Radegast in Łódź – a memorial site for the victims of the Holocaust

Writer: Helena Bergström

Updated: August 2026 | Radegast in Łódź was a railway station during World War II attached to the Litzmannstadt ghetto. From here, tens of thousands of people were deported to the Chełmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camps. Today, the old station is a memorial site and part of the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź. We visited the place during a trip through Poland – a powerful and important visit.

Radegast and the ghetto in Łódź

When Nazi Germany occupied Poland in 1939, Łódź had one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. The following year, a ghetto was established in the city, which the Germans renamed Litzmannstadt. It became one of the largest Jewish ghettos in occupied Europe.

Jews from Łódź and other parts of Europe were forced into the ghetto. Roma were also deported here. Conditions were terrible, with overcrowding, starvation, disease and forced labor.

Radegast, in German Radegast Bahnhof, became an important part of the transport system. People who were to be taken to the ghetto arrived at the station, but the place is most associated with the deportations from there. From 1942, people were sent on to, among other places, the Chełmno nad Nerem extermination camp, in German Kulmhof, and later to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Radegast became a place of deportations

Radegast was located on the outskirts of the ghetto and was originally used for freight transport. During the occupation, the station took on a central role for transport to and from the ghetto.

For the people deported from here, the station became the last place in Łódź. They were put on trains and transported to camps where the vast majority were murdered.

The memorial site at Radegast

Today, the preserved station is a memorial to the people who passed through Radegast during the Holocaust. Here you can find the old station building, the railway tracks and carriages, along with exhibitions and monuments that tell the story of the ghetto and the deportations.

It's not a big place to visit, but the setting makes the history tangible. Standing by the tracks and the wagons gives a different dimension to the story than just reading about the events.

The deportees' tunnel

A central part of the memorial site is Tunnel of the Deported, The Deportees' Tunnel, which was inaugurated as part of the memorial complex in 2004. The long concrete tunnel follows the direction of the railway and serves as a chronological narrative of the occupation and the ghetto.

Along the walls are dates, historical information and names that remind us of the people who were deported. The design is stripped-down and monumental and leads the visitor on towards the final parts of the facility.

Hall of Cities and the Memorial Column

At the end of the tunnel lies Hall of Cities, where the names of the cities from which Jews were deported to the ghetto are represented.

Above rises the 25-meter-high Column of Remembrance, shaped like a broken column – a symbol of life ended prematurely. At the entrance are the words ”You shall not kill”.

Our visit to Radegast

Radegast is not a place you leave untouched. What made the strongest impression on us was perhaps the combination of the concrete environment – the station, the tracks and the train carriages – and all the names and stories of the people who passed through here.

It is a difficult visit, but also a place that helps to make history understandable. For us, Radegast became an important part of the visit to Łódź.

Jewish cemetery in Łódź 

Not far from Radegast is the Great Jewish Cemetery in Łódź, one of the largest Jewish burial grounds in Europe. It was founded in 1892 and contains around 180,000 graves.

Among the most monumental tombs is the mausoleum of the industrial magnate Izrael Poznański. A part of the cemetery is called Ghetto Field and is the burial place for people who died in the ghetto during the German occupation.

When we visited Łódź it was Saturday and the cemetery was closed, so unfortunately we were unable to go in. Check current opening hours before visiting.

More to see and experience in Łódź 

Łódź is today a very nice and pleasant city, and there is much more to see and experience when you visit. You will find all our tips in our big guide.

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