Radogoszcz Prison Museum

The Radogoszcz Prison Museum marks one of the most harrowing sites in a city that saw extraordinary suffering during the Second World War. The factory building was used by the German occupiers as a prison, holding Polish political prisoners and members of the resistance. Today the ruins of the burned-out building, preserved as found, house a memorial and exhibition about the prison and its victims.

It is not an easy visit, but it is an important one for understanding what the occupation of Łódź — which the Germans renamed Litzmannstadt — actually meant for the people who lived through it. The memorial is in the northern part of the city, some distance from the centre, but reachable by tram.

things to do museum sight
A story
On the night of 17–18 January 1945, as Soviet forces approached Łódź, the German guards of the Radogoszcz prison set fire to the building with approximately 1,500 prisoners locked inside. Only a handful survived by jumping from windows or playing dead. It was the last mass killing by the Germans in Łódź, committed hours before liberation. The burned-out shell of the building was preserved as a monument.

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