Mural - Zisele Świerc - Piotr Saul and Damian Idzikowski, 2016

On the wall of a building on ulica Gęsia [Goose Street] in Bałuty [district] in Łódź is a mural with a portrait of Zisele Świerc, also called Zosia. At the outbreak of war she was about five years old, the daughter of a shoemaker named Świerc. The portrait was created in October 2016 as part of the "Children of Bałuty – Murals of Memory" project.

Who painted the mural

The authors are Piotr Saul, assistant at the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, and Damian Idzikowski, a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. The concept for the portrait was developed by Katarzyna Tośta based on an archival photograph of the girl from the period of the Łódź ghetto.

Place in the cycle of murals of memory

The project is supported by the Urban Forms Foundation and the Museum of History. It tells the stories of Polish, Jewish and Romani children from the Łódź ghetto through portraits on the walls of buildings in Bałuty. Since 2012, 21 murals have been created in this way, forming the Path of Murals of Memory.

In the area there are further works from the same cycle, including mural Boy from the Ghetto, mural Abram Cytryn and mural Abramek Kopłowicz.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Gęsia 1, Bałuty district, Łódź
• Getting there: easy from Łódź city centre, the mural is on the wall of a building on the street
• What to expect: mural accessible round the clock, free of charge and with no entry restrictions