Publications
Publications on the German concentration camp for Polish children in Łódź
The first article on the fate of underage inmates on Przemysłowa Street was published in 1946 in the magazine “Służba Społeczna” ["Social Service"] by Maria Niemyska-Hessenowa. In the article “Dzieci z lagru” ["Children of the Gulag"], she described the mental and physical condition of 233 prisoners who ended up in the City Care Center in Łódź after their stay in the camp. Numerous publications about the origin and functioning of the children's camp on Przemysłowa Street were published in the 1960s. This was related to the fact that the District Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes collected evidence on the camp
in Łódź. Also, an article by Łódź-based journalist Wiesław Jażdżyński,“Reportaż z pustego pola”["A Reportfrom an Empty Field"], was published in the magazine “Odgłosy” [“Sounds”] in 1965.
In 1971, Tadeusz Raźniewski's memoirs entitled “Chcę żyć” [“I Want to Live”] were published by Wydawnictwo Łódzkie [“Łódź Publishing House”]. This was another publication about the camp on Przemysłowa Street written by a former prisoner. Tadeusz Raźniewski's story was an inspiration for the screenplay of the feature film „Twarz Anioła” [“Face of the Angel”] which premiered in January 1971. The film was directed by Zbigniew Chmielewski.
Beginning in 1968, “Przegląd Lekarski” [“Medical Review”], published by the Cracow branch of the Polish Medical Association, started featuring articles on the camp written by its former prisoner, Józef Witkowski. In 1975, he published through the Ossolineum publishing house the first and to this day the only monograph of the camp, entitled “Hitlerowski obóz koncentracyjny dla małoletnich w Łodzi” ["Hitler's Concentration Camp for Minors in Łódź”]. When writing the book, the author contacted former camp inmates, and the materials used in it were unique – photographs taken during assemblies, work in workshops, personal photographs of children, as well as letters written by young camp inmates to their families.
Numerous articles commemorating the camp were published in the 1970s. They concerned the unveiling of the Monument to the Martyrdom of Children, referring to the history of the camp, on May 9, 1971, in Promienisty Park in Łódź (now “Park im. Szarych Szeregów” [“Gray Ranks Park”]). The trials of former camp supervisor Eugenia Pol vel Genowefa Pohl, held in Łódź in 1972-1975, were also widely reported.
It is also worth mentioning the book published in 2019 by Urszula Sochacka entitled “Eee... tam, takiego obozu nie było.Wspomnienia Genowefy Kowalczuk, byłej więźniarki obozu przy ulicy Przemysłowej w Łodzi” ["There Was No Such Camp.Memories of Genowefa Kowalczuk, Former Prisoner of the Camp on Przemysłowa Street in Łódź"],based on the author's interviews with the former inmate conducted in 2009-2011.
In 2020, a book was published about the camp on Przemysłowa Street by Jolanta Sowińska-Gogacz and Błażej Torański entitled “Mały Oświęcim. Dziecięcy obóz w Łodzi” ["Little Auschwitz. The Children's Camp in Łódź"] (Prószyński i S-ka publishing house). It describes the history of the camp, the living conditions of the prisoners, and also includes accounts of the supervisors. An important element of this book are conversations with former prisoners, conducted by Jolanta Sowińska-Gogacz in 2015-2019.
In December 2021, the Museum of Polish Children: Victims of Totalitarianism published a book entitled “Nauczono nas płakać bez łez...” [“We were taught to cry without tears...”]. The book presents the history of the German concentration camp for Polish children on Przemysłowa Street, based on selected biographies of prisoners. Memories and letters written by the children to their families illustrate the horrific reality of the camp, the struggle to survive, and the immense suffering experienced by the young prisoners. The book also describes the post-war fate of the survivors of the children's camp on Przemysłowa Street.
“Niezwykła polska rodzina. Losy Gertrudy Nowak – dziecka z obozu na Przemysłowej” ["An extraodrinary Polish family.The fate of Gertruda Nowak – a child from the camp on Przemysłowa Street"]is the latest publication (September 2022) by historians of the Museum of Polish Children: Victims of Totalitarianism. It is based on the only surviving camp personal files of Gertruda Nowak, a former inmate of the German concentration camp for Polish children on Przemysłowa Street in Łódź. "The book presents the dramatic story of the entire family – Gertruda Nowak's parents and siblings, whose peaceful, happy life was destroyed by the ruthless extermination machine of the Third Reich," – reads the introduction.