Artur Szyk's birthplace — between Łódź (Lodz) and Połock
- JewishLodz
- Mar 27
- 3 min read
The birthplace of Artur Szyk is generally given as Łódź. However, archival records from Łódź reveal a more complex picture, with repeated references to Połock.
Artur Szyk is today remembered as one of the most distinctive Jewish artists of the 20th century — an illustrator and miniaturist whose work gained international recognition, particularly in the United States.
But to understand his story, it is worth returning to its beginnings — to his family and to the archival records preserved in Łódź.
Artur was born into a well-established Jewish family. His father, Salomon Szyk, was a textile industrialist, part of the industrial landscape that shaped the city of Łódź at the turn of the 20th century. His life, however, was not without drama. Archival files preserved in the State
Archives in Łódź document an attack in which he lost his eyesight — a reminder that personal histories often leave traces in unexpected administrative records.
Both Salomon and Artur appear in the lists of members of the Jewish community in Łódź, registered under the same address:
Cegielniana 15, apartment 7 — the house of Jakub Braun.
The entries are brief, but highly informative.Salomon is described as a textile industrialist,
while Artur appears as an artist painter.
Next to each name, a number indicates the non-earning members of the household (ilość członków rodziny niezarobkujących). This seemingly small detail adds another layer to the record — it allows us to glimpse not only who lived at this address, but also how the family was structured economically.
Across different types of records, the same address appears again and again, anchoring the Szyk family firmly in the urban landscape of Łódź.
And yet, within these same records, something unexpected appears. For both father and son, the place of birth is given as:
Połock (Vitebsk region).
This raises an immediate question: what was Artur Szyk’s birthplace? Was it outside Łódź?
Because when we turn to civil records, we find something else entirely. A birth record registered in Łódź clearly documents his birth in the city.
In other documents, however, the pattern continues. A registration card shows Artur living in Łódź with his wife, Idesa Likerman, and their son Jerzy also recorded as Żorż (and Georg in his birth certificate from 1917). And once again, the place of birth given for Artur is Połock.
This repetition suggests that it was not a mistake, but a consistent declaration.
Such discrepancies are not uncommon in Jewish genealogical research in Łódź. Places of birth may shift between documents, and surname spellings — as in the case of Szyk, Schyck, or Szykk — often vary depending on language and context.
Rather than treating this as a contradiction to be resolved, it may be more accurate to see it as part of a broader historical reality.
Archival records do not always offer a single, coherent narrative.Instead, they reveal layers:
between official registration and personal declaration,between Łódź and Połock,between what was recorded and what was remembered.
Jewish genealogy in Łódź — what to look for
If you are researching Jewish families from Łódź, similar patterns are common:
multiple spellings of the same surname
repeated addresses across different documents
conflicting places of birth
These are not obstacles, but clues.
They are often the starting point for deeper archival research — especially in collections such as Jewish community records, civil registers, and registration cards preserved in the State Archives in Łódź.
If you are researching Jewish families from Łódź, similar cases are common.
You can start with the free indexes or contact me for guidance in locating specific archival records: info@jewishlodz.com .