Mural - Girl from the Roma camp - Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski, 2016

Mural at ul. Wojska Polskiego 82 in Bałuty depicts a girl from a Roma camp. It was created as part of the long-term project "Children of Bałuty - murals of remembrance", and was painted by Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski.

What is the Children of Bałuty project

The project "Children of Bałuty - murals of remembrance" is an artistic initiative creating portraits of Polish, Jewish and Roma children who were prisoners of camps operating in Łódź during the Second World War. It was initiated in 2012, on the seventieth anniversary of the Wielka Szpera [Great Roundup], the largest wave of deportations from the Łódź ghetto. The first phase of the project, carried out in 2012-2014, resulted in six portraits painted on the walls of buildings in Bałuty.

Authors of the murals

The project is implemented by Piotr Saul, assistant at the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and Damian Idzikowski, student at Łódź ASP [Academy of Fine Arts]. Their work is supported by the Association "Na co dzień i od święta" [Daily and on feast days], the Edelman Center for Dialogue and the Jewish Religious Community in Łódź. The project also received funding from the National Heritage Institute under the Tomorrow's Patriotism programme.

Memory of children of different nationalities

The Children of Bałuty project commemorates Polish, Jewish and Roma children who were prisoners of camps operating in Łódź during the occupation. The city was also home to the only Nazi camp intended exclusively for children, holding young Polish prisoners. The mural at Wojska Polskiego 82, dedicated to a girl from a Roma camp, is part of the project dedicated to the youngest victims among the Roma population.

Date of creation

The mural at Wojska Polskiego 82 was most likely created between 2012 and 2015, in an earlier phase of the project: known accounts from the September 2016 edition mention four other new murals, at Franciszkańska 13, Jakuba 10, Starosikawskiej 23 and Przemysłowej 13a. The authorship of Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski is certain.

Other murals from this cycle

The same project also includes mural Girl from the ghetto and mural Boy from the ghetto, both by the same artists. The portraits are scattered throughout Bałuty, one of the districts most profoundly marked by the history of the Łódź ghetto.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Wojska Polskiego 82, Bałuty, Łódź
• Getting there: vicinity of ul. Wojska Polskiego, it is worth checking specific public transport lines before your visit
• The mural is on the external wall of the building and is available to view without time restrictions
• What to expect: a portrait of a girl in a calm, memorial character, set within the history of the Łódź ghetto and a Roma camp