“The considerations of order, sanitation, and economy make it necessary to place the Jewish population of Krakow in a Jewish residential area, organised in a designated part of Krakow”[1.1] – thus the establishment of the Kraków Ghetto was justified in the decree issued by Governor of the Krakow District Otto Gustav von Wächter on 3 March 1941. First attempts to resettle Jews from Krakow – the capital of the General Government – were made as early as the spring of 1940. It is estimated that ca. 50,000 Jews were deported from the town in the period between the autumn of 1940 and the spring of 1941. They were transported to various localities situated primarily in the Krakow district, but also in the districts of Lublin and Radom.

The Krakow Ghetto was located in the Podgórze district, not in the area of Kazimierz, where the majority of Krakow Jews lived. The neglected, poorly modernised area designated for the ghetto spanned ca. 20 ha. It contained ca. 3,176 rooms, which, taking into consideration the total number of ghetto inhabitants, meant that an average of five to six, and in some cases even more than ten persons lived in each room. Some of the buildings were dilapidated and not equipped with toilets. All local Jews were forced to move to the ghetto, while Poles living in the area were ordered to leave their homes by 20 March 1941.

The area of the ghetto was limited from the north by the Vistula River and Plac Zgody. Rękawka Street marked its southern border. From the east it was limited by the following streets: Tarnowska (today’s Limanowskiego), Lwowska, Janowa Wola, and Traugutta (the latter was not included in the area of the ghetto). The western part of the district was adjacent to the Podgórze Market Square. The ghetto had four entrance gates; the main one, with the inscription “Jewish Quarter,” was located at the Podgórze Market Square. Over time, the area was surrounded by a high wall with a semi-circular top.

The census carried out in May 1941 showed that there were 10,873 people living in the ghetto: 5,839 women and 5,034 men. The official statistics did not include Jews who remained in hiding inside the district for various reasons, for instance due to not having appropriate residence permits. In late September and early October 1941, subsequent groups of Jews from the surrounding communities, incorporated to Krakow in May 1941, were sent to the ghetto. Their exact number is unknown. According to subsequent censuses, in January 1942 the ghetto was inhabited by 16,310 Jews (7,551 men and 8,759 women), and in April 1942 – by 17,163 people (7,726 men and 9,437 women)[1.2]. At its height, before the deportation of Jews to the death camp in Bełżec in June 1942, the ghetto had as many as 19,000–20,000 prisoners.

Despite the ban on leaving the ghetto, difficult sanitary conditions, limited living space, and the obligation of forced labour, the Jews living in the closed district sought to recreate the infrastructure and institutions which had existed before its creation. Workplaces, public health institutions, hospitals, and pharmacies were opened inside the ghetto. One of such establishments – the “Pod Orłem” pharmacy – was run by a Pole, Tadeusz Pankiewicz. Among other institutions operating in the Jewish quarter were a post office, a bathhouse, shops, and restaurants. Secret education and religious life started to develop. Concerts and charity events were organised on a regular basis for those in need, mainly orphans, the elderly and the sick. These events were a substitute for cultural life.

The years of occupation resulted in numerous divisions within the Jewish community living in the Krakow Ghetto. Those with more financial resources or useful connections tried to maintain their usual way of life or sought opportunities to get out of the ghetto. Others lived day to day, not thinking about the future. Some people devoted their time and energy to helping those who were worse off, while others preferred to protect their own interests, often at the expense of their fellow citizens. Members of the Ordnungsdienst and Judenrat enjoyed a number of privileges. They were therefore able to offer help or hide people, but also had the possibility of persecuting other inhabitants of the ghetto. Many Jewish policemen, including Chief Symche Spira, were remembered as those responsible for preparing and checking lists of people during deportations to death camps, beating people up, dragging them out of their flats and hiding places, and securing the ghetto during deportation campaigns.

During the first period of the ghetto’s operation, Dr. Artur Rosenzweig was the chairman of the Judenrat. He took over the post after the arrest of former chairman Dr. Marek Biberstein. Pankiewicz recalled that Rosenzweig was “a highly decent, intelligent men with clean hands, lawyer by profession, able to think critically”[1.3]. He was a representative of the ghetto’s intellectual elite, a man of high personal culture, who followed the German rules while avoiding to make any questionable deals with the occupier.

The end of the first stage of life in the Krakow Ghetto was marked by the deportation of Jews to the German death camp in Bełżec in June 1942. The operation was led by the Chief of Staff in the office of the SS and Police Commander in the Krakow district – SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm von Haase. The deportation was preceded by strict examination of documents and registration of people who worked or who, in the opinion of the Germans, were fit for work. The dramatic events began at night on 29 May 1942. Gestapo officers and Arbeitsamt officials, upon the orders of the occupying forces, spent three days in the rooms of the Jewish Social Self-help at 10/12 Józefińska Street, stamping the Kennkarte of people employed as craftsmen, as well as employees of German factories, members of the Jewish Council and its subordinate institutions: hospitals, the Jewish Orphans’ Department and the Jewish Social Self-help, and members of their closest families. The Judenrat chairman, Rosenzweig, refused to have a hand in the deportation of the Jewish population. As a result, he and his family were sent to the Krakow Umschlagplatz and driven out of the town with other deported Jews. His behaviour set the limits of compliance with German orders. His position was taken up by Dawid Gutter, who was reportedly much more willing to cooperate. In order to keep order inside the ghetto, Germans informed the deported Jews that they were going to Ukraine, where workers were needed for the upcoming harvest. It is difficult to assess to what extent people believed the German propaganda. Registration of documents and transports to Bełżec continued over the following days of June. It is estimated that ca. 7,000 people were deported at that time.

The area of the ghetto was reduced after the deportations to Bełżec. On 20 June 1942, Czarnieckiego Street, Rękawka Street, and św. Benedykta Street, as well as the southern sections of Krakusa Street and Węgierska Street were excluded from the area of the Jewish quarter. The prisoners of the ghetto once again sought to revive their social life. Hospitals and orphanages were reopened, and new employment opportunities were created. Attempts were also made to help those who had lost their rooms as a result of the reduction of the ghetto.

In the summer of 1942, an underground resistance group was formed in the ghetto under the leadership of Adolf Liebeskind and Szymon Dränger. Witness accounts from the period mention various missions carried out by its members, such as the attempts to eliminate Jewish informers and policemen, an attack on the “Optima” factory, as well as the most famous of all of the group’s undertakings – the attack on the “Cyganeria” café. Nonetheless, there were no prospects of organising a rebellion inside the ghetto, primarily due to lack of combat training, shortage of weapons, and an insufficient number of members. Most of the members of the Jewish underground did not survive until the end of the war.

The next deportation to the death camp in Bełżec took place on 28 October 1942. It was carried out quickly and in a particularly brutal manner. Many of the victims were children, including orphans, as well as the elderly, the sick dragged out of hospitals, and many others, even those fit for work. It is estimated that over 5,000 Jews were taken out of the ghetto at that time, and ca. 300 were killed on the spot. After the deportation, several more streets – the part north of Lwowska Street – were excluded from the area of the Jewish quarter. The actions taken by the occupier were aimed at the complete liquidation of the ghetto in Krakow. On 6 December 1942, Germans decided to divide the area into two sections – “A” and “B.” People fit for work and their families stayed in the former section, while the others were assigned to the latter.

The liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto began on 13 March 1943, after two years of its existence. The operation was headed by SS-Sturmbannführer Wilhelm von Haase. The residents of the “A” section were ordered to pack the most necessary items by the afternoon and march to the Płaszów camp. Ca. 8,000 people were deported to the camp. All children under the age of fourteen were to stay in the ghetto. Germans promised that they would be transported to the camp afterwards, following the construction of a special children’s barrack in Płaszów. Some people tried to take advantage of the situation and escape to the so-called “Aryan side.”

On 14 March, Germans started to liquidate the “B” section. Children from the orphanage and people staying at local hospitals were murdered. Corpses of the victims were scattered on the alleys and streets. The bodies were later transported to mass graves in the Płaszów camp. It is estimated that ca. 2,000 people were murdered at that time. In the first weeks following the liquidation of the ghetto, the area was cleaned and thoroughly searched for people in hiding.

                                               Martyna Grądzka-Rejak

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