Rare photograph of the deportation of children from the Łódź Ghetto to their deaths at the Chełmno extermination camp, captioned on the reverse in German: “Allgemeine Gehsperre im Ghetto Litzmannstadt 7. September 1942” – “General curfew in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, 7 September 1942.”
In the photograph, children wearing yellow badges on their clothing are seen being led by an adult woman toward deportation trucks.
The “Sperre” in the Łódź Ghetto (from the German word Sperre, meaning “blockade” or “curfew”) was an Aktion during which approximately 15,000 children, elderly, sick, and unemployed individuals were deported from the ghetto to the Chełmno extermination camp between September 5–12, 1942. According to official records, 15,681 people were deported. Hundreds were murdered inside the ghetto, and 35 were hanged for attempting to escape deportation or for leaving their workplaces. (See: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, where the photo is described as: “Déportation d’enfants juifs d’un orphelinat. Ghetto de Lodz, Pologne, au cours de l’action “Gehsperre” action couvre feu, du 5 au 12 septembre 1942” – “Deportation of Jewish children from an orphanage. Łódź Ghetto, Poland, during the ‘Gehsperre’ curfew action, from September 5 to 12, 1942.”)
The Great Aktion in the Łódź Ghetto, which took place in September 1942, was one of the most brutal and traumatic events in the ghetto’s history. Over the course of just a few days, approximately 15,000 children, elderly, and sick individuals were forcibly torn from their homes, most of whom were murdered at the Chełmno extermination camp. On September 5, 1942, a notice appeared on the walls of the Łódź Ghetto announcing a complete lockdown of movement (Allgemeine Gehsperre – absolute curfew; prohibition on leaving one’s home). The deportation was preceded by a speech delivered on September 4 by the head of the Jewish Council, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, in which he stated, among other things: “A crisis has befallen the ghetto. They are demanding that we give up the best we have – our children and our elderly… At my age, I must stretch out my hands and plead: Brothers and sisters! Give them to me! Fathers and mothers, give me your children! … I must prepare this difficult and bloody operation, I must cut off the branches in order to save the trunk. I must take the children, for if I do not, others may also be taken Gd forbid… I extend to you my broken and trembling hands and I beg you: Sacrifice these children! Only in this way can we prevent greater suffering in the future and preserve the community of 100,000 Jews…”.
Following Rumkowski’s speech, Jews began storming the ghetto registration offices en masse. According to Oskar Singer, a resident of the ghetto, many attempted to alter the official ages of their relatives – either with forged documents or based on original ones – in a desperate attempt to present children as older than their actual age, and the elderly as younger, in the hope of saving them from deportation. Rumkowski established a selection committee intended to determine who would be included on the deportation lists. He oversaw the preparation of the lists, approved the names, and handed them over to the Germans. In the following days, members of the German Security Service (SD) and the Jewish Order Service units raided ghetto homes, locating those marked for deportation according to the lists. They dragged children, the elderly, and their family members out of their apartments and led them to the Radegast train station at the edge of the ghetto. Parental resistance was common – physical confrontations broke out between officers and parents trying to prevent the abduction of their children. When the Germans noted delays and “inefficiency” on the part of the Jewish units, they sent reinforcements from the Gestapo and German police. These forces brutally suppressed the resistance, firing without warning in the streets, beating, murdering, and violently clearing public institutions. According to testimonies, approximately 200 parents were shot to death after refusing to hand over their children. During the evacuation of hospitals, German soldiers threw children out of upper-story windows. On September 12, 1942, the Sperre came to an end – the brutal operation to empty the ghetto of its children, sick, and elderly. Two days later, on September 14, the German authorities announced the resumption of economic activity in the ghetto: factories reopened, food rations were distributed, and shops resumed operations. From that point onward, the Łódź Ghetto clearly became a forced labor camp. The children and elderly deported during the Aktion were sent to the Chełmno extermination camp, where they were murdered in gas vans.
Size: 12×8 cm. Good condition.
