sadistic satisfaction from humiliating Jews (see e.g. Docs. 12 and 13). Mental
and physical harassment accompanied dispossession of houses (Docs. 1, 2) and
seizures of companies, raw materials, and semi-finished goods, which on
19 October 1939 were transferred to the Haupttreuhandstelle Ost (HTO).²
On 31 October 1939, a regulation was enacted on labelling shops and
businesses with signs indicating the nationality of the owner, which greatly
facilitated the looting of Jewish property. Early November saw the first act
of terror — several dozen regulars of café Astoria frequented by the artistic
intelligentsia of Łódź were arrested. The raid itself, especially its scope, caused
panic among the Jews of Łódź. They were terrified upon hearing news about
the fate of the arrested, who were taken to the headquarters of the SS at
Zgierska Street 116 and tortured. The culmination of the tragedy came on
2 November, when in the nearby Łagiewniki forest the Germans shot fifteen
of the arrested,³ and demanded a ransom for the release of the remaining ones.
Those who were unable to pay for their freedom were taken to the camp
in Radogoszcz, established on 9 or 10 November 1939 in connection with
Intelligenzaktion, an operation carried out by the Gestapo in Łódź and the
Łódź district on 8 November 1939. The camp was located at Michał Glazer’s
textile factory. As a result of the actions directed against the Łódź intelligentsia
and its social, political, and economic activists, about 1,500 people⁴ lost
their lives. At the same time there was a resettlement camp for civilians in
Samuel Abbe’s textile factory. In the second half of December 1939, the prisoners
remaining in Glazer’s factory were gradually moved to Abbe’s factory.
Until 1 July 1940, there was both a transit and a resettlement camp in Abbe’s
factory. Beginning on 1 July 1940 the prison’s official name was Erweitertes
Polizeigefängnis, Radegast.⁵
Among the texts included in this volume, there is not a single one whose
author could be identified as imprisoned in Radogoszcz in connection with
the events in the café Astoria. We have two accounts (Docs. 15 and 16) which,
it seems, were written by the same person, who introduced himself as “the
2 (German) German Main Trustee Office for the East.
3 Docs. 2 and 10. According to Doc. 10, the execution took place near Ozorków.
4 Cf. Eksterminacja inteligencji Łodzi i okręgu łódzkiego, 1939–1940, ed. A. Galiński, M. Budziarek, Łódź 1992.
5 (German) Extended Police Prison, Radegast; the latter is a German name for Radogoszcz.
