Mural - Boy from the Polish children's camp - Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski, 2016

On the wall of a building at ulica Przemysłowa 16 in Bałuty, Łódź, a portrait of a boy from a Polish children's camp was painted in 2016. The mural is part of the series "Children of Bałuty – murals of remembrance", created by Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski.

Polish children's camp in Łódź

During the Second World War, a German camp for Polish children operated in Łódź, in the Bałuty district. This mural is dedicated to the memory of children imprisoned there. The portrait shows a boy whose identity remains unknown, reconstructed from an archival photograph. On ulica Przemysłowa there are two murals relating to this camp: this one at Przemysłowa 16, and another depicting a camp prisoner at Przemysłowa 13a.

The "Children of Bałuty – murals of remembrance" series

The project to commemorate the children of Bałuty began in 2012, on the seventieth anniversary of the Wielka Szpera [Great Deportation], the mass deportation of children, the sick and the elderly from the Łódź ghetto in 1942. It was created by the association "Na co dzień i od święta" [Every day and holidays], initiated by Katarzyna Tośta. By October 2016, when this portrait was being created, 21 murals had already been painted in the series, scattered across buildings in Bałuty.

Each portrait in the series uses 3D techniques and modern street art methods, and features Polish, Jewish and Romani children who lived in this part of the city or were imprisoned in local camps during the German occupation.

Authors of the murals

The portraits in the "Children of Bałuty" series were painted by Piotr Saul, assistant at the Faculty of Painting and Sculpture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and Damian Idzikowski, assistant in the Workshop of Fundamental Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. As part of the same cycle in Bałuty, a mural commemorating Abramek Koplowicz and a mural dedicated to Abram Cytryn were also created.

Bałuty during occupation

The Bałuty district is an area where the Łódź ghetto and camps for various groups of people, including a camp for Polish children, operated during the Second World War. The murals in the "Children of Bałuty" series are positioned in this part of the city, creating a trail commemorating children who lived or were imprisoned here seventy-odd years earlier.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Przemysłowa 16, Łódź, Bałuty district
• The mural is on the external wall of the building, accessible to view from street level at all times
• Admission is free, with no designated visiting hours
• In the area you should look for further murals from the "Children of Bałuty" series, scattered across buildings of the former Łódź ghetto