Aniela Menkes Łódź Genealogy: a Polish-Jewish painter and her family

This article is part of an Aniela Menkes Łódź genealogy case study, reconstructing her family history through archival records, addresses, and property documents.

Aniela Menkes, Kompozycja figuralna, 1935. Collection of the Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi.

The story of Aniela Menkes was a Polish-Jewish painter and graphic artist associated with

the avant-garde art scene of interwar begins in Łódź - a city where family histories are preserved not only in vital records, but also in addresses, property registers, and scattered archival notes. Born on February 19, 1897, into a merchant family as the daughter of Dawid Stefan Łęczycki and Eugenia née Rozental, she belonged to a world that combined economic success with cultural aspirations.

This world - of an assimilated, well-established Jewish family - becomes visible when we begin with a single document: a marriage record from 1921.

From this document, we learn that Aniela lived at 35 Dzielna Street, while her future

husband, the lawyer Zygmunt Menkes, lived at 38 Dzielna Street, although he was officially registered in Białystok. Already at this stage, we see something more than just addresses - both families operated within the same urban space, in close proximity, within a well-to-do neighborhood.

Residence registration card of the Łęczycki family, State Archives in Łódź.

Further research leads us to residence registration cards, where at 35 Dzielna Street we find

the entire Łęczycki family: Dawid Stefan (sometimes recorded as Stefan Dawid), son of Markus - a merchant and property owner - his wife Eugenia née Rozental, born in Praszka, and their children: Pola, Halina, Aniela, Mirosław, and Zofia. Next to Pola, there is a note that after her marriage she moved to 20 Zielona Street. The children’s names - modern and secular - clearly point to a highly assimilated family, while the father’s profession and their place of residence indicate a high social and economic status.

This naturally raises a question:did the family own the building at 35 Dzielna Street?

The answer is yes.

Residents’ register for Dzielna 35, State Archives in Łódź.

Property records confirm that Dawid Łęczycki was the owner. It was a large, representative tenement house inhabited by factory owners, officials, and engineers - members of the urban elite. The Łęczycki family themselves lived in apartment no. 11.

At the same address, we also find a business registered under the name S.D. Łęczycki, which owned a sawmill in Krzemień, in the Łęczyca district. An official journal further reveals that Dawid and Eugenia signed a prenuptial agreement - a detail that opens another potential path of research in notarial records.

Property inventory record for Kilińskiego 35, State Archives in Łódź.

After Poland regained independence, Dzielna Street was renamed Narutowicza Street. This explains why Dawid Stefan Łęczycki’s burial record from 1927 lists the address as 35 Narutowicza. In the meantime, the property had been sold to Wacław Lachmanowicz for 200,000 złoty - a considerable sum, confirming the scale of the family’s wealth.

And yet, in the property inventory book, we still find entries referring both to the Łęczycki family and to Aniela and Zygmunt Menkes, showing continuity of presence at this address.

At the same time, Aniela’s personal and artistic life begins to take shape. After starting her artistic education in Warsaw under painters such as Stanisław Lentz and Wojciech Kossak, she married Zygmunt Menkes in 1921, interrupting her studies.

Marriage record of Moszek Mendel Menkes and Ruchla (Salinger/Zelinger), 1891, Suwałki.

A year later, their twin daughters - Janina and Alicja - were born.

The Menkes family lived at 35 Narutowicza - the same address already familiar from earlier records. In the 1930s, Aniela became actively involved in the artistic life of Łódź. Associated with the avant-garde circle around Władysław Strzemiński, she participated in exhibitions, co-created the journal Forma, and was a member of the Union of Polish Artists.

Her work - spanning painting, graphic art, and stage design - was part of the broader

development of modern art in Poland. She exhibited in Łódź, Warsaw, Kraków, and Lviv, and in 1937 traveled to Paris for the World’s Fair. This was a moment when we see her life in full - deeply rooted in Łódź, yet open to Europe.

Burial card of Dawid Stefan Łęczycki, State Archives in Łódź.

At the same time, we can trace the background of her husband’s family. Zygmunt Menkes was the son of Moszek Mendel (Moses), a merchant born in Białystok, and Ruchla née Salinger (also recorded as Zelinger), who came from Suwałki. Their marriage can indeed be found in Suwałki records - once again with a variation of the surname, so typical in genealogical research. The family lived in Łódź at 38 Dzielna Street, apartment 8, and documents also mention Zygmunt’s younger brother, Juliusz.

As with the Łęczycki family, we see here a highly assimilated family, with roots reaching into

the eastern territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

One question arises almost naturally:was this family related to Zygmunt Menkes? The coincidence of name and surname - relatively uncommon - may not be accidental.

The outbreak of World War II brings this story to an abrupt end.

Residence registration card of the Menkes family, State Archives in Łódź.

In 1939, Aniela and her family moved to Lviv, where she continued her artistic activity. This, however, is the last trace of normal life.

Aniela Menkes died in 1941 together with her family - most likely in a public execution. Moses Menkes died in the Łódź ghetto on May 21, 1940, at 9:00 p.m. Eugenia Łęczycka was murdered in the Kulmhof extermination camp.

From the Łęczycki family, descendants survived through the line of Pola, later Becker.

Most of Aniela Menkes’s artistic work was lost during the war. Only a few pieces have survived and can today be found in the collection of the Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi.

What has survived in far greater measure, however, are the traces preserved in archives -

addresses, names, signatures, and brief mentions in documents.

Death record of Mojżesz Menkes from the Łódź ghetto, State Archives in Łódź.

And it is precisely these fragments that allow us today to reconstruct a story that would otherwise have been completely lost.

A note for the genealogist

This story began with a single marriage record.

Then came an address. A property register. An official journal. A residence card. A mention of a prenuptial agreement.

Each of these elements, on its own, says very little. Together, they form a story - about a family, about wealth, about aspirations, about movement, and ultimately about loss.

If your research begins with only a name and a date - that is not the end of the story.Sometimes, all it takes is a single address to find it.