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At the beginning of the
20th century, the city of Lodz was a vibrant Jewish center.
Some 233,000 Jews—one third of all the residents of Lodz—lived in this
industrial city, the second largest in Poland, on the eve of the outbreak
of WWII. The Jewish community in Lodz established many types of schools,
yeshivot, theaters and sports clubs. In the period between the two
world wars, no less than six (!) daily Yiddish newspapers were published
in Lodz. Almost one half of the
Jewish residents worked in industry, which led to the development of a
vibrant and self-aware Proletarian Jewish sector in the city, contributing
to the unique character of the city’s wider community.In Lodz, religious and
non-religious Jews, Zionists and secularists, socialists, revisionist and
liberals lived side by side. The wealth and heterogeneity in Jewish
culture and in worldviews found expression in the city’s political and
public activities, as well as in the wide variety of youth movements. No
less than 15 youth movements (it is possible this number was even larger)
were operating in Lodz on the eve of WWII. The largest of them were the
Zionist youth movements, but even the Zukunft —the youth movement of the
“Bund”—and the “Communists” took a hold in the hearts of many.
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Members of the “Borochov” training kibbutz in Lodz, 1936
(click
to enlarge) |
Membership card of Bnei
Akiva, Lodz, 1935
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to enlarge) |
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The outlook of the various
youth movements differed from each other, sometimes even in a polar fashion, but
they were all occupied in local cultural and social activities, and were
dedicated to developing self-awareness, responsibility and leadership among the
youth.
Also operating in Lodz was the
“Hechalutz” (Pioneering) center – to which all the pioneering youth movements
belonged, and which was not conditional on prior membership in a youth movement.
The pinnacle of “Hechalutz” in Lodz was the Borochov training Kibbutz, which was
situated in the center of the city’s industrial area. In its eight years of
existence (1931-39), hundreds of pioneers emmigrated from the kibbutz to
Eretz Yisrael.
Principal Youth Movements
Operating in Lodz on the eve of WWII
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