mural - Prisoner of the camp for Polish children - Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski, 2016

On the wall of a tenement building at ul. Przemysłowa 13a in Bałuty, a portrait of a child in striped prison clothing has been painted. This is one of the murals unveiled in October 2016, in the fifth edition of a cycle commemorating children imprisoned in Łódź during the German occupation. The location is no accident: a few dozen metres further along the same street stood the entrance to the camp, of which the boy or girl depicted on the mural was a prisoner.

The camp on Przemysłowa

From December 1942 to January 1945, a German camp for Polish children and young people aged 6 to 16 operated here. It was the only concentration camp of the Third Reich created exclusively for children. Between two and three thousand minors passed through it, with approximately two hundred deaths documented. The mural recalls this chapter of the district's history in the place where the events described actually took place.

A face without a name

The figure on the mural has no name. The authors of the cycle based the portraits on archival photographs, but in most cases it was not possible to match the images with specific names. Of the entire series commemorating children of Bałuty, only four people are known by name: Dawid Sierakowiak, Abramek Koplowicz, Salek Berliński and Abramek Cytryn. The remaining murals, including the one at Przemysłowa 13a, depict anonymous children whose fates remain unknown, though their suffering was equally real.

Authors and cycle

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, according to a concept by Katarzyna Tośta. The work was carried out by the Association "Na co dzień i od święta" [For everyday and special occasions] with support from the Museum of the History of Poland in Warsaw. The entire series, known as the Path of Memory Murals "Children of Bałuty", was created in stages from 2012 onwards and comprises a dozen or so portraits scattered throughout the district, each in a place connected with the history of the person depicted.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Przemysłowa 13a, Bałuty, Łódź.
• The mural is located on the external wall of the building, in public space, accessible without restrictions.
• In the immediate vicinity, at Przemysłowa 12 and 16, stand further murals from the same cycle: Prisoner of the camp for Polish children and Boy from the camp for Polish children.
• At ul. Reja 13 is another portrait of a child from the same camp, Boy from the camp for Polish children.
• Broader context for the history of children from the Łódź ghetto is provided by the Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre.
• This is a place of remembrance; it is worth maintaining quiet and calm there.