The position of the authorities regarding the establishment of a ghetto in Łódź was presented in a secret circular issued by Friedrich Uebelhoer, the President of the Region of Kalisz, dated December 10, 1939, in which he wrote that it was not possible to evacuate all the Jews from Łódź and therefore in the northern part of the city a ghetto would be created. The decision was not implemented until February, when the plan to deport the Jews from the territories annexed to the Reich to the General Government was ultimately abandoned.
The decree of the Chief of the Police, Johann Schaefer, dated February 8, 1940 and ordering a separate residential area for Jews to be designated in Łódź, was announced on February 9, 1940 in “Lodscher Zeitung”. It marked the general boundaries of the ghetto and included a detailed resettlement plan by districts.
The ghetto was located in the most neglected northern part of the city – Bałuty and the Old Town, within the area of 4.13 square kilometers. Excluded from the ghetto were thoroughfares, marked by the streets of Nowomiejska – Zgierska and Limanowskiego. This way, the ghetto was split into 3 parts. Initially, traveling between these parts was possible through specially constructed gates that opened at certain times. In the summer of 1940, footbridges were built on these streets – two over the streets of Zgierska near Podrzeczna and Lutomierska, and one on Limanowskiego Street near Masarska Street.
On April 30, 1940, around the ghetto and along the separated thoroughfare, a barbed wire fence was erected. The ghetto was cut off from the world.
