"Enzyklopädie des Gettos Lodz/Litzmannstadt" - Edition and commentary

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jörg Riecke (†)
• Subject Area: Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: from 2015 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 270490690

The Lodz Getto is one of the largest Gettos from the time of National Socialism and mainly Jews from German cities, Luxemburg, Vienna and Prague were deported there. Scientific research about the Getto has only started to pick up in the last couple of years. The deported produced despite most difficult circumstances written bodies of work. The Encyclopedia of the Lodz Getto belongs to the group of textual evidence that facilitates conclusions about the life and death of the inhabitants of the Getto and shows how the people of the Getto processed their experiences. Besides scientifically annotated editions of the partly published diary of Oskar Rosenfeld and the Gettos chronicle, which were sponsored by the DFG, there is a third, unpublished text, the Encyclopedia of the Lodz Getto. Only the publication of all three works allows a comprehensive understanding of life within the Getto. Oskar Rosenfelds goal is to offer a direct approach to the events taking place in the Getto and the chronicle portrays the narrative of the events. However, the authors of the encyclopedia attempt to show the sum of the events taking place and the forms of life, which result thereof. Because of the unclear and complex origin of the encyclopedia there were extensive preliminary studies necessary in order to classify the type of text. Thus working on the annotated edition of the encyclopedia can commence only at this point in time. The encyclopedia consists of records of persons, institutions and linguistic characteristics of the Getto and is carried by the idea to gain an understanding of the characteristic language of the Getto, which should ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of life in the Getto. In order to uncover the circumstances under which the authors were writing, the current and most relevant research regarding the Lodz Getto needs to be compiled.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Sascha Feuchert; Dr. Markus Roth