Lili Giske - A Jewish Family History in the Archives of Lodz
The testimony of Lili Giske brings us back to prewar Lodz - to family life, work, addresses, and the everyday reality of a Jewish family deeply rooted in the city. In her interview, she speaks about her parents, her siblings, the factory, and later about the years spent in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto.
Listening to her story, one naturally asks: what can the archival documents tell us about this family?
As it turns out - quite a lot.
The film interview with Lili Giske, conducted by Dariusz Bargiel, is embedded below.
Północna 25 - Work and Home
One of the key places in Lili’s recollections is her father’s factory producing cotton wool and padding. Archival sources confirm that Szmul Giske’s factory was located at Północna 25 in Lodz.
This address appears repeatedly in the records. The building belonged to Aron Dawid Giske, Szmul’s father, who died in 1929. His death certificate and burial record confirm both the date of his passing and the family’s long-standing connection to this part of the city.
Aron Dawid Giske (son of Mojżesz) was born in 1875 in Lutomiersk. In 1893, in Ujazd, he married Ita Kupfersztoch. Their marriage record allows us to move one generation further back.
The Kupfersztoch Family
Ita, born in 1877 in Bielawy, was the daughter of Rabbi Icek Lejb Kupfersztoch and Estera Laja Hiller (both are burried in Lodz cemetery).
This detail connects the Giske family with another well-documented Lodz family line. Ita was the sister of Tauba Kupfersztoch, later the wife of Jakub Kałowski.
Through these family connections, the Giske and Kupfersztoch families were closely related to Ela and Jerzyk Wojdyslawski.
Read more 👉https://www.jewishlodz.com/post/one-letter-from-the-łódź-ghetto-reconstructing-the-history-of-the-wojdysławski-family
By placing birth and marriage records, residence cards, and death certificates side by side, it becomes possible to reconstruct dates, places of birth, and family relationships with precision.
A single document rarely tells the whole story.Several documents, compared carefully, begin to reveal structure and continuity.
The 1917 Residence Card
A residence registration card from around 1917 records Dawid Giske, described as a merchant, living at Północna 25 with his wife Ita and their daughters:
Fajga (later Rozenfeld)
Chaja (later Kaminer)
Szmul does not appear on this card because he had already established his own household.
Born in 1894 in Ujazd, Szmul married Roza Perle in Lodz in 1915. Roza, born in 1897 in Zgierz, came from a family that before the war lived at Pańska 24 in Lodz. Around 1917, the Perle family left the city, possibly returning to Zgierz.
Szmul and Roza first lived at Północna 25, later moving to number 16 on the same street. Their residence card lists two children: Chaim and Ruchla Toba.
The documents allow us to follow the family step by step - address by address.
The Ghetto Documentation
In the records of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, the family appears once more.
Szmul and Roza Giske are listed at Sulzfelder Street 41 with their children:
Jochewet
Chaim-Mojżesz
Sara-Lea (Lili)
Małka
Living with them was also Zysa, born in 1939, the daughter of one of Lili’s sisters.
The documentation also records Szmul’s sister, Fajga Rozenfeld, with her family. It was with them that Ita Giske, Lili’s grandmother, lived until her death in 1942.
Archival Research and Living Connections
The research did not end with identifying documents. By comparing multiple sources - marriage acts, death certificates, burial cards, residence registrations, factory records, ghetto documentation and other documents - it was possible not only to enrich Lili’s family history with preserved archival materials, but also to reconstruct broader kinship networks.
The Kupfersztoch line, carefully traced through the records, led to living relatives.
Today, through this reconstruction, Lili has more cousins in Australia, Belgium, Spain, Israel, and Poland.
Archival work sometimes restores more than dates and addresses.It restores connections.
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