A Day of Remembrance for the Jews of the Lodz Ghetto was recently held in the city. The mayor of Lodz, the Israel Ambassador to Poland and the Chief Rabbi of Poland led the march, of nearly 1,000, from the Jewish cemetery to the site of the Radegast Train Station where the Jews had been gathered before being sent to their deaths in Auschwitz.
After the moving ceremony at the impressive memorial erected at the former station the survivors went to the Survivors Park, established by the city, to remember the past but also to celebrate and honor the future.
Lodz had once been a major Jewish city but 200,000 were murdered in the Shoah. Today the small community is still striving to reestablish itself.
In the coming weeks I will be giving a more detailed report on this small but growing community.
Chief Rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, and Mr. Yehuda Widavski of Israel, reciting Tehillim, El-Maleh and Kaddish at the gathering in front of the Holocaust Memorial at the Lodz Jewish Cemetery.
The march from the cemetery to the Radegast Station led by the City Honor Guard and officials, including Israel Ambassador David Peleg.
Entering the Radegast Station area memorial that includes two train cars and a locomotive engine dating to the Shoah.
Rabbi Netanel Chaim Turnheim the Admor of Wolbroz, who spoke at the gathering, contemplating the tracks over which 200,000 Jews traveled, on the way to their deaths in Auschwitz.
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