Wood Art from the Lodz Ghetto

This wooden sculpture was found at the Lodz Ghetto. The inmate/artist wanted to celebrate Judaism, keep intellectually and artistically busy, and distract himself from the daily horrors of ghetto life. Depicted are Jewish men and a child singing prayers as the year (noted on the prayer book) changes from 5700 to 5701. Rosh Hashanah 5701 was on September 21, 1941.

Inmates who produced secret art did so at risk to their lives. These artists used their talents to create works as an expression of their own humanity. When the liberation forces were examining the ghettos and camps, thousands of pictures drawn by children and adults were discovered.

The Łódź Ghetto was the second largest ghetto (after the Warsaw Ghetto). A total of 204,000 Jews passed through the ghetto from February 1940 to January 19, 1945. 800 inmates were all that remained when the ghetto was liberated.