Follow
This project aims to assemble all of the Jewish families from the city of Łódź.
We welcome collaborators. There are a lot of families to find and enter. Feel free to join, not just Follow, the project and enter the names of families who lived in Łódź. Go to ACTIONS (top right of the profile) click on ADD TO PROJECT. Select the project name that appears from the responsive check box and then DONE.
The history of Łódź from Jewish Virtual Library
Jews began settling Lodz in the late 1700's. In 1793, there were 11 Jews living in Lodz. This number increased, by 1809 (while under Prussian Rule), to about 100 and to 259 in 1820. At that time, the Jewish community began to be organized and had built a synagogue. A cemetery was opened from 1811 until 1892, unfortunately it was destroyed in World War II.
Lodz fell under Russian control in the 1820's. During this time, Jewish factory owners, merchants, bankers, industrialists and blue-collar workers played an important role in developing Lodz's economy, and the city became an important industrial center.
Restrictions were placed on settling and owning property in the city, as well as selling liquor. The restrictions eased when it was announced that in 1827 Jews could buy building sites and could build and own homes in certain districts. The Jews, who were allowed to live in the city had to assimilate, i.e., speak Polish, French or German, send their children to general schools and forgo wearing traditional Jewish clothing.
In 1848, the Czar of Russia lifted the limitations on Jewish settlement in Polish cities. Decrees in 1861 and 1862 abrogated the concept of a separate Jewish Quarter in Lodz. Some Jews settled throughout the city, although many decided to remain in the former Jewish quarter, "Alstadt."
An orthodox synagogue, the Alte Shul or the Stara syagogue, was opened in 1860. Renovations took place in 1897, it was burned down in 1939 during the Nazi occupation of Lodz.
A reform synagogue opened in 1883. The wealthy, Jewish factory owner, I.K. Posnanski oversaw its construction. At the time, it was the largest structure in the heart of the city and was known as the "Great" Synagogue. It too was burned down in 1939 during the Nazi occupation.
A third synagogue, the Vilker Shul, was opened in 1899 and was demolished in 1939 with the rest of the synagogues.
By 1897, the Jewish population of Lodz numbered nearly 99,000.
Links:
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- Łódź on JRI-poland.og
- Łódź on Jewishgen.org
- Lodz Ghetto גטו לודז Project on Geni
- Łódź on Wikipedia
- Lodz Jews Heritage Foundation
- United States Holocaust Museaum- Lodz
- Kehila Links- Lodz
- Lodz Jewish Cemetery
- YIVO Encyclopedia- Lodz
Recent announcement from the Lodz project on JRI-Poland: July 2019
Visit the JRI-Poland web site at http://www.jri-poland.org
Jewish Records Indexing - Poland, Inc.is an independent non-profit U.S. tax-exempt organization. The JRI-Poland mailing list and database are hosted by JewishGen. JRI-Poland data is searchable on the JRI-Poland database and is also displayed on the All-Poland database as a service to researchers.
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Get ready to Rock & Roll in Cleveland. Registration for the 39th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (July 28 - August 2, 2019) is open. See www.iajgs2019.org for details.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JRI-PL Digest for Friday, July 12, 2019.
1. 1916-1921 Lodz Registration Card Extraction Project is now complete. 230,000 entries added to JRI-Poland
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Subject: 1916-1921 Lodz Registration Card Extraction Project is now complete. 230,000 entries added to JRI-Poland From: margalit Ir <margalit.a.ir@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2019 11:29:36 -0700 X-Message-Number: 1
Dear fellow researchers:
More than three years ago we embarked on a project to extract and create a database of the Jewish entries in the huge collection of Lodz Registration Cards from 1916 to 1921. https://jri-poland.org/psa/lodz-registration-card-scans.htm
Like any large initiative, it was difficult to initially grasp the depth of this project and the time it might take to complete. But we soon learned that there are more than 262 thousand cards to be reviewed and, of course, knew that a large percentage would be for Jewish families. It was clear that to carry out this project would require many years of engaging with and retaining volunteers.
We soon were able to assemble what turned out to be a dedicated team of our fellow genealogists who took this project to heart. They realized that the information in these cards would open vital research opportunities with the potential for dramatic breakthroughs.
Our volunteers reviewed each card to identify the Jewish families and then extract the key genealogical information - surnames, given names, parents=E2=80=99 names, towns of birth, birth date, occupation, marital status, date of arrival in Lodz, and in some cases, dates of death.
While we had a core group who drove the project forward, along the way we were joined by dozens of other volunteers doing their share. It was truly an international group representing the U.S. Israel, Canada, Spain, France, Belgium, Russia and Argentina. We also had a Kenya-based company, Digital Divide, volunteer the time of one of their expert employees.
Some volunteers were with us from beginning to end, others offered their help in between business hours, care giving or simply involved in their families=E2=80=99 day-to-day lives. Each day I could visualize th=
eir activity on this project, the hours at their computers, diligently reading through and documenting the names of our Jewish brethren. Their devotion was a heartwarming example of the power of a united force carrying out a unique mission. In this case ensuring that all Jewish names in this collection became new stars in the heavens, their memory forever ingrained on the web for future generations of their families to find and treasure.
In fact, I have heard from countless researchers who have found family members, often learning about cousins and even entire branches they never knew existed.
I would also like to extend a special and heartfelt thanks to JRI-Poland super volunteer Howard Fink who has played such a vital role in processing the data and preparing it to be uploaded to the JRI-Poland database.
The Lodz Registration Card Project is now complete and the data is online. Along the way, we reviewed 262,000 cards and identified more than 230,000 Jewish individuals. They are now forever part of the database of Jewish Records of Poland, available for all to find.
As the leader of the Lodz Registration Card 1916-1921 Extraction Project, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to bring this mission to fruition and once again express my heartfelt thanks to the volunteers who made this long journey a success. Yasher Koach to each and every one of the volunteers.
Shabbat Shalom Margalit Ashira Ir Lodz Registration Card Project Leader JRI-POLAND
Visit the JRI-Poland web site at http://www.jri-poland.org
Jewish Records Indexing - Poland, Inc.is an independent non-profit
U.S. tax-exempt organization. JRI-Poland data is searchable
on the JRI-Poland database and is also displayed on the
All-Poland database as a service to researchers.
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JRI-PL Digest for Friday, August 05, 2022.
1. Exciting News for Lodz Researchers
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Subject: Exciting News for Lodz Researchers
From: Joe Ross <joeross1220@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2022 11:19:47 -0400
X-Message-Number: 1
The Polish State Archives has placed many of the volumes of the Lodz
Book of Permanent Residents on line. There are numerous volumes
covering the years 1836 through 1931. Some of the latter years have
published indexes (although incomplete) and also have annexes that
contain some birth, marriage and death documentation used to support
the information contained in the Books of Residents. (There are also
Books of Non-Permanent Residents as well as entirely separate Book of
Permanent Residents covering Baluty until 1915 when it was
incorporated into the City of Lodz).
JRI-Poland has decided to undertake the challenge of extracting this
information and adding it to our database for the use of Lodz
researchers. Sine these volumes are unindexed and not alphabetized,
this will allow researchers to find relatives without examining
thousands of scans. We plan to start with the earliest volumes,
covering the years 1836 through 1841, since these are entirely in
Polish and due to segregation laws in effect until 1862, the Jewish
areas are well-defined. We estimate that there are about 1200 to 1500
entries for that time period, with each entry having about 10 columns
of information.
We need your help. We are looking for a dedicated group of volunteers
with sufficient Polish language skills who can assist us in data-entry
of the documentation into a designated spreadsheet. This will require
training on JRI-Poland's new data entry template that is part of our
NextGen project. Once we have completed the 1836 to 1841 data,
hopefully we can move on to the 1850 to 1863 dataset. (The next sets,
1864 to 1902 and 1903 to 1931, involve mixed Jewish and non-Jewish
records as well as mixed Russian and Polish language entries. This
will likely require professional assistance).
If you feel able to assist in this project, please respond to this
email and I will be in touch. Overall, we think 5 to 10 volunteers
will be needed to spread the workload around.
Thank you,
Joe Ross
JRI-Poland
Lodz Town Leader
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Joe Ross
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END OF DIGEST