A certain Łódź stereotype emerged, reinforced by the atmosphere of nearby towns, led by Zgierz and its gypsy pseudo-palaces, the huge clothing market in Rzgów, the depressing atmosphere of the blockhouses and disused old post-factory buildings of Pabianice. Opinions went around the world, such as the famous one by Boguslaw Linda in 2015, who publicly said of Lodz that "it's a dead city, a city of menels." One can also observe such a version of Lodz, without much difficulty, this is a fact. The film world is indeed strongly affected by the situation of Lodz - may film industries return to the city and revive traditions worthy of the golden days of the industry. Let's hope so.
The evangelical church in Pabianice is a reminder that the entire metropolis was a multicultural community
© Pabianice City Hall
Looking for the darker sides of Lodz's soul, we must go to Bałuty. This district, always the most neglected part of the city, cast down into the abyss of hell by the dark history of the ghetto, famous for its chilling criminal traditions, has echoed an exceptionally bad reputation. The history of Bałuty as a sinister neighborhood is not only the result of wartime trauma, for it reaches far back into pre-war times. Already before World War II, the neighborhood was ruled by the notorious Blind Maks. Blind Maks was a Jewish gangster, he lost one eye in a duel with a standoff - a policeman, the murderer of his father. Menachem Bornsztajn - for that was his real name - was an athletically built brute who knew how to exploit his qualities. He managed to build an efficient criminal organization engaged in debt collection, racketeering, robbery and all sorts of wickedness. Interestingly, for many years Blind Max was elusive to the justice system. In his own way, he was also a social sensitive and divided much of the loot he acquired among the local poor, which ensured him both popularity and impunity. This all took place in the Baluch prewar realities - an ocean of poverty and an unjust world in which everyone had to manage life on their own somehow. No matter how. The story of Blind Maks is like a script for a good thriller film, and who knows, maybe one day such a film will be made in Lodz. Menachem survived the war and was still present in the Lodz community for a long time afterwards, supposedly as a simple watchman or receptionist.
After the war, as I mentioned earlier, the Balut community was "strengthened" by the mass of resettlement. As in other places with a similar history - this condemned this area of the city to several decades of facing numerous pathologies, characteristic of recovered lands or areas previously settled by other nations, and replaced by a population often unable to read or write, who had to start all over again in a new place for them.
The so-called Castle, a defensive mansion of the Krakow chapter from the 16th century, is one of the components of today's Pabianice identity
© Pabianice City Hall
