City

Łódź in the war

3 articles · 1942–1945

Łódź, renamed Litzmannstadt in 1940, was incorporated into the Reich as part of the Wartheland. Some 160,000 people were crammed into its ghetto, sealed off on 30 April 1940. From 16 January 1942 the Germans deported its inhabitants to the Chełmno extermination camp on the Ner, and in August 1944 most of those who remained to Auschwitz-Birkenau. On 19 January 1945 the city was taken by the Red Army.

1942

15 January 1942EventDeportations from Łódź to ChełmnoIn mid-January 1942 the Germans began deporting Jews from the Łódź Ghetto to the Chełmno death camp. By the end of January some 10,000 had been murdered.

1944

15 January – 26 October 1944BattleOperation TempestFrom January to October 1944 the Home Army struck the retreating Germans and greeted the Red Army as hosts. The Soviets disarmed its units.

1945

12 January – 3 February 1945BattleVistula–Oder offensiveBetween 12 January and 3 February 1945 Zhukov's and Konev's fronts drove from the Vistula to the Oder, smashed Army Group A and took Warsaw, Kraków and Łódź.

People

Born or died here

Jan KarskiCourier and emissary of the Polish Underground State (1940–1943), envoy of the Polish government in the United States (1943–1944)