“Today we are building a bridge of memory and dialogue over the decades of tragic forgetfulness.”
Marek Belka, Prime Minister of Poland, 2004.
As with many sights of Holocaustal importance across Eastern Europe, Radegast Station - from where as many 200,000 Łódź Jews left for the death camps of Chełmno and Auschwitz – has only recently been accorded the honour and respect it deserves. It has been thoughtfully restored as a place of rememberance, and though it is a long walk from the centre of Łódź (it is on ul. Stalowa, H-2) it is well worth it.
Three original Deutsche Bahn cattle trucks stand poignantly at the station’s platform with their doors open (pictured left), as if another trainload of Jews is imminent. Though most visitors are tempted to enter the wagons, almost none actually do. Elsewhere there are large signposts – in the shape of headstones – denoting the destinations of the trains which left here: Chełmno, Auschwitz. There are also plaques commemorating the Jews of Vienna and Luxembourg, who were transported to the death camps after transiting through the ghetto. The plaque from the city of Vienna is suitably, simply repentant:
“The city of Vienna commemorates its citizens in mourning and in shame.”
Indeed.
Marek Belka, Prime Minister of Poland, 2004.
As with many sights of Holocaustal importance across Eastern Europe, Radegast Station - from where as many 200,000 Łódź Jews left for the death camps of Chełmno and Auschwitz – has only recently been accorded the honour and respect it deserves. It has been thoughtfully restored as a place of rememberance, and though it is a long walk from the centre of Łódź (it is on ul. Stalowa, H-2) it is well worth it.
Three original Deutsche Bahn cattle trucks stand poignantly at the station’s platform with their doors open (pictured left), as if another trainload of Jews is imminent. Though most visitors are tempted to enter the wagons, almost none actually do. Elsewhere there are large signposts – in the shape of headstones – denoting the destinations of the trains which left here: Chełmno, Auschwitz. There are also plaques commemorating the Jews of Vienna and Luxembourg, who were transported to the death camps after transiting through the ghetto. The plaque from the city of Vienna is suitably, simply repentant:
“The city of Vienna commemorates its citizens in mourning and in shame.”
Indeed.