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Main article: History of Łódź
See also: Timeline of Łódź
Early beginnings (1332–1815)[edit]
Sigillum oppidi Lodzia – seal dating back to 1577
Łódź first appears in a 1332 written record issued by Władysław the Hunchback, Duke of Łęczyca, which transferred the village of Łodzia to the Bishopric of Włocławek. The document enumerated the privileges of its inhabitants, notably the right to graze land, establish pastures and engage in logging. In 1423, King of Poland Władysław II Jagiełło officially granted town rights to the village under Magdeburg Law. For centuries, it remained a small remote settlement situated among woodlands and marshes, which was privately held by the Kuyavian bishops. It was administratively located in the Brzeziny County in the Łęczyca Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland. The economy was predominantly driven by agriculture and farming until the 19th century. The earliest two versions of the coat of arms appeared on seal emblems in 1535 and 1577, with the latter illustrating a boat-like vessel and a turned oar.
With the Second Partition of Poland in 1793, Łódź was annexed by Prussia. In 1798, the Kuyavian bishops' ownership over the region was formally revoked during the secularisation of church property. The town, governed by a burgomaster (burmistrz), at the time had only 190 residents, 44 occupied dwellings, a church and a prison. In 1806, Łódź was incorporated into the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw. In the aftermath of the 1815 Congress of Vienna, the duchy was dissolved and the town became part of the Congress Kingdom of Poland, a client state of the Russian Empire.
Partitions and development (1815–1918)[edit]
One of the first city plans, illustrating the housing allotments and new development around Piotrkowska Street, 1823
In 1820, the government of the Congress Kingdom designated Łódź and its rural surroundings for centrally planned industrial development. Rajmund Rembieliński, head of the Administrative Council and prefect of Masovia, became the president of a commission that subdivided the works two major phases; the first (1821–23) comprised the creation of a new city centre with an octagonal square (contemporary plac Wolności; Liberty Square) and arranged housing allotments on greenfield land situated south of the old marketplace; the second stage (1824–28) involved the establishment of cotton mill colonies and a linear street system along with an arterial north–south thoroughfare, Piotrkowska. Many of the early dwellings were timber cottages built for housing weavers (domy tkaczy).
During this time, a sizeable number of German craftsmen settled in the city, encouraged by exemptions from tax obligations. Their settlement in Poland was encouraged by renowned philosopher and statesman Stanisław Staszic, who acted as the director of the Department of Trade, Crafts and Industry.
Izrael Poznański's industrial complex (Manufaktura) pictured in 1895
In 1851, the Russian imperial authorities abolished a customs barrier which was imposed on Congress Poland following the failed November Uprising (1830–1831). The suppression of tariffs allowed the city to freely export its goods to Russia, where the demand for textiles was high. Poland's first steam-powered loom commenced operations at Ludwik Geyer's White Factory in 1839. During the first weeks of the January Uprising (1863–1864), a unit of 300 Polish insurgents entered the city without resistance and seized weapons, and later on, there were also clashes between Polish insurgents and Russian troops in the city. In 1864, the inhabitants of adjacent villages were permitted to settle in Łódź without restrictions. The development of railways in the region was also instrumental in expanding the textile industry; in 1865 the Łódź–Koluszki line, a branch of the Warsaw–Vienna railway, was opened, thus providing a train connection to larger markets. In 1867, the city was incorporated into the Piotrków Governorate, a local province.
The infrastructure and edifices of Łódź were built at the expense of industrialists and business magnates, chiefly Karl Wilhelm Scheibler and Izrael Poznański, who sponsored schools, hospitals, orphanages, and places of worship. From 1872 to 1892, Poznański established a major textile manufactory composed of twelve factories, power plants, worker tenements, a private fire station, and a large eclectic palace. By the end of the century, Scheibler's Księży Młyn became one of Europe's largest industrial complexes, employing 5,000 workers within a single facility. The years 1870–1890 saw the most intense industrialisation, which was marked by social inequalities and dire working conditions. Łódź soon became a notable centre of the socialist movement and the so-called Łódź rebellion(pl) in May 1892 was quelled by a military intervention.
The Archcathedral of St. Stanislaus Kostka, completed in 1912, is one of Poland's tallest churches.
The turn of the 20th century coincided with cultural and technological progress; in 1899, the first stationary cinema in Poland (Gabinet Iluzji) was opened in Łódź. In the same year, Józef Piłsudski, the future Marshal of Poland, settled in the city and began printing the Robotnik (The Worker; p. 1894–1939), an underground newspaper published by the Polish Socialist Party. During the June Days (1905), approximately 100,000 unemployed labourers went on a mass strike, barricaded the streets and clashed with troops. Officially, 151 demonstrators were killed and thousands were wounded. In 1912, the Archcathedral of St. Stanislaus Kostka was completed and its tower at 104 metres (341 ft) is one of the tallest in Poland.
Despite the impending crisis preceding World War I, Łódź grew exponentially and was one of the world's most densely populated industrial cities, with a population density of 13,200 inhabitants per square kilometre (34,000/sq mi) by 1914. In the aftermath of the Battle of Łódź (1914), the city came under Imperial German occupation on 6 December. With Polish independence restored in November 1918, the local population disarmed the German army. Subsequently, the textile industry of Łódź stalled and its population briefly decreased as ethnic Germans left the city.
Restored Poland (1918–1939)[edit]
Plac Wolności (Liberty Square) with the Tadeusz Kościuszko Monument and Holy Spirit Church in 1930
Despite its large population and economic output, Łódź did not serve as the seat of its province until the 20th century. Following the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, it became the capital of the Łódź Voivodeship in 1919. The early interwar period was characterised by considerable economic hardship and industrial stagnation. The Great Depression and the German–Polish customs war closed western markets to Polish textiles while the Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War in Russia put an end to the most profitable trade with the East.
Because of rapid and, consequently, chaotic development in the previous century, Łódź did not possess the adequate infrastructure and living standards for its inhabitants. Pollution was acute, sanitary conditions were poor and the authorities did not invest in a sewage treatment system until the 1920s. From 1918 to 1939, many cultural, educational and scientific institutions were created, including elementary schools, museums, art galleries and public libraries which prior to the First World War did not exist. Łódź also began developing an entertainment scene, with 34 movie theatres opened by 1939. On 13 September 1925, the city's first airport, Lublinek, commenced operations. In 1930, the first radio transmission from a newly founded broadcasting station took place.
The ideological orientation of Łódź was strongly left-wing and the city was a notable centre of socialist, communist and bundist activity in Polish politics during the interbellum.
Second World War (1939–1945)[edit]
See also: Battle of Łódź (1939) and Łódź Ghetto
Łódź Ghetto (Ghetto Litzmannstadt), was the second-largest ghetto in all of German-occupied Europe.
During the invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Polish forces of General Juliusz Rómmel's Army Łódź defended the city against the German assault by forming a line of resistance between Sieradz and Piotrków Trybunalski. The attack was conducted by the 8th Army of Johannes Blaskowitz, who encircled the city with the X Army Corps. After fierce resistance, a Polish delegation surrendered to the Germans on 8 September, and the first Wehrmacht troops entered in the early hours of 9 September. The German Einsatzgruppe III paramilitary death squad entered the city on 12 September. Arthur Greiser incorporated Łódź into a new administrative subdivision of Nazi Germany called Reichsgau Wartheland on 9 November 1939, and on 11 April 1940 the city was renamed to Litzmannstadt after German general and NSDAP member Karl Litzmann.
The city became subjected to immediate Germanisation, with Polish and Jewish establishments closed, and Polish-language press banned. Low-wage forced labour was imposed on the city's inhabitants aged 16 to 60; many were subsequently deported to Germany. As part of the Intelligenzaktion, Polish intellectuals from the city and region were imprisoned at Radogoszcz and then either sent to concentration camps or murdered in the forests of Łagiewniki and the village of Lućmierz-Las. Polish children were forcibly taken from their parents, and from 1942 to 1945 the German Sicherheitspolizei operated a camp for kidnapped Polish children from various regions in Łódź.
The German authorities established the Łódź Ghetto (Ghetto Litzmannstadt) in the city and populated it with more than 200,000 Jews from the region, who were systematically sent to German extermination camps. It was the second-largest ghetto in occupied Europe, and the last major ghetto to be liquidated, in August 1944. The Polish resistance movement (Żegota) operated in the city and aided the Jewish people throughout its existence. However, only 877 Jews were still alive by 1945. Of the 223,000 Jews in Łódź before the invasion, 10,000 survived the Holocaust in other places. The Germans also created camps for non-Jews, including the Romani people deported from abroad, who were ultimately murdered at Chełmno, as well as a penal forced labour camp, four transit camps for Poles expelled from the city and region, and a racial research camp.
Post World War II (1945–1989)[edit]
Śródmieście Residential District - built in 1975–1982, one of many modernist housing estates from the times of the Polish People's Republic
Following liberation by Soviet forces on 19 January 1945, and the end of the World War II, Łódź informally and temporarily took over the functions of Poland's capital, and most of the government and country administration resided in the city prior to the reconstruction of Warsaw.
Łódź also experienced an influx of refugees from Kresy. Many migrated into the suburbs and occupied the empty properties. Under the Polish People's Republic, the city's industry and private companies were subject to nationalisation. On 24 May 1945, the University of Łódź was inaugurated. On 8 March 1948, the National Film School was opened, later becoming Poland's primary academy of drama and cinema.
The spatial and urban planning after World War II was conducted in accordance with the Athens Charter, where the population from the old core was relocated into new residential areas. However, as a result, the inner-city and historical areas fell in significance and degenerated into a slum. A number of extensive panel block housing estates were constructed, including Retkinia, Teofilów, Widzew, Radogoszcz, and Chojny. These block housing estates were constructed between 1960 and 1990, covering an area of almost 30 square kilometres (12 sq mi) and accommodating a large part of the populace.
In mid-1981 Łódź became famous for its massive hunger demonstration of local mothers and their children.
Contemporary history (1990–present)[edit]
Włókiennicza StreetMoniuszki Street1 Maja Avenue6 Sierpnia StreetIn the second decade of the 21st century, a program for the revitalization of streets and restrictions on car traffic in the city center of Łódź was implemented. Since 2014, several dozen woonerfs (streets prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists) have been created in the city.
After 1989 the textile industry in Łódź collapsed and the city suffered from social and economic decline. The city's industrial heritage and examples of Polish Art Nouveau became an early tourist attraction. In the 2000s the city's main street, the Piotrkowska Street, was revitalized, providing space for shops and restaurants. By 2011 the city hosted around 60 festivals per year.
The local government's efforts to transform the former industrial city into a thriving urban environment and tourist destination formed the basis for the city's failed bid to organise the 2022 International EXPO exhibition on the subject of urban renewal.
