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Lodz went from 11 Jews in 1793 to 259 by 1820
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Restrictions were eased on the Jewish population but they had to assimilate
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the Czar of Russia lifted limitations on Jewish settlement but many chose to stay in the Jewish quarter (Alstadt)
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By 1897, Lodz has a population of 99,000 Jews.
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Spread to Lodz in the early 1900s. It was a revival of the Hebrew language and culture.
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By 1914 there were 175 factories owned by Jews in Lodz; including I.K. Poznanski who owned the largest plant in Europe
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Lodz was devastated during WWI and Jewish Industrialists were not given money to rebuild.
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In spite of anti-Jewish policies, Jews in Lodz continued to make progress; trade unions formed and Socialist movements like Bund and Po' alae Zion thrived.
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The Jewish community maintained a thriving council, a mikva, a soup kitchen, a bikur holim (visiting the sick) society, schools, and a kosher slaughterhouse.
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The community had Yeshivas & schools teaching Polish and Yiddish. The Yiddish school for boys opened in 1918 and the school for girls opened in 1924.
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Attacks in 1933, 1934, & 1935
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Force Jews to leave and enter other cities.
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200,000 are forced to live here. Factories in the ghetto generated $14 million profit for the Germans during the war. Political and social groups met secretly to discuss ideology and organize demonstrations.
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Germans organized a pogrom to drive the Jews out of the ghetto.
