Detailed scale model of Łódź Ghetto created by a resident and recovered postwar
Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Model of Łódź Ghetto created by Leon Jacobson. He began the model after arriving in the Ghetto following his release from a prisoner of war camp in April 1940. The streets and blocks and all other built elements that appear in the model are in the exact locations of those in Łódź Ghetto before it was destroyed. The houses were painted in the original colors. The model is highly detailed and includes some of the official badges of office issued by the Ghetto administration. The official seals used inside the case were used on all official documents. The Ghetto was highly organized and the seals were found on individual enterprises, factories and offices in the ghetto. There are representations of the scrip designed and printed for ghetto use. Łódź Ghetto was evacuated in August 1944, and Leon and the other residents were sent to Auschwitz concentration camp. Leon wrapped the model in tar paper and buried it in a metal trunk in the basement of his building, Brzezinska #5, which was destroyed. After the war ended in May 1945, Leon discovered that his brothers also had survived. He gave them the location of the model and they found and dug it out of the building rubble and brought it to him in Germany. Jacobson later brought it to the United States.
- Date
-
depiction:
1940
- Geography
-
depiction:
Litzmannstadt-Getto (Łódź, Poland);
Łódź (Poland)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Jacobson and Cifarelli families
- Contributor
-
Artisan:
Leon Jacobson
Physical Details
- Classification
-
Architectural Elements
- Category
-
Architectural drawings and models
- Object Type
-
Scale models (aat)
- Physical Description
- black case, with handle, in shape of Łódź Ghetto. The case holds a scale (1:5000) model of the ghetto, made of scrap wood. Included are streets, painted houses, bridges, churches, synagogues ruins, factories, cemeteries, and barbed wire around the edges, also made from scrap wood. The case interior is lined with a collection of official seals, a ration card, and paper scrip in all denominations. The case exterior is covered with metal coins.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 21.500 inches (54.61 cm) | Width: 33.250 inches (84.455 cm) | Depth: 26.125 inches (66.358 cm)
- Materials
- overall : wood, paper, metal, cloth
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The model was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1996 by Leon Jacobson, Ann Jacobson Cifarelli, and Jack Jacobson.
- Record last modified:
- 2022-07-28 18:23:18
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11324
