180 Adam Sitarek ghetto in the testimonies of poles and germans, inhabitants of litzmannstadt1 Afer the outbreak of World War II German troops already occupied Łódź on 8 September 1939. Tus began the German occupation of the city, which, by the decision of the Berlin authorities, was incorporated into the Reich in November 1939. As a symbolic gesture to highlight the new German nature of the city, its name was changed to Litzmannstadt, which honored the Ger- man national hero, an active Nazi, General Karl Litzmann. Te Jews who lived in the city played a particular role in the German occu- pation policy. From the frst days of the presence of the new authorities they were subjected to brutal repression. Tis applied to nearly all the aspects of life of that community. As a particular humiliation, the decree of the President of the Kalisz Authority District (Regierungsbezirk Kalisch) of 14 November 1939 ordered all Jews to wear recognition markings that subsequently took the form of yellow Stars of David sewn onto their outer clothes2. Other regulations applied, among others, to the confscation of bank savings, goods and enterpris- es owned by Jews, which resulted in sudden pauperization of the group, to the ban on changing their place of residence, to the dismissal of all Jewish employees from public institutions and to the ban on trade of certain goods by the Jews3. 1 Te text has appeared in Polish in the volume Łódź w latach 1939–1945, eds. T. Toborek, M. Trębacz, Łódź 2017. 2 I. Trunk, Łódź Ghetto. A History, transl. and ed. M. Shapiro, Bloomington 2008, pp. 10–11. 3 Łódź Ghetto/Litzmannstadt Getto 1940–1944, eds. J. Baranowski, S.M. Nowinowski, Łódź 2014, pp. 10–13; E. Wiatr, Sytuacja ludności żydowskiej w Łodzi w pierwszych miesiącach okupacji [in:] Łódź w 1939 r., eds. T. Toborek, P. Waingertner, Łódź 2011, pp. 285–290.