The Emperor of Lies (59 page)
What we see in Genewein’s work is, rather, the history of the ghetto as he and the other Nazi officials saw it – or persuaded themselves it would look when it was eventually written. Genewein intends his images for the eyes of
future
observers, just as the writers of the
Chronicle
and
Encyclopedia
(albeit for completely opposite reasons) address their diary entries and miniature biographies to ‘later’ readers, who are ‘unfamiliar with the reality of the ghetto’. There is nothing in Genewein’s pictures, however, to indicate that he consciously arranged, or sought to create a flattering image of, the reality he was capturing. He himself probably saw the ghetto the way it appears in his pictures. It is apparent from a letter he wrote to family members back home in Austria that he saw the ghetto as a completely neutral part of the city of Łódź/Litzmannstadt, albeit shut off and under police surveillance, where impoverished Jews lived and earned their keep more or less honestly in workplaces provided for them by the Germans in their infinite generosity.
Whether Rumkowski is to be viewed as saviour or traitor, hero or scapegoat (a question that has preoccupied writers of the ghetto’s history from the very first) is thus, at one level, wholly theoretical. It all depends on the perspective one adopts. It is entirely possible to imagine alternative courses of history in which things could have turned out differently for Rumkowski. If von Stauffenberg had succeeded in his coup against Hitler in July 1944, for example, or if Stalin had not agreed to halt the Red Army offensive at the River Wisła. Then Poland might conceivably have been freed from German occupation six months earlier, and Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski could have stepped from the ruins of the Jewish ghetto of the city of Łódź as what he perpetually strove to be, the liberator of his imprisoned people, and not, as history now generally paints him, as one of the most obedient tools of the Nazi executioners.
Gettoverwaltung
(the German civilian ghetto administration)
Hans Biebow
, Amtsleiter, head of the German civilian administration
Joseph Hämmerle
, the ghetto administration’s head of finance and central purchasing
Wilhelm Ribbe
, responsible for the deployment of Jewish labour, exploitation of confiscated goods and factory management within the ghetto administration
Erich Czarnulla
, in charge (within the ghetto administration) of all production of metal goods and of deliveries to the Wehrmacht
Heinrich Schwind
, in charge of materials and stock control at Baluter Ring and Radegast, also responsible for supervising the supply of foodstuffs to the ghetto
Other German officials
(including military and police administration)
SS-Oberstürmbannführer and Regierungsrat
Otto Bradfisch
, from 21 January 1942 Leiter der Stapostelle Litzmannstadt, with responsibility for the deportations from the ghetto to Chełmno beginning at that time; previously with the SS-Einsatzkommando in the Ukraine. From 2 July 1943 Oberbürgermeister of Litzmannstadt (successor to Werner Ventzki)
SS-Hauptsturmführer
Günther Fuchs
, head of Referat II B 4, later IV B 4, the Department of ‘Jewish Affairs’
SS-Sturmscharführer
Albert Richter
, head of the Gestapo headquarters in the ghetto (1, Limanowskiego), and deputy head of the Department of ‘Jewish Affairs’
SS-Hauptscharführer and Kriminaloberassistent
Alfred Stromberg
, working at Referat II B 4, for ‘Jewish Affairs’ at Gestapo-Dienststelle Getto Litzmannstadt
The Eldest of the Jews in Litzmannstadt
(The Jewish ghetto administration)
Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski
, Eldest of the Jews, Chairman of the ruling ‘Council of Elders’ (
Beirat
), taken in the last transport to Auschwitz on 28 August 1944 and murdered there, with his whole family, probably the same day
Dora Fuchs
, Rumkowski’s (senior) secretary and head of all the Chairman’s secretariats (also responsible for contacts with the German ‘authorities’). Dora Fuchs survived the war and emigrated to Israel
Mieczysław Abramowicz
, secretary and personal assistant to Rumkowski
Józef Rumkowski
, Rumkowski’s brother, ran the ghetto’s largest hospital, and was also head the Chamber of Highest Control (later renamed the FUKR – Fach und Kontrollreferat), set up to combat corruption in the ghetto. Was in the last transport out of the ghetto in August 1944 and was murdered with the rest of his family
Rebeka
(Regina/Renia)
Wołk
, head of Rumkowski’s ‘Presidial Secretariat’, later (until spring 1944) the Dworska Street Secretariat, also called Sekretariat Wołkówna
Dr
Wiktor Miller
, head of the health authorities in the ghetto (succeeded Dr Leon Szykier in the position)
Leon Rozenblat
, chief of the regular police force of the ghetto (known until September 1940 as HIOD, Hilfsordningsdienst), later overshadowed by the Sonderabteilung; held the largely symbolic position of ‘Deputy’ Elder of the Jews over an extended period of time
Shlomo Hercberg
, Chairman of
Forshtand Marysin
, classed for administrative purposes as a separate enclave within the ghetto; also commandant of the Central Jail and of District VI (the Marysin district) of the ghetto police. Deported from the ghetto and murdered with his whole family in March 1942
Aron Jakubowicz
, head of the Central Labour Office (Centraler Arbeits-Resort); taken from the Litzmannstadt ghetto to one of the special labour units set up by Hans Biebow in Sachsenhausen. Jakubowicz survived the war
Stanisław
(Szaja)
Jakobson
, Chairman of the Jewish Court in the ghetto; deported to, and murdered in, Auschwitz in August 1944
Dawid Warszawski
, head of the Central Tailoring Workshop; murdered in Auschwitz in 1944
Henryk Neftalin
, Head of the Department of Statistics and Population Registration (Meldeamt, statistische Abteilung) and the Archive; murdered in Auschwitz in 1944
Szmul Rosensztajn
, manager of the only printing works in the ghetto; in that capacity also appointed head of the Chairman’s ‘Propaganda Department’. Szmul Rozenztajn was also editor of the ‘Geto-Tsajtung’ that was published for the first nine months the ghetto was in existence
Dr
Michał Eliasberg
, the Chairman’s personal physician (was among the thirteen doctors recruited by Rumkowski in Warsaw, who came to Łódź in May 1941)
The Special Department
(Sonderkommando, known from September 1942 as the Sonderabteilung)
Dawid Gertler
, arrested in the ghetto on 12 July 1943
Marek
(Mordka)
Kligier
, appointed Gertler’s successor in July 1943
Rumkowski’s family
(and staff)
Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski
, Eldest of the Jews
Regina Rumkowska
(Ruchla), Rumkowski’s wife (married in December 1941)
Stanisław Rumkowski
(born Stern, 1927), adopted as Rumkowski’s son in September 1942
Józef Rumkowski
, Rumkowski’s brother
Helena Rumkowska
(Princess Helena), Józef Rumkowski’s wife, put in charge of soup kitchens and other communal feeding points in the ghetto after these were ‘nationalised’ (including those run by various parties, interest groups and voluntary aid organisations)
Jakub Tausendgeld
, lawyer, and entrusted with the management of the Rumkowski family’s ‘assets’, including Chaim Rumkowski’s private resources
Icek Fajnsztajn
, Princess Helena’s personal secretary
Dr
Herz Garfinkel
, Princess Helena’s personal physician
Lev Kuper
, head groom and coachman
Dana Koszmar
, housekeeper to the Rumkowski family
Estera
(Etka)
Daum
, secretary and chief telephonist at Rumkowski’s Secretariat at Bałuty square. She survived the ghetto and returned after the war to the city of Łódź. In 2008 her personal diaries were published in Poland
The Gnieźnieńska Street families
Ada Herszkowicz
, concierge, block supervisor
Adam Rzepin
, unskilled labourer
Lida Rzepin
, Adam’s sister
Szaja Rzepin
, Adam and Lida’s father
Lajb Rzepin
, Szaja Rzepin’s brother; employed at the time of the 1940 general strike at the cabinet-maker’s in Drukarska Street – subsequently informer and spy for the Sonderabteilung and Kripo
Hala Wajsberg,
niece of puppet-maker Fabian Zajtman
Samuel Wajsberg,
carpenter
Jakub
and
Chaim
, their children
Moshe
and
Rosa Pinczewski
Maria Pinczewska
, their daughter
Jakub
and
Rakel Frydman
Feliks
and
Dawid
, their children
Staff and children of the Green House
(the children’s home in Okopowa Street)
Dr
Józef Rubin
, superintendent
Malwina Kempel
, nursery nurse; also Dr Rubin’s secretary
Rosa Smoleńska
, nursery nurse
Dr
Adrian Zysman
, paediatrician
Chaja Meyer
, cook/housekeeper
Józef Feldman
, caretaker, boiler-man
Older children:
Debora Żurawska
Kazimir Majerowicz
(The Blackamoor)
Nataniel Sztuk
Mirjam Szygorska
(died February 1942)
Estera Lubińska
Natasza Maliniak
Adam Gonik
Stanisław Stern
(later Rumkowski)
Younger children:
twins
Abram
and
Leon Moserowicz
Dawid, Teresa, Sofie, Natan
(from Helenówek)
Liba
,
Chawa
(and others)
The Schulz family
(from the collective at 27 Franciszkańska Street)
Arnošt Schulz
, doctor
Irena Schulzová
(Maman), his wife
Věra Schulzová
, their daughter
Martin and Josef
(Josel) Schulz, their sons
The Archive
(technically a subdivision of the ghetto’s Department of Statistics)
Henryk Neftalin
, head of department and member of the ruling Council of Elders
Dr
Oskar Singer
, Dr
Oskar Rosenfeld
and
Alicja de Buton
(invisible in the text but present throughout as writers for the
Ghetto Chronicle
)
Aleksander
(Aleks)
Gliksman
, archivist
Rabbi (technically ‘engineer’)
Itzhak Einhorn
Pinkas Szwarc
, artist, graphic artist, set designer
Mendel Grossman
, photographer
Listeners in Brzezińska Street
Werner Hahn
,
Schmul Krzepicki
,
Moszje Bronowicz
, ‘the boy’
Shem
Labour brigade at Radogoszcz
Harry
(Herry)
Olszer
, ‘Verwaltungsleiter’ (engineer), in charge of the construction site at Marysin
Workers
Marek Szajnwald
,
Jankiel Moskowicz
,
Gabriel Gelibter
,
Simon Roszek
,
Pinkas Kleiman
,
Herz Szyfer
(and others)
The German station guard
(at Radegast station)
Oberwachtmeister
Dietrich Sonnenfarb
Lothar Schalz, Markus Henze
Thanks to Helge Axelsson Johnsons Stiftelse in Stockholm and to the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (IWM) in Vienna for grants and opportunities for writing and research.
Particular thanks to Dr Sascha Feuchert and his colleagues of Arbeitsstelle Holocaustliteratur at the Institut für Germanistik at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, and to the late Julian Baranowski of the city archives in Łódź, for allowing me access to as yet unedited sections of the
Ghetto Chronicle
and other unpublished material including official proclamations, photographs and correspondence.
The
Ghetto Chronicle
is now available in an unabridged, five-volume German edition of over three thousand pages in length, published in November 2007:
Die Chronik des Gettos Lodz/Litzmannstadt
(Wallstein Verlag). Its principal editors are Sascha Feuchert, Erwin Leibfried and Jörg Riecke, assisted by Dr Julian Baranowski, Joanna Podolska, Krystyna Radziszewska and Jacek Walicki. Thanks to the staff of the Vienna University Library (Departments of Judaism and Contemporary History) and to the Jewish Library in Stockholm; to Zbigniew Janeczek for permission to reproduce the map on p. vi.
Many thanks also to Andrea Löw, Dirk Rupnow and Klaus Nellen (Vienna); to Jakub Ringart and Artur Zonabend (Stockholm); thanks also to Magnus Bergh, Anders Bodegård, Sarah Death, Aimée Delblanc, Stephen Farran-Lee, Carl Henrik Fredriksson, Peter Fröberg Idling, Joakim Hansson, Dagmar Hartlová, Tora Hedin, Lars Jakobson, Mariusz Kalinowski, Lennart Kerbel, Charlotte Kitzinger, Gisela Kosubek, Irena Kowadło-Przedmojska, Ola Larsmo, Paul Levine, Magnus Ljunggren, Karin Lundwall, Johanna Mo, Birgit Munkhammar, Joanna Podolska, Helena Rubinstein, Björn Sandmark, Kaj Schueler, Caterina Pascual Söderbaum, Tomasz Zbikowski and Andrea Zederbauer for advice, recommendations, reading and help with translations, and much more.
To Katerina and Sasha.