The Centre for Jewish Studies was established on July 1, 2005, at the Institute of History of the University of Łódź. Since 2023, the Centre has been named after Philip Friedman, a world-renowned Holocaust scholar born in Lviv in 1901 who also had ties to Łódź.

The Centre’s mission is to conduct research on the history of Jews in Poland. Its research activities focus primarily on the 19th and 20th centuries, a focus largely dictated by the specific characteristics of the Łódź region. The history of the Łódź ghetto and the German occupation of Łódź and the surrounding region holds a special place in the research conducted by the Center’s team.

The Centre for Jewish Studies carries out research and publishing projects in collaboration with academic institutions in Poland and abroad.

The Center’s achievements to date include the publication of the five-volume source collection: Chronicle of the Łódź Ghetto/Litzmannstadt Ghetto 1941–1944, the Encyclopedia of the Ghetto, and a series of monographs and scholarly articles. Additional sources on the history of the Łódź Ghetto are being published on an ongoing basis.