Lodz

This is the story of the city of Lodz, Poland from a geographical and historical perspective. It was published in 1966 as an expanded version of the author's 1932 doctoral thesis. First, the topography is shown to be ideal for the development of a city. Several streams, the Balutka, Lodka, Jasien and Dombrowka, rush down from the heights to the east. These would provide the power for the water mills of the textile industry for which Lodz later became famous. Secondly, the book details the late Middle Ages settlement pattern for much of this western area of today's Poland. The local Piasten rulers needed settlers and they were happy to offer their land to German farmers. The German settlers used more advanced farming techniques, such as three-field crop rotation. The villages they received had rights patterned after German village rights. Thus Lodz, which belonged to the Diocese of Wolborz, was established according to Magdeburg law in 1423. Many waves of German settlement followed. Polish settlers were also welcomed. Thirdly, the book describes the rise of Lodz to a world center of the textile industry beginning in the early 1800's. This economic wonder was due not only to the topography, but also to the concentration in Lodz of a well-functioning web of spinners, weavers and cloth makers, dyers, printers, peddlers, wholesalers, clerks, factory owners, teachers and ministers - many of whom were German. A substantial Jewish population was also engaged in all levels of trade. Jews were first allowed to live in Lodz, in the Altstadt only, after the city passed to Prussia in 1798. Growth throughout the 1800's was accompanied by ever larger factories, the elimination of any cottage production and eventually, the impoverishment of the workers. The author mourns the passing of "his" Lodz, but the book stops short of WWII.