and rushing them to the train station, where freight trains waited (Doc. 1).
After these events, indescribable panic overcame the Jews of Łódź. Residents
fled the city in terror. To prevent chaos, Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski
asked the German authorities to organise a “voluntary deportation of the
Jews.”¹⁰ Agreeing to his proposal, the occupation authorities issued a special
regulation — instructions for the departing (Doc. 23), and the Community
paid out 50 złoty to everyone who reported for transport. They were only
allowed to take hand luggage. Despite this, their fate was no better than those
who were forcibly deported, as often, in spite of the harsh winter, they were
told to get off the train in the middle of nowhere and left to their fate (Doc. 25).
As the unknown author of the study “Historia getta [w] Litzmannstadt.
Część pierwsza — Z miasta do getta” [History of the Litzmannstadt-Getto.
Part one — From the city to the ghetto] wrote,
“After the forced deportations and ‘voluntary emigration’ in December
1939, January 1940 brought some peace. However, systematic evictions
of Jews from their homes and even entire houses never ceased, as houses
continued to be requisitioned for individuals and for various agencies
and institutions. A lot could be said about the very mode of expulsion,
because — depending on the mood of the [Germans] carrying out the
eviction — the evicted Jews were allowed to take all their belongings or
just bare necessities, and sometimes they were ordered to dress and leave,
without taking anything at all.”¹¹
The resettlement of Jews within the city, which was the first stage of
preparations for the establishment of the so-called closed Jewish district, the
formation of the ghetto and the conditions in it, are discussed in documents in
the second chapter of the volume. German occupation authorities planned to
establish a ghetto in Łódź as early as December 1939, but the formal decision
was made at the beginning of 1940. Under the regulation issued on 8 February
1940 by Johann Schäfer, head of the police, a “residential district” for Jews was
designated in the northern part of Łódź. The news caused panic in the city.
Not waiting for the resettlement to begin, the Jews moved into the designated
area on their own (Doc. 26). To prevent possible German reprisals, Rumkowski
appointed officials whose task it was to help newcomers orient themselves in
10 See I. (H.) Rubin, Żydzi w Łodzi pod niemiecką okupacją 1939–1945, London 1988, p. 179.
11 Kronika, Vol. 5, p. 15.
