Izrael Poznański

Who was Izrael Poznański?

Izrael Kalmanowicz Poznański was a textile magnate and philanthropist in Łódź, and the husband of Elenora Hertz Poznański.

One of the most eminent entrepreneurs in the Russian-dominated part of Poland, Poznański was the son of a Jewish merchant of Kowal, who built up a textile empire and became, next to Karl/Karol Scheibler, the most important manufacturer of Łódź, a 'multicultural' city mainly populated by Poles and Germans. The bourgeoisie of these groups was described in Reymont's novel about Łódź The Promised Land, later filmed by Andrzej Wajda.

Since 1989, the city of Łódź has rediscovered its industrial heritage, a unique ensemble of architecture, preserved despite two World Wars. The sites linked to Poznański's memory are among the most prominent of the city: the huge factory buildings in Ogrodowa Street; the nearby Poznański Palace, today a museum; and Poznański's marble tomb in the Jewish cemetery, the biggest Israelite graveyard in Europe. Although Poznański was devout to the belief of his ancestors, the generous style of his grave monument is scarcely compatible with Jewish tradition, as that religion forbids any luxury for funerals and tombs.