Mural - Girl from Włodzimierz Pfeiffer's Photograph - Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski, 2016

The mural at ulica Berlińskiego 15 in Bałuty presents a portrait of a girl reproduced from a pre-war photograph by Włodzimierz Pfeiffer. It was created in 2016 as part of the "Children of Bałuty – Murals of Remembrance" project, which commemorates children imprisoned in the Łódź ghetto.

The Children of Bałuty Project

The "Children of Bałuty – Murals of Remembrance" project began in 2012 at the initiative of the association "Na co dzień i od święta" (Everyday and on Holy Days), with the artistic concept developed by Katarzyna Tośta. The murals are painted on the walls of pre-war tenement buildings in the area of the former Łódź ghetto and document the fates of Jewish, Polish and Roma children imprisoned in the ghetto and in camps located within its territory, together forming the "Trail of Murals of Remembrance".

Creation of this Portrait

The mural at Berlińskiego 15 was painted in 2016 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 graphic techniques workshop at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. The work was created to mark the 75th anniversary of the deportation of children from Western Europe to the Łódź ghetto in October 1941 and was one of four new murals added to the project that year, bringing the total number of works to 21.

Source of the Portrait

The model for the girl's face was an archival photograph by Włodzimierz Pfeiffer (1890–1966), a Łódź photographer, bookseller and publicist, who between 1926 and 1939 took over 900 photographs documenting pre-war Łódź, including the Old Town and its inhabitants. Pfeiffer's photographs served as inspiration for several murals within the project.

Other Murals Nearby

On the other side of the city, in Polesie, are further works by the Urban Forms Foundation: mural by Chilean artist INTI and mural by the ETAM Crew duo.

Practical Information

• Address: ul. Berlińskiego 15, Łódź, Bałuty district.
• Getting there: the area of the former Łódź ghetto in Bałuty.
• What to expect: mural on a tenement wall, visible from street level, part of the trail of murals of remembrance.