JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. MANUFAKTURA SHOPPING CENTER. LODZ/POLAND

Wednesday, Sivan 16, 5779. June 19, 2019.

Shalom! World.

Manufaktura Shopping Center.

Address: Drewnowska 58. Lódz. Poland.

Rumble of machines at work, clouds of steam and human buzz. At the end of the 19th century on the site of  today's Manufaktura, a  huge factory operated, the biggest in the Kalisz  and Mazowsze industrial area. 

The tale about its power begins in 1835, when the Jewish Family of Kalman Poznanski moved from Aleksandrow Lodzki to  Lódz. Kalman, a Merchant, had a shop in the Old Town Sqaure, offering spices and goods sold by the cubit, he also built the first two-storey tenemment house there. Over a  dozen years later, he handed the family business over to his son, Izrael, who was very apt at seizing every opportunity given at the time by Lódz, wich was transforming from a sleepy little town into  a multi-cultural, European metropolis, vibrant with life.

The new stage in the factory history came after  the World War II. Nationalized Cotton Products Company No. 2, dedicated to Julian Marchlewski and then given a trade name "Poltex", were in full  swing during a  few decades, co-creating the legend of  textile Lódz and giving thousands city residents jobs.

1990s and the system transformation period brought many bankruptcies. Also the panat on Ogrodowa Street did not avoid the crisis.  The complex, put into liquidation, was deteriorating, until a few years later, at the turn of a new century, na innovative, grand vision emerged to revive the factory complex as a  whole, as it was  then divided into smaller companies. The author  of this concept was Mieczyslaww Michalski,  na expert economista and a man of  passion, was as the presidente of Poltex's board found partners ready to breath new life into this unique post-industrial space. In 2003 the company Apsys Polsk commenced construction Works at  the  site of  the  former I.K. Poznanski factory, related to the biggest revitalization  undertaking in Poland. Three years later, on May 17th, Manufaktura was put into use, quickly becoming the most importante site on tourist, cultural and comercial maps of Lódz.

Shalom! Aleichem.

Cultural Support: Jacob Jr. Benleumi Advisory, Consulting and Education.  International Relations Analyst.