In the Streets. The (Non-)Everyday Life in the City of Łódź during the Great War

Abstract

In this essay, I demonstrate how extraordinary was, in fact, the ordinary life in Łódź from the autumn of 1914 to the autumn of 1918, as illustrated by the texts in Nowy Kurjer Łódzki and Nowa Gazeta Łódzka, the two Polish-language daily newspapers issued in the city. I focus on the actions which, once considered everyday, i.e. ordinary and even routine, entered into the field of extraordinariness and created new norms and new routines, or even took control, as a result. I am interested in only those practices and events which unfold in the city space, outside the home and family, i.e. in the areas associated with general accessibility to all the residents.