der aelteste der juden hospital szpital - Enamel sign that was posted at the entrance to the Jewish hospital in the Lodz Ghetto. Lodz Ghetto, early 1940s. Very rare.
The Jewish hospital in the Lodz Ghetto was located on Drewnowska street, and served a population of over 160,000 people. During the ghetto's operation, the hospital was cramped and understaffed, struggling to provide proper treatment to patients facing starvation, disease and violence. Despite these challenges, the hospital staff worked tirelessly to save lives. They performed surgeries in improvised operating rooms, treating patients with a wide range of illnesses and injuries. The hospital also had a maternity ward, where hundreds of babies were born each year.
In 1942, the Nazis began deporting Jews from the Lodz Ghetto to the Chelmno extermination camp. They did not spare the hospital. In September 1942, the Nazis deported all patients and elderly people from the hospital to Chelmno. The hospital then closed for several months, but reopened in early 1943 to serve the Jews who remained in the ghetto. The hospital was ultimately liquidated in August 1944, when the last Jews were deported from the Lodz Ghetto. Only a handful of hospital staff survived the Holocaust.
See also "Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto", published by Yad Vashem 1986, introductions by Lucjan Dobroszycki and Israel Gutman.
Size: 25x10 cm. Enameled iron. Rust marks. Condition good - moderate.
