Diversity and Racism in Lodz

If you are moving to Łódź, Poland, from abroad, be prepared to sink deeply into the diversity, variability and complexity of the city’s and country’s culture and history. One of the biggest urban complexes in Poland, located right in its centre, has been dubbed “Polish Detroit” due to its industrial past and a resulting tragic fate during the economic transformation after the fall of communism in Central-Eastern Europe in 1989. Despite the indicators of social divisions engraved in the city’s structure, nowadays you can also marvel at its freshly revitalised districts, major artistic, scientific and infrastructural investments, as well as the growing technological sector. When in Łódź, prepare yourself for hours of walking around brick and steel post-factorial buildings, 19th-century villas and palaces of previous entrepreneurs, remnants of the Jewish ghetto from the Second World War, as well as famous movie plans known from some of the most prominent examples of past and present Polish cinema.