectations and he was heavily in debt. He died on January 21, 1830 with a debt of 4,616.18 rubles. The economic situation in Łódź worsened due to the uprising of 1830/1831. Above all, the establishment of a customs border between Congress Poland and Russia stopped the upswing. Many cloth makers left the city either to move on to Russia or to return to their homeland. The number of clothiers decreased from 60 in 1825 to only seven in 1836. In contrast to many other cities in Poland, Łódź was able to maintain its cotton production through the use of machines and the associated reduction in costs. In 1831 the city's first elementary school with a German teacher was founded and attended by 120 German children. Around 1839 the German population reached its peak with 80 percent of the total population of the city. The German Franz Traeger became mayor in 1844 and remained so until 1862. In 1846, a German men's choir was founded on the initiative of Ludwik Geyer and U. Siebert. Deprived of his fortune by the turmoil of the fighting, Kopisch returned to his native Silesia in 1847.

The white factory today

Geyer, who invested more cautiously and also relied on the more promising cotton, survived the fighting comparatively well. His fixed assets were estimated at 266,775 Polish guilders in 1835 and 600 weavers worked for him. In 1836 he built a factory building, the White Factory, and installed mechanical looms from Belgium in it until 1838. Despite the tense situation due to his investments, Geyer acquired various pieces of land and in 1846 he owned around 84 acres and 591 square rods. In 1843, Traugott Grohmann started up his factory and began building his company as a further industrialist. In September 1848 Jews were given the right to settle in the factory settlements for the first time , but the Jew David Lande had a factory built there in 1845, despite the ban, which he put into operation in 1847. On September 1, 1845, a German-Russian secondary school was established. The school had four classes and was bilingual; Russian and German. Six years later this school was converted into a district school. In 1854, Carl Scheibler started up the first machine factory, but gave it up again after two years. In 1854 Otto Goldammer started up his machine factory and iron foundry, which was to last longer. In 1855 Carl Scheibler put a large, modern spinning mill into operation. The importance of Geyers can easily be seen from the fact that he had the permission to use the national coat of arms on his products, he became honorary councilor of the city and from 1860 to 1864 issued his own emergency money, which was generally recognized in Łódź. In 1861, the city's important imports of cotton stalled due to a poor harvest in the United States. The hand weavers blamed the new factories with their machines and so there was a weaving revolt , albeit a small one, on April 20, 1861. Several hundred weavers damaged the factories of Abraham Prussak and Scheibler without causing serious economic damage.

Łódź Advertisement from 1863

The Lodzer Anzeiger , later the Lodzer Zeitung, was published for the first time in 1863 . The newspaper appeared in Polish and German until 1881, then only in German.

Geyer had taken over his economic activities and had to declare his insolvency in 1864. In 1865 a list of the city's factories and handicrafts was made in the city. 635 companies were identified, of which 510 were German-owned, only 23 were operated by Poles, with the cotton-processing companies leading by a large margin. The first reference to a silk goods factory that was owned by Eduard Hauser and Matthias Wimark comes from the same year .

Advertising image with the Poznański factory

1865, the factory railway station was Lodz Koluszki for the Lodz factory railway , a branch line opened. This will give the city a connection to the Warsaw – Vienna and Saint Petersburg railway . At the inauguration of the route on November 10th, the Governor General von Berg was present and presumably the request was made to build a high school. Already on January 17th of the following year he approved a corresponding statute and thereby the district school was expanded to seven classes and thus the first grammar school in Łódź. Director was Karl Ernst von Berg , who was not related to the governor general. In the first year of school, 279 students attended the new educational institution. In 1868 the Russian Minister of Education, Count Tolstoy, was in the city. The grammar school did not seem to please him in the context of the increasing Russification and so it was closed by decree on January 14th of the following year.

Three years later, W. K. Holm & Co. from London received the permit to operate a gas works, Lodzer Gas Gesellschaft . The installation of the gas lanterns was slow. In 1871 there were 219. Israel Poznański set up his factory in Ogrodowa (Gartenstrasse) in 1872 , which was outside the factory town, possibly because there was already a lack of space there, but perhaps also because he was terrified by the predominant German population there.

The Lodzer Handelsbank was founded in 1872 . A year later, the Lodzer Städtische Kreditanstalt for real estate financing followed. Its head was the former mayor Andrzej Rosicki . The first volunteer fire brigade began its work in 1876 . In 1877 the French financial group Roubaix established the wool and worsted spinning mill Allert Rousseau & Co (the "French factory") with a company site of 323,874 m² and around 400 employees.

In 1878 the Leonhardt, Woelker & Girbardt factory was founded in the village of Dąbrowa (today at Park Hibnera in the Górna district ). It mainly produced cloth and fabrics. In the same year David Lande's factory in Katnastraße was auctioned and Scheibler won the bid and expanded it. Lande had to file for bankruptcy. The production value of all the city's factories in 1878 was over 30 million rubles . Emilie Remus opened her coeducational school for German children in 1878, which later became the Rothertsche Girls High School under the direction of her niece Angelica Rothert.

In 1880 the foundation stone was laid for the Protestant St. John's Church. In 1882 the construction of the first Łódź synagogue began. The Russian Orthodox Aleksander Nevsky Cathedral was inaugurated in 1884. In 1892 there was a general workers' strike due to social grievances, which resulted in deaths due to the use of the Russian military. On June 23, street fighting between the military and workers even broke out, killing at least 164 workers. In the same year a new Jewish cemetery was opened. Today's largest Jewish cemetery in Europe was laid out on an area donated by Izrael Poznański .

In response to the workers' protests, the manufacturers formed associations. First, the Association of Silk and Elastic Ribbon Weaving was established in 1906 , later followed by the Association of Lodz Manufacturers of the Cotton Industry, probably the strongest. In 1897 there were 314,000 people in Łódź, the proportion of Germans was only about 40%. The following year an electric tram drove through the city for the first time. In 1899 the first cinema on Polish soil, the Iluzjon, opened. The Neue Lodzer Zeitung appeared for the first time in 1902 . On January 17, 1901, the tram service from Łódź to Pabianice began. Two days later the tram service to Zgierz followed . On September 28, 1901, the Teatr Wielki (Great Theater) in ul. Konstantynów was inaugurated with space for 1250 guests. Barely 19 years later, on October 20, 1920, the building, now used as a cinema, burned down. On January 14, 1902, the first public inter-city telephone connection went into operation. The connection to Warsaw was the first connection between two cities in Congress Poland . In 1904 there were 546 factories in Łódź employing 70,000 workers, most of them in the textile industry. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) worsened the economic situation in Russia and thus in Łódź's most important sales market. When there were bad harvests in the areas of the Congress of Poland in the summer of 1904, social unrest broke out and the Poles called for more autonomy. In October 1904 there was a demonstration in the city. Despite concessions from the Tsar, the unrest did not end, with Łódź becoming a center of unrest. In June 1905 there was a workers' uprising in Łódź . The bloodiest week, 18. – 25. June brought 200 deaths. The incomplete police statistics counted 79 Jews, 55 Poles and 17 Germans. Martial law was imposed on the city on June 24, 1905. In October of the same year, the Petersburg government issued permission for the unhindered use of the mother tongue. The state schools remained Russian, but the individual groups founded their own private schools. In 1905, the company Leonhardt, Woelker & Girbardt, which was converted into a stock corporation in 1898 , created Park Hibnera for the shareholders. In March 1906 there was a census of schools, there were 101 elementary schools, of which 47 were Polish, 31 German, 18 Jewish, 2 Russian and 3 Mariawitic. The Łódź German Gymnasium was also founded in 1906 . On March 8, 1907, the German Association for the Promotion of School and General Education was founded. Two years later, construction of the Protestant St. Matthäi Church began. In 1910 the number of factories had risen to 745 and the number of workers to 90,000. The German library, which was founded by the School and Education Association on February 9, 1910, already owned 2535 books on May 1 of that year, valued at 2993.44 rubles. In January 1911 the tram line to Konstantynów Łódzki was put into operation. In June of the same year the first medical congress took place in Poland, 146 of the 300 doctors came from Łódź. In 1913, 44 cars were registered in Łódź.

Łódź in World War I (1914–1918)

One day after the occupation by German troops, 1914

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 brought the city to a standstill. On the one hand, the enormously important trade with the Russian hinterland had effectively come to a standstill and, on the other hand, there were acts of war in the vicinity of the city. On August 20, 1914, a German vanguard had advanced into the city, but were pushed back again by the Russians. On October 8, 1914, the Germans were able to occupy the city and hold it until October 29. After the Battle of Łódź , the city was occupied by the Germans on December 6, 1914 until the end of the war. This had fatal consequences for the industry. In addition to the confiscation of the goods produced, machine parts, primarily those made of copper and brass, were dismantled by the German occupiers and brought to Germany. The Lodzer Zeitung was renamed the Deutsche Lodzer Zeitung and published on behalf of the German military administration. In 1915, the Deutsche Staatsdruckerei was set up with new printing machines at Petrikauer Str. 87. On June 18, 1916, the tram connection to Tuszyn was added. The city's first public library opened on October 11, 1917 at 150 Piotrkowska Street.

Period of the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939)

After the end of the World War in 1918, when Łódź was now part of restored Poland , industry began to develop. The collapse of the Russian sales market and the financial resources lost by the war were the greatest hurdles the city had to overcome. One of the first major clients was the Polish army, other sales markets were the areas that fell to Poland such as Pomerania, Upper Silesia and the areas around Posen. The first export countries were Austria, Hungary and Romania, to which contact was made via the fair in Poznan, later the goods were sold to Africa and Asia.

From 1924 to 1939 Łódź was the seat of the German People's Association in Poland , one of the most important organizations of the German minority in the interwar period . In 1928, the Łódź fire brigade in Turin won the performance competition for volunteer fire brigades around the world. The first exhibition of modern art took place on February 15, 1931. It consisted of 111 exhibits and was the cornerstone for the art museum. In 1938 a zoo was opened, then with an area of ​​8.9  hectares .

In 1939, Łódź was the second largest center of Jewish life in Poland after Warsaw, 34.7 percent of the population were Jewish, and more than half of them worked in industry. The community was shaped by the workforce. There were numerous Jewish parties with representatives in the city administration, Jewish press organs, educational institutions, theaters and sports clubs, as well as hospitals and orphanages. Up until the war, industry also consisted largely of Jewish companies; in 1931, for example, in the textile industry this was 40 percent of entrepreneurs and 69 percent of all registered traders.

Łódź under German occupation (1939–1945)

Entry of German troops into Łódź in 1939
Announcement on the downsizing of the ghetto

The beginning of the Second World War hit the Łódź industry at the economic height of the interwar period. On September 2, 1939, the first bombs were dropped on the city as part of the German attack on Poland ; The destination was the Kaliska and Lublinek train stations. More bombardments followed, on September 8th the first German vanguard arrived in Łódź and negotiations began to hand over the city. The next day the Wehrmacht marched in and occupied the city.

The bank accounts of the Jewish companies were blocked on September 18th and Jews were forbidden to have more than 2,000 złoty in cash. Four days later, a special court was set up at 18 Univerwystecki Street. The city's manufacturers were able to convince the National Socialists of the importance of industry for the German Reich and so the city was incorporated into the newly created Reichsgau Posen from October (which was not initially planned) and the industrial site was retained. The first public execution of three men took place on November 11, 1939. On the same day, until November 15th, the destruction of the synagogues began . On December 22nd, all Polish and Jewish schools were closed. On February 8, 1940, police chief Johannes Schäfer had the Lodz ghetto built. Only 800 of the original 250,000 Łódź Jews survived. In 1940 there were 692 murders of sick patients in the Kochanowka institution as part of the German euthanasia policy. The city was not safe for German industrialists either. The President of the Łódź Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Robert Geyer , a descendant of the German company founder Louis Geyer , was shot dead by members of the SS in his villa on December 11, 1939 . On April 1, 1940, the district president moved his seat from Kalisch to Lodsch. At the same time, extensive incorporations came into force. The town of Ruda Pabianicka ( 51 ° 42 ′ 5,7 ″  N , 19 ° 26 ′ 15 ″  E ) (1939: Erzhausen ) and the surrounding rural communities Brus (1939: Bruss ), Chojny (1939: Effingshausen ) and Radogoszcz (1939: Radegast ), which had been provisionally placed under the administration of the Lord Mayor in Lodsch since January 1, 1940, have now been formally incorporated into the city. This increased the urban area from 5,875 hectares to 22,660 hectares. The city itself formed a German urban district in the Kalisch administrative district and was known as Lodsch. On January 17, 1940, all streets of the city were given new German names, on April 11, 1940 the city was named in honor of the German General Karl Litzmann (1850-1936), whose 3rd Guard Infantry Division in the Kesselschlacht near Łódź im had fought victoriously in the first winter of the First World War, renamed Litzmannstadt . On February 15, 1941, the name of the administrative district Kalisch in Litzmannstadt also changed.

Deportation of Jews from Łódź to the Litzmannstadt Ghetto (March 1940, German propaganda image)

Of the 2,600 companies that were still producing in the city in 1939, only 314 were left due to the concentration processes in spring 1941. In order to become more independent of external raw material deliveries, Zellgarn Aktiengesellschaft Litzmannstadt was founded, whose shares had to be acquired by the city's companies. The plant became the largest of its kind in Central Europe and at the end of the war was producing around 70 tons of rayon per day. In August 1944 the ghetto was "liquidated".

On December 1, 1942, the SS set up the Litzmannstadt youth detention center in Radogoszcz , in which Polish youths were interned. For this purpose, part of the ghetto was cleared and demolished. It is also referred to in the literature as a concentration camp for children or young people or as little Auschwitz. At least 500 of the children and young people were murdered. This camp existed until January 1945. Around 800 to 900 people saw their liberation.

The last edition of the Litzmannstädter Zeitung appeared on January 17, 1945 and did not contain any indications of an evacuation of the civilian population. On January 16, 1945, around 7 p.m., the Red Army bombarded Litzmannstadt. The first Soviet soldiers arrived in the city on January 19.

Post-war period and part of the People's Republic of Poland

After the destruction of Warsaw, the city, now renamed Łódź again, became one of the most important cities in post-war Poland due to its comparatively intact economic structure. However, compared to other parts of Poland, economic growth remained rather low. On May 24, 1945, the decree establishing the Political University and the University of Łódź was issued.

In 1945 and 1946 violent industrial disputes and strikes against the management, the state, which is perceived as opponents of the workers, and the communists were waged in the city's factories. The workers who were ready to help build the new Poland saw themselves betrayed by increased prices and stricter labor standards . Jewish Poles who had survived the Nazi regime were disproportionately represented in the management and party. This contributed to the fact that the city was one of the strongest corners of antisemitism and many Jews emigrated.

After the war, Polish filmmakers who came either from the underground struggle or exile gathered in Łódź and shot the first post-war films in Łódź. In 1948 the Łódź Film School was founded, which became world famous thanks to graduates such as Roman Polański and Andrzej Wajda .

The Polish secret police Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego (UBP) took possession of the prison at Gdańska 13 and detained women from the anti-communist movements there. In 1954 the prison on Gdańska St. 13 closed and four years later it was decided to build a revolution museum there, which opened in 1960. In the same year the Museum of Textile History opened , later renamed the Central Textile Museum .

In 1972 the large shopping center Central was opened not far from Piotrkowska. In 1974 Vicky Leandros sang about with her song Theo, we drive to Lodz the city and landed a number one hit in Germany. The song remained largely unknown in Poland. A year later, the administrative structures in Poland were reformed and 49 voivodships were created. Although Łódź remained the seat of a voivodeship, the voivodeship was reduced to 1,500 km², less than a tenth of the previous area. The remaining parts of the former large voivodeship were divided into Kalisz , Konin , Piotrków , Płock , Sieradz and Skierniewice voivodships .

In 1982 the Museum of Sports and Tourism opened as a branch of the city's historical museum. In 1986 the Museum of Cinematography opened . At the airport Lodz Lublinek held Pope John Paul II. During his third trip to Poland on 13 June 1987, a trade off. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Józef Piłsudski's stay in the city, the previous Revolution Museum was converted into the Museum of the Struggle for Independence in 1990 .

A new administrative reform brought a reduction in the number of voivodeships to 16 and thus an increase in the area of ​​the Łódź voivodeship to 18,219 km².

In the Third Republic

Wall painting on Piotrkowska

In 2002 a corruption scandal in the city rocked the whole of Poland. In the Łowcy skór (German skin hunter ) scandal, doctors literally sold dead people to undertakers for 1200 to 1800 zloty, double the monthly salary of a nurse. In order to collect the money, some people were murdered and the emergency service is said to have reacted slowly, on purpose, to increase the likelihood that people will succumb to their injuries.

Łódź has lost much of its former glory in the post-war period. There is a lot of unemployment and some of the former magnificent buildings are falling apart from the inside and outside. In recent years the city has undergone a change of image: factory buildings have been converted into large discos and the " Parada Wolności " (comparable to the " Love Parade ") takes place on the longest boulevard in Europe , Piotrkowska. According to official information, there is also the highest density of bars and clubs in Europe, which are often hidden in small backyards.

The city administration as well as many small organizations are trying to revive the flair of the once multicultural city. In order to commemorate the once peaceful coexistence of Jews , Russians , Poles and Germans , the Festival of the Four Cultures takes place every year .

Manufacture

The Poznański textile factory was converted into Manufaktura , the largest shopping and entertainment center in Poland. The old factory halls have been lavishly restored with a new wing in which a large shopping center is located. In the old parts there is, among other things, an open-plan cinema, a museum, discotheque, fitness club, climbing hall and a very large array of restaurants, bars, restaurants and cafes. Depending on the season, various activities take place on the large square, which is bordered by the building. The last construction phase is currently taking place, a hotel is being built.

population

Population development

In 1897, 46 percent of the population were Poles, 21.4 percent German and 2.4 percent Russian.

Around 1900 about 32 percent of the population were Jews.

1470-1499 - 44 families
1529 - 68 families
1559 - 93 families
1589 - 102 families
1619 - 162 families
1679 - 136 families
1709 - 117 families
1739 - 97 families
year 1790 1799 1806 1831 1840 1844 1850 1865 1872 1880 1894
population 190 369 767 4,717 20,150 14,028 15,764 40,000 50,000 77,600 168,513
year 1905 1918 1925 1939 Jan. 1945 1946 1950 1960 1970 1990 2000
population 343,944 341,829 507.977 672,000 300,000 496,900 620.200 709,700 761,800 850,000 793.200

Nationalities

The population composition of the city of Łódź has changed dramatically several times since the systematic recruitment of German craftsmen began in the first half of the 19th century. The table below is intended to give an impression of these population shifts. Essentially, it is a compilation of research results from three authors, whereby a comparison of the figures of Kossmann, one of the best-known German authors on the history of the city of Łódź, with contemporary Polish historians is to be made possible. Individual figures available from other sources have also been added. Some of the discrepancies in the figures can be explained by the fact that the information relates either only to the permanent population of the city or also to the non-permanent population, which was recorded separately in most of the sources. Unfortunately, the authors often do not state what part of the population their numbers cover.

  • Eugen Oskar Kossmann gives the population in his table in accordance with the sources mostly personal and the population shares in percent. The absolute numbers were calculated for this table.
  • Wiesław Puś gives both the absolute number of the total population and that of the various population groups rounded. The percentages were calculated accordingly. Because of the uncertain statistical information in the sources of the corresponding years, Puś discards some figures from Kossmann, he only considers the information for the years 1831, 1836, 1839, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1894, 1897, 1913 and 1914 to be sufficiently reliable. to include them in his overview.
  • Ludwik Mroczka also gives the absolute numbers as well as the proportions of the population groups in percent, so that his numbers could be adopted here.
year Total population Poland German Jews Russians Other Remarks source
absolutely % absolutely % absolutely % absolutely % absolutely %
1793 201 190 95% 0 0% 11 5% 0 0% 0 0% Kossmann
1820 767 506 66% 0 0% 261 34% Kossmann
1831 4,717 802 17% 3,491 74% 425 9% The systematic settlement of German craftsmen began in 1823 Kossmann
4,700 800 17% 3,500 74% 400 9% Puś
1836 5,909 827 14% 4,432 75% 650 11% Kossmann
5,900 800 14% 4,400 75% 700 12% Puś
1839 8,559 1,113 13% 6,676 78% 770 9% Kossmann
8,600 1,100 13% 6,600 77% 800 9% Puś
1862 32,400 6,800 21% 20,200 62% 5,400 17% 3 0% no information no information Puś
1863 33,400 7,100 21% 20,700 62% 5,600 17% Puś
1864 33,533 4,359 13% 22,132 66% 7,042 21% The January uprising of 1863/64 triggered a strong emigration of Germans from the region Kossmann
33,500 7,100 21% 19,800 59% 6,500 19% Puś
1865 32,400 11,100 34% 14,400 44% 6,800 21% 8th 0% no information no information After the peasants' liberation had also been carried out in Poland in 1864 , a large influx of Poles into the city began Puś
1884 107,000 35,310 33% 40,660 38% 31,030 29% Since the 1870s, Jews, especially Litwaks , immigrated in addition to the Poles Kossmann
1894 168,512 65,720 39% 57,294 34% 42,128 25% Kossmann
160,500 61,700 38% 56,700 35% 40,800 25% Puś
1897 314,000 145,600 46% 67,300 21% 92,400 29% 7,400 2.4% 1,300 0.4% Puś
1911 522.518 261,259 50% 94.053 18% 167.206 32% Kossmann
1913 506.100 251,700 50% 75,000 15% 171,900 34% 6,300 1.3% 1,200 0.2% Puś
1914 500,500 254,600 51% 75,100 15% 162,400 32% 7,000 1.4% 1,200 0.2% Puś
1921 451.974 279,846 62% 31,670 7% 138,851 31% see others see others 1,607 0.4% Mroczka
1931 605,000 > 302,500 > 50% 72,600 12% > 193,600 > 32% Kossmann
604.629 356.987 59% 53,562 9% 191,270 32% see others see others 2,353 0.4% Mroczka
1939 680,000 388,000 57% 60,000 9% 230,000 34% see others see others 2,000 0.3% Mroczka

Belonging to Łódź

Incorporations

In 1906 the urban area was expanded for the first time since 1840 by incorporating some suburbs.

On August 18, 1915, by the German administration, the places Bałut (100,000 inhabitants) and Nowe Chojny (30,000 inhabitants) were incorporated into the city. In the same year Antoniew Stokowski, Widzew, Radogoszcz, Żabieniec, Zarzew, Dąbrowę, Chojny, Rokicie followed. The area of ​​the city thus increased to 1,503 hectares. The district president in Kalisch moved his seat to Lodsch on April 1, 1940. At the same time, extensive incorporations came into force. The town of Ruda Pabjanicka and the surrounding rural communities of Bruss, Chojny and Radogoszcz, which had been under the administration of the Lord Mayor in Lodsch since January 1, 1940, have now also been formally incorporated into Lodsch.

In 1988 Nowosolna was incorporated.

Mayor and city president

Surname Name of the office from to
Jan Gozdowski mayor 1774
Josef surcharge mayor 1793
Szymon Szczawiński mayor 1815 1819
Antoni Czarkowski mayor 1820 1826
Karl Tangermann (1799–1844) Interim Mayor 1826 1829
mayor 1829 1841
president June 23, 1841 1844
Franz Traeger (* 1802) president 1844 1862
Andrzej Rosicki (born October 13, 1814, † January 17, 1904) president December 16, 1862 February 1865
Edmund Pohlens (* 1830) president 1865 1869
Maurycy Taubwurcel (* 1830) president 1869 1878
Władysław Pieńkowski (* 1846, † 1919) president 1882 1914
Alfred Biedermann Chairman of the Citizens' Committee August 1914 December 1914
Antoni Staromirski Chairman of the Citizens' Committee December 1914 June 1915
Heinrich Schoppen Lord Mayor 1915 1917
Leopold Skulski (* 1878) Lord Mayor September 29, 1917 February 22, 1919
Aleksy Rżewski (* 1885, † 1939) president 1919 1923
Marian Cynarski (* 1880, † 1927) president July 24, 1923 April 14, 1927
Bronisław Ziemięcki (* 1885, † 1944) president November 1927 July 1933
Wacław Maksymilian Józef Wojewódzki (* 1879, † 1939) Vice-President with the role of President April 1927 November 1927
Government commissioner July 1933 July 1935
Wacław Głazek (* 1886) Interim president July 18, 1935 June 22, 1936
Mikołaj Godlewski (* 1888) Interim president July 18, 1935 June 22, 1936
Jan Kwapiński alias Piotr Chałupka (* 1885, † 1964) president March 3, 1939 September 4, 1939
Franz Clemens Schiffer Acting Lord Mayor December 1, 1939
Karl Marder Acting Lord Mayor May 7, 1940
Werner Ventzki Acting Lord Mayor May 8, 1941
Werner Ventzki Lord Mayor October 24, 1941 July 1, 1943
Otto Bradfisch Acting Lord Mayor July 1, 1943 December 1944
Hans Trautwein Acting Lord Mayor December 8, 1944 January 18, 1945
Kazimierz Witaszewski president January 25, 1945 March 7, 1945
Kazimierz Mijal (born September 15, 1910) president 1945 1947
Eugeniusz Stawiński president 1947 1949
Marian Minor president 1949 1950
Chairman of the National City Council 1950 1952
Ryszard Olasek Chairman of the National City Council 1952 1954
Bolesław Geraga Chairman of the National City Council 1954 1956
Edward Kaźmierczak Chairman of the National City Council 1956 1971
Jerzy Lorens Chairman of the National City Council 1971 16th December 1973
President and Voivode 17th December 1973 1978
Józef Niewiadomski President and Voivode 1978 1985
Jarosław Pietrzyk President and Voivode 1985 1989
Waldemar Bohdanowicz President and Voivode November 6, 1989 May 27, 1990
Grzegorz Palka (* 1950, † July 12, 1996) president June 6, 1990 June 1994
Marek Czekalski president June 1994 November 1998
Tadeusz Matusiak (born October 7, 1950) president November 1998 March 7, 2001
Krzysztof Panas (born August 27, 1952) president March 7, 2001 June 19, 2002
Krzysztof Jagiełło president June 19, 2002 November 19, 2002
Jerzy Kropiwnicki (born July 5, 1945) president November 19, 2003 January 22, 2010
Tomasz Sadzyński (born November 12, 1976) executive president February 2, 2010 November 26, 2010
Paweł Paczkowski (* 1973) executive president December 1, 2010 December 13, 2010
Hanna Zdanowska (born March 23, 1959) President December 13, 2010

literature

  • Otto Heike: Structure and development of the Łódź textile industry. Lapp, Mönchengladbach 1971.
  • Jürgen Hensel (Ed.): Poles, Germans and Jews in Lodz 1820–1939. A difficult neighborhood . Fiber, Osnabrück 1999, ISBN 3-929759-41-1 , ( individual publications by the German Historical Institute Warsaw 1).
  • Grażyna Kobojek: Łódź - Kalendarium XX wieku, 1901–2000 , Łódź 2002, ISBN 83-7415-060-2 (Polish).
  • Oskar Kossmann: Lodz. A historical-geographical analysis. Holzner, Würzburg 1966, ( Marburger Ostforschungen 25).
  • Peter E. Nasarski, Edmund Effenberger (ed.): Lodz - "promised land". From a German drapery settlement to a textile metropolis in the east. Documents and Memories. Westkreuz-Verlag, Berlin a. a. 1988, ISBN 3-922131-63-8 .
  • Wiesław Puś : Dzieje Łodzi przemysłowej. Zarys historii. Muzeum Historii Miasta Łodzi, Centrum Informacji Kulturalnej, Łódź 1987 (with an accompanying booklet in German).
  • Krystyna Radziszewska (ed.): Pod jednym dachem. Niemcy oraz ich polscy i żydowscy sąsiedzi w Łodzi w XIX i XX wieku = under one roof. The Germans and their Polish and Jewish neighbors in Lodz in the 19th and 20th centuries. Literatura, Łódź 2000, ISBN 83-88484-08-7 .
  • Jörg Roesler: Lodz - the industrial city as a melting pot of ethnic groups? Problems of the coexistence of Poles, Jews and Germans in the “Polish Manchester” (1865–1945), in: Yearbook for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume II / 2006.
  • Adam Sitarek, Michał Trębacz: Three Cities. Everyday occupation in Lodz , in: Jochen Böhler and Stephan Lehnstaedt : Violence and everyday life in occupied Poland 1939–1945. fiber, Osnabrück 2012.
  • Stefan Dyroff, Krystyna Radziszewska, Isabel Röskau-Rydel (eds.): Lodz beyond factories, wild west and provinces. Cultural studies studies on Germans in and from the Polish areas . Munich 2009.

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ umprzedborz.com.pl ( Memento of November 3, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ A b Oskar Kossmann: A Lodzer Heimatbuch. Hanover 1967, pp. 14f, 35.
  3. ↑ Urząd Miasta Łódź: Księży Młyn . Łódź 1998, p. 17
  4. ^ Manfred Alexander : Small history of Poland . Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-15-017060-1 , p. 207.
  5. ↑ E. Gajzler et al. a .: The German school in the multiethnic city . In: Radziszewskiej 2000, p. 126
  6. ↑ a b Włodziemierz Borodziej, History of Poland in the 20th Century , Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60648-9 , p. 21
  7. ↑ a b Włodziemierz Borodziej, History of Poland in the 20th Century , Munich 2010, pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-3-406-60648-9
  8. ^ Joachim Göschel, Angelika Braun: Contributions to linguistics and phonetics. P. 101
  9. ↑ Cf. Jörg Roesler: Lodz - The industrial city as a melting pot of ethnic groups? Problems of the coexistence of Poles, Jews and Germans in the “Polish Manchester” (1865–1945), in: Yearbook for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume II / 2006.
  10. ↑ The Lodz Ghetto - In the Mirror of the Ghetto Chronicle. hagalil.com, accessed February 15, 2011
  11. ↑ Dane spisu powszechnego 1931 - Miasto Lodz. (PDF) p. 151, Główny Urząd Statystyczny , Warszawa 1937
  12. ↑ Dane spisu powszechnego 1931 - Miasto Lodz. (PDF) p. 143, Główny Urząd Statystyczny, Warszawa 1937
  13. ^ Walter Grode: German "euthanasia" policy in Poland during the Second World War pdf, In: Psychologie und Gesellschaftskritik 16 (1992), accessed October 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ New street signs. In: Lodscher Zeitung January 18, 1940, page 8.
  15. ↑ Title information Litzmannstäder Zeitung magazine database , accessed on March 6, 2020.
  16. ↑ Litzmannstädter Zeitung of January 17, 1945 Digital Library of the University of Lodz, accessed on March 6, 2020.
  17. ^ Padraic Kenney: Rebuilding Poland: Workers and Communists 1945-1950 . Cornell University Press, Cornell NY 1997, ISBN 978-0-8014-3287-3 , pp. 110 f.
  18. ↑ batory.org.pl as of March 31, 2006 and wdr.de ( memento of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) as of March 31, 2006
  19. ↑ Jörg Roesler: Lodz - the industrial city as a melting pot of ethnic groups? Problems of the coexistence of Poles, Jews and Germans in the “Polish Manchester” (1865–1945), in: Yearbook for Research on the History of the Labor Movement , Volume II / 2006.
  20. ↑ Stefan Laube: Business interests instead of ethnic identity? - Lódz entrepreneur in the 19th century . In: Prokla . Journal for Critical Social Sciences, Issue 120, Volume 2000, ISBN 3-89691-320-4 , p. 434
  21. ^ PR Magocsi: Historical Atlas of Central Europe . University of Washington Press, Seattle 2002, p. 109
  22. ↑ a b c d e f g h For 1470, 1529, 1559, 1589, 1619, 1679, 1709 and 1739: Heike, Otto, 1971, p. 21
  23. ↑ for 1790: Heike, Otto, 1971, p. 26, for 1799 and 1806; Heike, Otto, 1971, p. 31; for 1831, 1840, 1844, 1850, 1872: Heike, Otto, 1971, p. 245, for 1894; Heike, Otto, 1971, p. 238
  24. ↑ for 1905; Heike, Otto, 1971, p. 240, for 1918, 1925, 1939, Jan. 1945, 1946, 1950, 1960, 1970 Wiesław Puś, Dzieje Łodzi przemzsłowej , 1987, pp. 105 and 130
  25. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Oskar Kossmann: Germans in the middle of Poland. Our ancestors at the loom of history. Berlin / Bonn 1985, p. 50.
  26. ^ Oskar Kossmann: Germans in the middle of Poland. Our ancestors at the loom of history. Berlin / Bonn 1985, p. 36.
  27. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiesław Puś: The occupational and social structure of the most important ethnic groups in Lodz and their development in the years 1820–1914. In: Jürgen Hensel: Poles, Germans and Jews in Lodz 1820–1939. A difficult neighborhood. Osnabrück 1999, p. 37.
  28. ^ A b c Wiesław Puś: The occupational and social structure of the most important ethnic groups in Lodz and their development in the years 1820–1914. In: Jürgen Hensel: Poles, Germans and Jews in Lodz 1820–1939. A difficult neighborhood. Osnabrück 1999, p. 35.
  29. ^ Oskar Kossmann: The Germans in Poland since the Reformation. Marburg 1978, pp. 331f.
  30. ^ A b Oskar Kossmann: A Lodzer Heimatbuch. Hanover 1967, p. 36.
  31. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiesław Puś: The occupational and social structure of the most important ethnic groups in Lodz and their development in the years 1820–1914. In: Jürgen Hensel: Poles, Germans and Jews in Lodz 1820–1939. A difficult neighborhood. Osnabrück 1999, p. 36.
  32. ↑ Ludwik Mroczka: The professional and social structure of the main ethnic groups in Lodz and its development in the years 1918-1939. In: Jürgen Hensel: Poles, Germans and Jews in Lodz 1820–1939. A difficult neighborhood. Osnabrück 1999, p. 46. Since the total number of inhabitants in the statistics on p. 47 is incomplete due to a printing error, it was taken from another table on the previous page.
  33. ↑ a b c Ludwik Mroczka: The professional and social structure of the main ethnic groups in Lodz and its development in the years 1918-1939. In: Jürgen Hensel: Poles, Germans and Jews in Lodz 1820–1939. A difficult neighborhood. Osnabrück 1999, p. 47.
  34. ^ Oskar Kossmann: Lodz, A historical-geographical analysis. Würzburg 1966, pp. 88 and 92.
  35. ↑ Krystyna Radziszewska et al .: Niemieckimi śladami po "Ziemi Obiecanej" - On the German trail in the "Promised Land". Łódź 1997, ISBN 83-87080-38-1 , p. 167.
  36. ↑ Stefan Dyroff, Krystyna Radziszewska, Isabel Röskau-Rydel (eds.): Lodz beyond “Factories, Wild West and Province” . Munich 2009
  37. ^ Eduard Kneifel: The Evangelical Augsburg congregations in Poland 1555-1939. Vierkirchen 1971, p. 319.
  38. ^ Eduard Kneifel: The Evangelical Augsburg congregations in Poland 1555-1939. Vierkirchen 1971, p. 320.
  39. ↑ a b c d e f Stadtkreis Litzmannstadt Territorial.de, July 16, 2008
  40. ↑ Gerda Zorn: Our ride goes to Ostland , Cologne 1988, p. 199
  41. ^ Peter Oliver Loew: Review of: Dyroff, Stefan; Radziszewska, Krystyna; Röskau-Rydel, Isabel (Hrsg.): Lodz beyond factories, wild west and provinces. Cultural studies studies on Germans in and from the Polish areas. Munich 2009 . In: H-Soz-u-Kult , February 17, 2011.

Kobojek, Grażyna

Grażyna Kobojek: Łódź - Calendar XX wieku. Łódź 2002, ISBN 83-7415-060-2 .

  1. ↑ p. 5
  2. ↑ p. 5
  3. ↑ p. 7
  4. ↑ p. 17
  5. ↑ p. 17
  6. ↑ p. 21
  7. ↑ p. 25
  8. ↑ p. 27
  9. ↑ p. 56
  10. ↑ p. 57
  11. ↑ p. 57
  12. ↑ p. 58
  13. ↑ p. 58
  14. ↑ p. 61
  15. ↑ p. 62
  16. ↑ p. 65
  17. ↑ p. 23