The Book of Zgierz Volume II

<p><span style=color: rgba(32 33 34 1)>Zgierz is one of the oldest cities in central Poland with the earliest known mention dating back to 1231. </span><span style=color: rgba(87 87 87 1)>Jews first settled there in the mid-18</span><sup style=color: rgba(87 87 87 1)>th</sup><span style=color: rgba(87 87 87 1)> century. The town is about 73 miles from Warsaw and nine miles from Lodz. </span><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In the years prior to the Second World War Zgierz was a city of about 40000 people of which 5000 were Jews. About 80% of the Jewish population were employed in the textile industry. The others were involved with trade and business.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The pages of this book Volume II are a supplement to the first Yizkor book of Zgierz that was published eleven years earlier in 1975. The editors of the first book announced their intention at the time to find a home for the large amount of material that remained unused in their hands.</span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Its chapters brim with memories stories and personal testimonies regarding communal life the town's glorious past and the horrors of the Holocaust. The book begins with Chapters of History followed by an exploration of Orthodox Zgierz strongly dominated by Hassidic traditions and culture. Memories abound in the sections that include Sketches of Personalities and Characters and Folklore. The accounts in the section on Holocaust and Destruction are a continuation of that section in the first book.</span></p>