Łódź Jewish Cemetery

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Łódź Jewish Cemetery

The Jewish Cemetery in Łódź, Poland is among the largest of its kind in the world occupying an area of about 42 hectares and containing some 180,000 tombs and 65,000 tombstones. Zosia Zgolak and I paid a visit to the cemetery on 27 December 2017 and spent about an hour walking among the many tombstones and the occasional mausoleum. Although I was not quick enough to take a photograph, a highlight of the visit was seeing a red fox scamper through an overgrown section of the cemetery.

After our pleasant stroll among the dead, we headed to the city centre to become reacquainted with the living as we met with a few of Zosia's friends for dinner near Piotrkowska Street.

I feel like lying down somewhere... This room in the cemetery's funeral home appears to have been used for preparing corpses for burial.

I was kind of surprised that they allowed people to wander in and out of here freely. An elaborate window sits above the funeral home's entrance.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

McInnis & Holloway this ain't! This is the exterior of the funeral home.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

All are welcome!
Zosia stands in front of the cemetery's access gate.

All things must pass... Many of the headstones are covered in moss and on the verge of toppling over.

Very sad. Known as the "Ghetto Field", the south end of the cemetery contains some 45,000 Jews who died in the Łódź Ghetto during World War 2.

Nature eventually reclaims everything!
This part of the cemetery is completely overgrown with trees and bushes. Restoration work is currently ongoing.

I look kinda creepy in this photo...
A few mausoleums house the remains of some of Łódź's most influential businessmen and their families.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

A good resting place for Dracula--no crosses!
The largest mausoleum contains the tomb of Izrael Poznański, a textile magnate who was part of the industrial might of Łódź in the late 1800s.

Looks kinda like a portal to another dimension...
Sonny checks out a rather elaborate tomb.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

It's no fox, but the cat will do!
Just after leaving the cemetery, Sonny comes across a very friendly cat.
Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

And that's Zosia inside the donut hole at right!
This light display at the south end of Piotrkowska Street says, "I love Łódź".

	This room in the cemetery's funeral home appears to have been used for preparing corpses for burial.
	An elaborate window sits above the funeral home's entrance. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	This is the exterior of the funeral home. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Zosia stands in front of the cemetery's access gate.
	Many of the headstones are covered in moss and on the verge of toppling over.
	Known as the "Ghetto Field", the south end of the cemetery contains some 45,000 Jews who died in the Łódź Ghetto during World War 2.
	This part of the cemetery is completely overgrown with trees and bushes. Restoration work is currently ongoing.
	A few mausoleums house the remains of some of Łódź's most influential businessmen and their families. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	The largest mausoleum contains the tomb of Izrael Poznański, a textile magnate who was part of the industrial might of Łódź in the late 1800s.
	Sonny checks out a rather elaborate tomb. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Just after leaving the cemetery, Sonny comes across a very friendly cat. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	This light display at the south end of Piotrkowska Street says, "I love Łódź".