A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - ZYGMUNT BIŃKOWSKI
Tramcars criss-crossed the Łódź ghetto through the Zgierska, Limanowskiego, Franciszkańska, and Brzezińska Streets. The cars were locked and guarded, but the passengers could observe the daily life of those enclosed within the ghetto walls. The doors were secured before the tram entered ghetto and not opened back again until it left it. Zygmunt Bińkowski was only 18 in 1943, and couldn’t countenance the German tyranny towards the Jewish nation, towards his friends, acquaintances, and neighbours. Not long before, they had gone to school together, and now they were separated by walls. Zygmunt often used the guard’s momentary inattention to throw a food packet out of the moving tram. On that fateful day, he was spotted by a German Green Policeman. His boyish looks, delicate posture, and young age didn’t save Zygmunt from being arrested and imprisoned. When he was released a couple of months later, he was a wreck of a man and died of exhaustion mere days later.
