A trip to spend a bit of time with mama - #7 Łódź

Łódź (Woo-ch). This is the closest pronunciation I can come up with. It's not exact but it is much better than Lo-dz, and it is good enough. On forvo.com you can hear how native speakers pronounce Łódź. 

Łódź was probably the most interesting city I saw in Poland on this trip.

Population: 658k - the fourth in Poland, after Warsaw, Cracow, Wrocław. Tram system length: 124 km.

Łódź has a fascinating, and like most Polish cities during WW2, also a horrific history. It grew very quickly during the industrial revolution: from 100k in 1872 to 600k in 1915. It was the westernmost large city of the Russian empire. It depopulated after the wars. 

Łódź was an industrial town, built quickly, on a grid pattern. The photo below was taken in winter, there is snow on the roofs of the buildings. Plac Wolności (Freedom Square) and Ulica Piotrkowska (Peter's Street) are in the centre. It reminds me of the scene in Star Wars when Luke was flying over the surface of the Death Star.

During WW2 Łódź was annexed by Germany and renamed Litzmannstadt. The young and healthy non-Jewish Poles were sent to other parts of Germany for forced work, some small children were abducted and brought up as Germans, 444k Poles were expelled east to the General Government. Polish Jews were locked in ghettos and by August 1944 most of them were murdered, primarily in the Kulmhof extermination camp. About 1 million Germans from other parts of Central and Eastern Europe were brought to the province of Wartheland that included Litzmannstadt... Dark times. 

At peak, in 1988 Łódź had 854k residents, and was the 2nd biggest city in Poland. With the end of communist Poland, came the end of the textile industry and the population decline.

Łódź is known best in Poland for the film school and the film industry. This is where Roman Polański started his career. This is also the hometown of pianist Arthur Rubinstein and poet Julian Tuwim.

Despite being only about 130 km from Warsaw, I never visited Łódź properly, and it is definitely worth a visit, best by train. 

A Stadler Flirt train in Łódź Metropolitan Railway (ŁKA) livery. 
 

Train operators in Poland can be owned by, and serve, (1) mostly a local government area (city): for example SKM in Warsaw, or (2) a voivodeship: for example KM in Masovia, ŁKM in the Łódź voivodeship, or (3) the whole country: PKP Intercity.

A voivodeship is not exactly like a state in a federal system, but close -  there are only 16 in Poland and they have their presidents and "small" parliaments (sejmik). Some voivodeships were self-governing duchies hundreds of years ago. It was the Masovian prince who invited the Teutonic Order knights to help defend against Prussian raids. Prussians were the original Baltic people, like Lithuanians, but later they became Germanised.

A Pesa Dart train in PKP Intercity livery.

Łódź Fabryczna (factory) train station.

One of the murals at Fabryczna: Dzień dobry, bo w Łodzi - A good day, because in Łódź. 

The hall of the Fabryczna station.

Modern offices near Fabryczna.

EC1 - a district heating station converted to a science and culture center.

A mural of pianist Arthur Rubinstein, born in Łódź.

A woonerf - a new quiet street.

Description of the Dutch "woonerf" concept.

A green licence plate means the vehicle is electric.

This street was loud and foul smelling because of idling cars waiting for the green light.

ŁÓDŹ bike stands 

This is a better photo of the bike stand symbol incorporating the word ŁÓDŹ and a bike rider.

 

Some buildings look like this. Łódź was neglected for decades and there is a lot to do.

Tram tracks being laid.

Renovation is ongoing.

Ermines mural.

From the Australian perspective, where for any tiny footpath work, a guard is posted on day one and pedestrians are told to f*ck off and take the long route around, it was fascinating to basically walk through a construction site in the middle of the city. 

Yep, the city does not close because tram tracks are being laid.

The next group of photos with red brick buildings is a former Izrael Poznański textitle factory, now converted to a shopping mall, offices, a hotel, restaurants and an entertainment centre, currently known as Manufaktura:

The Palace of Izrael Poznański - next to the factory.

 

TK Maxx - another brand familiar to Australians. 

A restaurant with an Ukrainian flag and the text in Ukrainian: We are with You.

A place to relax in shade.

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I took this photo because the text on the wall was funny for me, it says: Bałuty (a bad suburb) write bad things on the walls (Bałuty piszą brzydkie słowa na murach). Now I wonder what they wrote. 

This one says: FAT MATT (GRUBY MACIEK).

The sign for the Arlekin Puppet Theater

This is where Szuflandia was in a movie Kingsajz by Juliusz Machulski.

The main character of Kingsajz: Olo Jedlina.

Art by Łukasz Berger: the word CISZA (SILENCE) is not painted, but made from 1300 rods of varying sizes.

Miś Uszatek - Teddy Drop Ear - a character from children's movies made in Łódź by Se-ma-for.

This used clothes shop has an unusual marketing strategy: first it calls itself "Pomarańcza" which means an orange, so it looks like a grocery shop, second it writes its slogan with an annoying spelling error "najleprze" should be "najlepsze". 

Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Władysław Reymont lived in Łódź and wrote a book called "Promised Land" taking part here. The Peasants movie is based on his Nobel winning book.  

This clothes shop and a seating sofa in front, in the "OFF Piotrkowska" development (also a former factory), is also a movie reference: "Pan tu nie stał" - "you did not stand here", is a quote from Alternatywy 4 TV series. 

In 1899 Krzemińscy brothers established the first cinema on Polish lands. It was called Chamber of Illusions (Gabinet Iluzji). 

Temporary painted facade - revitalisation in progress.

An EU plaque about a revitalisation project aimed to improve the quality of life and bringing residents back to the city centre. 

There is a lot of work to do...

The red sign says: mister thief, we do not keep money here overnight. 
It's funny because sometimes the use of honorific "Pan/Pani" Sir/Madam"in the Polish language continues even when the addressed person is obviously a scoundrel. 

Nice bike shelter.

In addition to building and street renovations, two underground rail tunnels and three stations are being built. One of the tunnels is for high speed rail. 

When I saw this building (at Al. Kościuszki 15), it looked so out of place that I thought it must have been built during the German occupation. I was not far off. It's been built in 1913 for the Commercial Bank of Łódź, and it was designed by a Berlin architecture firm Bielenberg und Moser. It is for sale since 2022, but a swastika motif on the wall, and the fact that it is a heritage listed building possibly make it hard to find a buyer.

 

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Free visit to the Nature Museum for citizens of Ukraine.

Right, so some resident got really fed up and put this notice on the methane box: please clean up after your dog, we live here and we have children, have mercy, man!!!

An International Peace Day Parade in Piotrkowska Street: