Formal and cultural readings of a vanished community: explorations of the Jewish district of Łódź

Abstract

ABSTRACT The development of Łódź as a 19th century Eastern European industrial town has been widely researched, including in the disciplines of urban studies and urban morphology. The Jewish district, mostly ruined during WWII and under communist rule, has been less researched, despite Łódź’s rich Jewish heritage. Under the postulation that urban form expresses the history of living communities, this paper seeks to find “past ghosts” of the vanished Jewish community of Łódź. The analysis is based on formal data augmented by cultural material. The aim is to examine the Jewish inhabitants’ everyday lives and their use of the urban space to reveal how the development of the Jewish district was related to its residents’ identity. The conclusion is twofold; although perceived as different, the Jewish district did not differ formally from the town it resided in, and thus, cultural reading is necessary to understand morphological developments. The paper raises issues of place and identity, which are relevant throughout history and in the present, amid the national, ethnic and religious contests manifested in urban everyday life.