The Chronology
of the Radogoszcz Prison

November 9, 1939

People arrested as part of an operation against the Łódź intelligentsia are placed in the former Michał Glazer’s factory in Radogoszcz (today’s 17 Liściasta Street). Many of the detained, after provisional trials, are sentenced to death and murdered in mass executions in the forests near Łódź.

The former Michał Glazer’s factory in Radogoszcz, the place of detainment of the Polish intelligentsia (photograph by Mateusz Jaśkiewicz, Museum of Independence Traditions).

The former Michał Glazer’s factory in Radogoszcz, the place of detainment of the Polish intelligentsia (photograph by Mateusz Jaśkiewicz, Museum of Independence Traditions).

December 1939 r.

A resettlement camp for the displaced from, for example, the Montwiłł-Mirecki Estate in Łódź, is established in the former Samuel Abbe’s factory (today’s 147 Zgierska Street).

The Montwiłł-Mirecki Estate in Łódź.
National Digital Archives, ref. no. 3/1/0/9/3831

January 1940

Prisoners are transferred from the former Michał Glazer’s factory to Samuel Abbe’s factor. The Radogoszcz prison (Polizeigefängnis Radogosch) is created. Its warden in SS-Obersturmführer Robert Ehlers. At the time, the staff mostly consists of SS members.

The staff of the Radogoszcz prison from January to July 1940, Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-10780

May 1940

A large-scale operation against the Polish intelligentsia and youth is carried out in Łódź and the region.

At the time, most of the arrested from Radogoszcz are deported to the Dachau camp.

The concentration camp in Dachau (Konzentrationslager Dachau). National Digital Archives, ref. no. 3/1/0/17/12483

July 1, 1940

The Radogoszcz prison comes under the Police Praesidium in Łódź. Police lieutenant Walter Pelzhausen becomes the new warden. From now on, the prison staff includes local Volksdeutsche, and the prison becomes transitional.

The staff of the Radogoszcz Extended Police Prison with warden Walter Pelzhausen (sitting in the middle). Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-4136

August / September 1940

The Radogoszcz prison is altered: the fence is made higher and barbed-wire entanglements are added; four guard towers are built; the building “under the glass roof” is converted into a prison building, which involves dismantling the remaining textile machines.

The fence of the former Radogoszcz Extended Police Prison. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-4615/17

September 1, 1940

Alfreda Rytel née Siewierska gets sworn as a member of the Union of Armed Struggle by the Commander of the Łódź-North Quarter of the Union of Armed Struggle/Home Army Wacław Górecki, pseudonym Wacek. From her home adjacent to the walls of the Radogoszcz prison, she and her sister conduct observations, and then share them with the underground organisation. She also delivers kites thrown over the prison wall by prisoners to their families.

A kite of Józef Sobczak, October 24, 1940. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. A-10933

March 20, 1942

Execution of 100 Poles in Zgierz – the largest public execution in the Wartheland. The executed include Radogoszcz prisoners. Walter Pelzhausen attends the event.

The monument in memory of the 100 executed in Zgierz. The public domain.

April 1, 1942

As a punishment for stealing two loaves of bread, warden Walter Pelzhausen executes nine prisoners, even though only two of them were proven guilty. This is the largest execution in the Radogoszcz prison before its liquidation in January 1945.

List of people murdered in the execution on April 1, 1942 r.
Antoni Józef
born 13.03.1923
Adamus Hieronim
born 31.01.1918
Jędrzejewski Czesław
born 19.09.1917
Kisielewski Zdzisław
born 11.11.1918
Lauch Bolesław
born 15.04.1907
Niewiadomy Stefan
born 02.03.1918
Stala Antoni
born 23.04.1919
Wasiela Eugeniusz
born 12.09.1913
Żukowski Stefan
born 01.08.1905

August 1942

Members of the Polish Socialist Party, arrested on November 11, 1941, are brought to Radogoszcz.

August / September 1942

A football player of RTS Widzew Longin Mielczarek is murdered in prison.

August / October 1942

As a result of a massive operation against the Łęczyca Division of the Home Army, many of its members are brought to the Radogoszcz prison, including a lawyer and author of Radogoszcz memoirs Władysław Zarachowicz.

Prisoners in the assembly square of the Radogoszcz Extended Police Prison. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-4821

November 1942

The building “under the glass roof” is altered: the shower room and the hospital part, moved from the four-storey building, get reorganised.

The bath house room after the bathroom fittings were dismantled. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. A-10585/008

January / February 1943

The prison faces a six-week epidemic of typhus fever. The facility is put into a quarantine: there are no incoming transports and the entire staff have to stay in prison.

The abandoned sick ward in the grounds of the Radogoszcz Extended Police Prison. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-4615/11

March 1943

Prisoners are classified into cells according to the crime committed:
3rd floor – political prisoners,
2nd floor – criminal prisoners,
1st floor – prisoners of German descent.

Prisoners in the assembly square of the Radogoszcz Extended Police Prison, a photograph taken in January 1942. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-12713

December 31, 1943

Eugeniusz Lisiak, pseudonym Topór, one of the founders and member of the youth underground organisation “Promieniści”, dies in Radogoszcz .

Eugeniusz Lisiak, pseudonym Topór. The public domain

January 17/18, 1945

The Radogoszcz staff liquidate the facility. Approximately 1,000 prisoners die in mass shootings and as a result of setting the building on fire. Only thirty-one people survive the massacre.

Bodies of prisoners murdered during the liquidation of the prison on the night of January 17, 1945. Museum of Independence Traditions, ref. no. I-4615/27

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