A trove of items believed to have been buried during the Second World War, most likely by Jews, has been discovered during a major redevelopment project in the Polish city of Łódź. It is the second major find at the site announced this year.
The valuables, which were buried at a shallow depth and covered with roofing felt and loosely stacked bricks, include coins, watches, and fragments of a chandelier.
But there are also a number of objects relating to Judaism, including Kiddush cups and chalices, candlesticks and incense burners, notes the conservator of monuments in Łódź (ŁWKZ), which announced the find. ŁWKZ believes that the objects were buried during or just before World War II.
Before the war, Łódź was home to over 200,000 Jews, who made up around a third of the city’s population. After the German Nazi invasion in 1939, the city became home to the second-largest ghetto in German-occupied Europe. Only Warsaw’s was larger.
During the war, almost 150,000 Jews were deported from the ghetto to the Chełmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps. Many others died in the ghetto itself. When Łódź was liberated in 1945, fewer than 1,000 Jews remained in the city.
In January this year, ŁWKZ revealed that renovation work at a historical tenement house on Północna Street in the city centre had uncovered over 400 hidden objects, also including many related to the Jewish faith.
Over 400 items, most likely hidden by Jews during WWII, have been discovered during renovation work in Łódź.
Among them were two hanukkiahs that, eight decades after being buried, were used by the city during its celebration of Hannukah last month https://t.co/KlCr4ORPJE
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 9, 2023
The latest find is part of the same 45 million zloty (€10 million) renovation works taking place around Północna Street. In March, it was also revealed that the work had uncovered a former bathhouse that included a mikveh, which is used for ritual immersion in Judaism.
“Will there be more?” wondered ŁWKZ after the latest discoveries. “This we do not know. Nevertheless, we suspect that the earth in Łódź still harbours many treasures.”
Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a tenement house from the Warsaw Ghetto, as well as a number of artefacts.
The building – from a street that no longer exists – was among many destroyed by the Germans after the defeat of the Ghetto Uprising https://t.co/ab563PJ4YJ
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 7, 2023
Main image credit: Wojewódzki Urząd Ochrony Zabytków w Łodzi/Facebook
Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.
