World
Polish builders unearth trove of pre-war Jewish belongings at building site
The city of Lodz was home to almost a quarter of a million Jews prior to World War II
January 10, 2023 10:54
The city of Lodz was home to almost a quarter of a million Jews prior to World War II
January 10, 2023 10:54Builders in central Poland have discovered an extensive cache of Jewish artefacts.
The workers had been renovating a tenement house in Łódź when they happened upon the hundreds of items thought to have been stashed away ahead of the Nazi occupation of Poland that began in September 1939.
The 23 Polnocna Street property beside where the items were buried is located close to the former boundary of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto demarcated by Nazi occupiers in the city between February 1940 and August 1944.
Around 200,000 Jews from across the region were forcibly deported to the ghetto. Most of its inhabitants died there or in concentration camps.
The newly re-found trove contained kiddush cups, menorahs, ritual washing vessels, and kitchenware. The belongings were carefully wrapped in newspaper.
“A find like this comes along once in a decade,” Łódź vice-mayor Adam Pustelnik wrote in a tweet.
Po prostu wow. Takie znalezisko trafia się raz na dekadę. Podczas budowy przy Północnej 23 znaleźliśmy 400 zabytkowych śladów dawnej Łodzi 🛶❤️
— Adam Pustelnik (@AdamPustelnik) January 4, 2023
👉 https://t.co/xUdFoxSO6k pic.twitter.com/uJNfxX51I9
Prior to the Second World War, the industrial city was home to one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities that stood at more than 230,000-31 per cent of the city’s total population. The vast majority of the community died as a result of Nazi persecution.
“The discovery is remarkable, especially the amount of it. These are extremely valuable historical items that testify to the history of the inhabitants of this building. The discoveries were inventoried and handed over to the conservators for research. At the moment, they are carefully cleaned, then they will be transferred to the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Łódź. There, I hope, a special public exhibition will be prepared,” Agnieszka Kowalewska-Wójcik, director of the city’s Municipal Investments Board told local media.
“For us archaeologists, such unusual finds are a challenge, but also a great joy. I don’t remember the last time such treasures were unearthed in Łódź,” explained local archaeologist Bartłomiej Gwóźdź.
“At the moment, each item is carefully cleaned so that nothing is damaged, broken, or destroyed,” he continued.
Two of the freshly unearthed menorahs were lit throughout the Łódź’ Jewish community’s recent Chanukah celebrations whose headquarters are across the road from the site.
This is the latest trove of Jewish items to be discovered in the city after workers in 2018 found a bloodstained ṭallit that had been discarded during the 1940 Yom Kippur pogrom.