From Pre-War Experiences to the Struggle for Survival
Women In Lodz
Many historians are dedicated to researching the various survival skills which the victims of the Holocaust utilized. Such commonly recognized survival skills are those that are enacted through a choice or conscious decision of the victim. Smuggling, rebellion, and using personal connections as an advantage, are all such examples. Undoubtedly, these choices were survival skills, however, historians sometimes apply them to a wide range of victims without proper attention to their location, gender, age, or previous experiences.
After particular examination of the women of Lodz ghetto, one can conclude that there are survival skills specific to this selection of victims and the conditions to which they were exposed. Among those survival skills, and perhaps the most effective for the women of Lodz, are those which were based on their pre-war experiences. Therefore, the skills which aided survival the most were those which were not made through conscious decisions but as a result of multiple conditions outside of their control. These conditions include the woman’s geographical location and home origin prior to the war as well as their social background and experiences. Gender roles, class standing, family make-up, and labor all must be examined in order to further understand their background and experiences. These factors shaped the survival skills which proved to be most advantageous to the women of Lodz Ghetto.
Lodz Synagogue
“So let us not weep, let us not moan, and to spite all enemies, let us smile, only smile, that they may be amazed at what the Jews are capable of.” *
Introduction to Lodz
Map of Lodz Ghetto
Lodz, Poland:
A Brief Background
To examine the survival skills of women in the Lodz Ghetto, one must first understand the background of Lodz, Poland and the creation as well as the implementation of the ghetto. Oral histories and first-hand accounts from the women who survived Lodz offer their perspectives as well as their personal experiences of moving into the ghetto.
Second only to Warsaw, Lodz was the most populated city in Poland before the war. One third of the Lodz’s population was comprised of Jews. The contributions of Lodz’s Jewish citizens greatly impacted the city’s economic realm particularly, through industry and services.[1] Lodz and the Jewish inhabitants were soon at the mercy of the German forces who occupied the city by September 8, 1939. The Germans quickly enacted several regulations against the Jews following their occupation.[2] Soon after, the Germans evacuated the Jews from the general population of the city and relocated them to the neglected northern portion of the city. By December 1939, the Jews were behind the barbed wire confines of the ghetto, which by May 1, 1940 had sealed them in complete isolation from the outside world. A world which they had known, yet where they no longer “belonged”.[3]
The population of Lodz ghetto fluctuated between 230,000 and 250,000 throughout its entire operation until its liquidation in the summer of 1944. At the time of the liquidation, Lodz was the only remaining ghetto in Polish territory.[4]
The Bridge in Lodz Ghetto
Moving into Lodz
In order to accurately depict the survival skills which women brought into Lodz ghetto, it is important that their reactions and acclimation upon moving into the ghetto are addressed. Forced relocation into the ghetto and the changes it incurred are unforgettable to many female survivors of Lodz. In an oral interview, Irene Fleming, a Jew from Lodz, recalled all of the changes that took place in the city due to the war. These changes finally culminated into the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. This led to the final removal of Fleming and her family from their apartment and relocation into the ghetto during the following days. Reflecting on how she felt upon entering Lodz ghetto, she noted that she felt like anything could happen at that point. She added that there was no remaining “consciousness” of what was going on or what could possibly happen in the future.[5] By this point she had come to terms with the fact that her fate and life course were completely out of her control. As a result, Fleming acted out of what was instinctual behavior for her while in Lodz; shaped by the background and experiences that made her who she was. These instincts, present long before she was placed in Lodz, ultimately helped her to survive once placed inside the ghetto. This personal acknowledgement of her lack of consciousness is important in the role it plays with the specific survival skills that worked most effectively for many women of Lodz ghetto.
Frances Davis, another survivor and native to Lodz, gave similar testament to the changes surrounding the movement into the ghetto. Davis described the occupation of 1939 and the resulting order for all Jews to wear the Star of David. By January of 1940 she realized that all Jews of Lodz, Poland had been transferred to the old section of the town by a cemetery, which had been cordoned off with barbed wire and a bridge overpass. Upon surveying her new circumstances and living conditions, she could only characterize herself as “uncertain” about her future, as there was no longer any normalcy left to her life.[6] As was the case with Irene Fleming, Davis was forced to act on instinct, through behaviors based on her background and the resulting factors that shaped her before the war and made her who she was. There was a certain amount of resignation on the part of the victims in realizing that their fate and future was out of their control. This supports the assertion that the survival skills which were most effective for women in Lodz came as result of previous experiences rather than through consciously enacted decisions for survival.