Page 22 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Time of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Film images.

the Diary of Dawid Sierakowiak (a newly discovered tes-
timony of ghetto life), the diary of Jakub Poznański and
Kupiec Łódzki [The Merchant of Łódź] by Adolf Rudnicki,
inspired by the figure of Chaim Rumkowski (although it
did no good to the ghetto and its leader, marking him
for many years as a collaborator and Nazi marionette).
First and foremost, however, the Chronicle of the Łódź
Ghetto edited by Danuta Dąbrowska and Lucjan Do-
broszycki – a very important document of the Holo-
caust, written by the ghetto prisoners almost day by day
and containing information on daily life in the confined
district between 1941 and 1944 - began to be pub-
lished.
In the mid-1960s the Educational Film Studio made
the aforementioned Litzmannstadt Ghetto documen-
tary, directed by Daniel Szylit, a survivor of the ghetto.
This short film presents the most significant facts about
the Jewish district created by the Nazis in occupied
Łódź. After exactly 50 years, Szylit’s film is still relevant,
although it contains a certain dose of propaganda char-
acteristic of its times: it highlights the profile of Zula
Pacanowska, a communist deported from the ghetto to
Chełmno nad Nerem in 1942 and murdered there. It
also emphasizes the role of Union Left [Lewica Związ-
kowa], an anti-fascist organization which operated in the
ghetto. Approximately at the same time, the Bulletin of
the Jewish Historical Institute published extensive re-
ports on the ghetto by members of that organization.
It could seem that the tragic fate of the Jews of Łódź
was about to be commemorated. One of the streets in
the Old Town was named after Zula Pacanowska, well
remembered by her old comrades... Two volumes of the
Chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto, covering the years 1941
– 1942, were published and the next ones were ready
to go to press., but as March 1968 approached, every-
thing changed. The Chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto was of-
ficially withdrawn from printing, and the materials were
destroyed. Its editors were forced to leave Poland. It was
the end of discussion about the Jewish past of the city
and the tragic chapter of its history which terminated
multicultural Łódź.
After twenty years, during the post-Solidarity thaw,
the topic returned. In the meantime, veterans and an
ever-smaller group of survivors would hold their annual
August meetings in front of the memorial at the Jewish

20 Joanna Podolska