The German army marched into Łódź on September 8, 1939. Two months later, on November 9, 1939, it was officially announced that the city was annexed by the German Reich. Łódź became the tenth largest German city. The names of streets and squares were changed. German became the official language. Łódź, which was renamed Litzmannstadt in honor of General Karl von Litzmann, captor of Łódź during World War I and later a supporter of Nazism, was to become Judenrein – clean of Jews.
