Mural - Girl from the Gypsy Camp - Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski, 2016

At ul. Starosikawska 23 in Bałuty, on a tenement wall, a portrait of a girl has been painted. The mural was unveiled in October 2016 as part of the fifth edition of a cycle commemorating the histories of children held in Łódź during German occupation. The address lies within the area where, in summer and autumn 1941, a separate camp for the Roma population functioned, set apart within the Łódź ghetto.

Gypsy camp in the ghetto

The camp for Roma and Sinti was established on 5 November 1941 as a separate, fenced section of the Łódź ghetto, covering the area of present-day ul. Wojska Polskiego, ul. Obrońców Westerplatte, ul. Starosikawska and ul. Głowackiego. Over five thousand people were brought here from Styria and Lower Austria, crowded into fifteen buildings containing fewer than six hundred rooms, across an area of less than two hectares. In December 1941 an epidemic of typhus broke out, claiming around four hundred lives. At the turn of December and January the camp was liquidated and the prisoners were transported to the German extermination camp at Chełmno nad Nerem. Those from this group almost certainly did not survive the war.

A portrait without a name

The girl depicted on the mural remains anonymous. The cycle bases its portraits on archival photographs of real people, but in most cases no documentation has survived to connect the image with a specific name. Of the entire series, only four children are known by name and surname, and none of them came from the gypsy camp, so this portrait and the others dedicated to that community commemorate the victims collectively, without the possibility of individual identification.

Authors and project aim

The mural was painted by Piotr Saul, affiliated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and Damian Idzikowski from Łódź's Academy of Fine Arts, following a concept by Katarzyna Tośta. The project is run by the Association "Na co dzień i od święta", with support from the Museum of the History of Poland in Warsaw. The cycle, known as the Memorial Murals Route "Children of Bałuty", comprises portraits of Polish, Jewish and Roma children, placed as close as possible to sites connected with their history.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Starosikawska 23, Bałuty, Łódź.
• The mural is located on the external wall of the building, in public space, accessible without restriction.
• A few dozen metres further on stands another mural from the cycle, Boy from the ghetto, evoking the history of the Łódź ghetto.
• Broader context for the history of the ghetto and its residents is provided by the Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre.
• Nearby is also the Park of the Rescued, established in memory of Łódź Jews.
• This is a place of remembrance; it is fitting to maintain quiet and solemnity here.