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21.05.2021

A museum commemorating the victims of the German forced labor camp for Polish children to be established in Łódź

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport Professor Piotr Gliński, the Ombudsman for Children Mikołaj Pawlak and Director of the IPN’s Łódź Branch Office, Dariusz Rogut PhD signed a letter of intent concerning cooperation on the establishment of a museum commemorating the victims of the German forced labor camp for Polish children in Łódź – Kinder-KL Litzmannstadt 1942-1945.

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The Letter of Intent signed today aims to provide legal and institutional framework for the Polish State to commemorate the victims of the German forced labor camp for Polish children. The camp was run by the German occupation authorities from 11 December 1942 to 19 January 1945 at Przemysłowa Street in Łódź and held the official name of "Polen – Jugendverwahrlager der Sicherheitspolizei in Litzmannstadt" ("Kinder – KL Litzmannstadt").

The Parties expressed willingness to cooperate closely, while acknowledging the importance of building and sustaining social awareness of the crimes committed at the camp in Przemysłowa Street in Łódź, and recognizing the need to spread knowledge about its history and victims. The truth about shocking crimes committed against thousands of Polish children during the Second World War – held in detention, forced to work as slaves, tortured, starved, and as a result, driven to death – should never be forgotten. Thanks to this museum, the story of the camp will be preserved and passed on to the new generations.

At a press conference devoted to the signing of the Letter of Intent, Jarosław Szarek, President of the Institute of National Remembrance, said,

The process of creating a facility that will tell a moving story of the Przemysłowa camp has only started, but we are making up for decades of neglect this way . . . The German occupier violated all international agreements, but the most serious violation was that of the chivalric code, one of the basic principles of our civilization: you do not fight the defenseless women, children and the elderly. The camp in Przemysłowa Street is a place where once evil was victorious, but today, memory must prevail,

 

and added,

The place will bring back this moving story, and pay off the debt of oblivion to the youngest victims of World War II.

 

The initiative to establish a new cultural institution, the creation of which and financing the costs of its activities was declared by Deputy Prime Minister Gliński, will make it possible to put together the systemic activities of the Ministry of Culture, aimed at commemorating all victims of World War II, with the involvement of the Ombudsman for Children and the results of research on the history of the camp conducted so far by Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Office Branch in Łódź.

The Parties that signed the Letter of Intent declared that by taking steps to create a museum commemorating the victims of the German labor camp for Polish children in Łódź – Kinder-KL Litzmannstadt 1942-1945, they would also ask the Mayor of the City of Łódź for cooperation.

Detailed rules of cooperation between the Parties will be set out in the Arrangement to be concluded once the Museum is formally established.ead more on the German forced labor camp for Polish children in Łódź:

https://bit.ly/3f6xxWX

https://bit.ly/3ywBFYc


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