My great grandfather and his family traveled to Poland from Barmen-Elberfeld in the Rhineland probably in the 1880's to set up weaving factories.
The following is from our family story: "Opa used to say that when he was about 14 his father was invited by the Russian-Polish government to come and help set up weaving factories, as they were going to establish this industry, and the whole family went to Lodz in Poland. The family consisted of the Hettling parents, Opa, the eldest, then his brothers Hermann and Emil, and his sister Hulda. The father apparently travelled around Lodz instructing and helping set up the weaving factories, and the family lived in Lodz."
Does anyone have information about this or know where I can obtain it? This is just curiosity at this point as I am
The development of the industry in the 19th century Łódź was to a great extent. Within a hundred years it changed from a village of less than a thousand people to half a million industrial centre.
That's where the term Lodzermenschen comes
de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodzermensch
In popular culture it's the topic of the novel and then film The Promised Land. It tells a story of three friends a Pole, a German and a Jew trying to set up their own factory.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Promised_Land_(novel)
Łódź was also pretty multicultural with Poles, Jews, Germans and Russians and their respective cultures and religions.
You may try contacting the state archives in Łódź for information about your family's metrical records as for their work experience I'm not sure the archives may find it easy if you don't know where he worked but that information might be in the church records assuming your family members were born, married and died there. Usually only their social status is mentioned though.
