Founded in 1423, after the partions of Poland, the city came under Prussian rule in 1793 and was called Lodsch, and was incorporated with Russia in 1815. It became a part of the new independent Polish state again in 1918. During World War II, the German occupiers renamed the city Litzmannstadt.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the city was a major industrial centre. A number of German craftsmen and business owners founded factories and companies in Lodz. The provincial city of Lodz's issued dual-language documents, for example, a weaver-craftsmen guild document of 1842 states: Urzad Starszych Zgromadnemia haendor w Miecicie Lodzi... and Das Aeltesten Amt des Webergewerbe in der Provincial Stadt Lodz...
After World War II, under the new Communist regime, many industrialist families lost their fortunes as the companies were nationalised. After the period of economic transition in the coutry during the 1990s most of them were privatised again, but were in such a desolate state that few survived in the new capitalist reality.
The city is home to the University of Lodz[?] (Uniwersytet Łódzki).
External links :
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump