The exact date of Jews settling in Kraków is difficult to determine. Based on sources from 1028, mentioning two Jewish merchants travelling towards Ruthenia and offering their wares to the Jewish community council in Kraków, one may assume that a Jewish presence in Kraków extends back to as early as the first half of the 11^th century. At the end of the 11^th century, Prague was hit by a wave of pogroms provoked by crusaders. Bohemian chronicler, Cosmas of Prague, stated that some of the Jews were forced to convert to Christianity while the rest fled to Hungary and Poland. Even though the name “Kraków” is not mentioned, one may suspect that most of the refugees chose this particular city as a destination because living conditions were relatively safe (in addition to being the place of residence of the ruler, the city was notable for being located away from the route frequented by crusaders).

The first mention of a Jewish presence in Kraków appears in the chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek (also known as Vincentius de Cracovia). The chronicler noted that during the reign of Mieszko III Stary as the Duke of Kraków (1173-1177), a Jew was assaulted, a crime for which the perpetrators were put on trial for “sacrilege.” The legal qualification of this act was the consequence of the privilege granted to Jews, who, at the time, were considered to be the “servants of the Treasury.” An assault on any Jew was thus tantamount to a violation of ducal law (ius ducale) – the provision was included in the privilege granted to Jews in 1157 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, later also adopted in certain parts of Poland.

Nonetheless, it was only in 1287 when any name of a Jew residing in Kraków was first recorded. His name was Chranisz, and he was murdered by Jakub, most likely a burgher from Kraków, whose house was then confiscated as punishment.

In the beginning of the 14^th century, the amount of information on the Jewish community in Kraków becomes much more extensive thanks to the surviving municipal records. Additionally, there was a Jewish street (ulica Żydowska) in the town, currently known as St. Anne street (ul. Św. Anny), showing that Jews lived in a vicus Judeorum (or Jewish district) where two synagogues, a bathhouse and a hospital were located. The Jewish cemetery was situated outside the city walls, by the Rudawa River, near the local mills. The second known Jewish settlement was situated in what is now known as Szczepański Square, near another synagogue.

The Jewish community had a highly organised structure. It was led by a rabbi, referred to as the “Jewish bishop” (episcopus Judeorum) in official documents, along with the four to six community elders. The school assistant assisted the rabbi with performing his judicial and pastoral duties. Various judicial bodies handled Jewish legal disputes; disputes between Jews themselves were resolved by the kehilla court, whereas disputes between Jews and Christians were handled by the province governor’s court. In cases where the plaintiff was a Jew, his case would be tried before the court having jurisdiction over the defendant, i.e. a municipal or itinerant provincial court (the court of the noble estate). Today, court registers provide a wealth of information on the numerous conflicts between Jews and Christians.

On a number of occasions there were violent attacks directed against Jews in medieval Kraków. The earliest known event of this kind took place around 1369. The City Council of Kraków submitted a long letter to the king about numerous “iniquities” the city was forced to withstand due to the fact that Jews were allowed to “run rampant.” However, in their written complaint, the councillors were clearly trying to explain themselves before the king. In early 1370, the same council, acting upon the request of King Casimir III the Great, issued a document promising to protect and care for a Jew named Lewek and his family, as well Rabbi Kasym. One might suspect that earlier pogroms against the Jews prompted the king to intervene and request cooperation from the municipal authorities, at least to protect some of the more influential Jewish citizens.

The second conflict broke out in 1407. According to chronicler Jan Długosz, who reported on these events a few dozen years after they occurred, the cause of the uproar was the alleged ritual murder of a Christian child. As a result, a mob attacked the Jewish district, where many people were killed and houses were plundered. Once news of the riots broke out, the castle guards moved in from the Wawel Castle to the city, restoring order and recovering the stolen goods, most of which belonged to Christian citizens but were in Jewish possession because of a pledge that had been made. Approximately 30 people were put on trial. The judicial proceedings lasted well into 1409; the outcome, however, remains unknown. Smaller anti-Jewish riots also took place in 1423. Members of the city council were accused of having placed Jews under unlawful arrest; however, the council members have failed to appear in court.

In 1453 a wave of anxiety passed through the Jewish community in Kraków with the arrival of John of Capistrano, a preacher whose sermons brought about a great pogrom in Wrocław, claiming more than 100 lives and forcing conversions upon Jews. However, the city of Kraków was spared the violent clashes that were feared by many at the time. Subsequently, however, the position of Jews in Kraków began to deteriorate. In 1462 a dispute arose between the Jewish community council and the municipal authorities. The details of this conflict remain unknown, although the case must have been important because the king himself intervened, ordering both sides to remain calm. If either party disobeyed, they would have to pay a massive penalty of 10,000 grzywnas; additionally, the king ruled that all contentious issues must be resolved in court.

In 1469, the Jewish district was moved to a different location. The buildings at today’s Św. Anny Street were purchased by the Chapter of Kraków (represented by Jan Długosz), which subsequently exchanged the properties acquired for other ones owned by the university. In exchange, Jews were allocated land behind the St Stephen’s Church. In 1485, substantial restrictions were imposed on Jewish merchants operating in Kraków and its environs. Consequently, Jews waived their right to pursue trade and craftsmanship within the city limits. Although this agreement was never actually complied with until the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the formal restrictions constituted the basis of all subsequent agreements concluded between the Kraków municipal government and Jews.

On the night of June 29 into June 30, 1494, a fire engulfed a number of buildings between the Mikołajska and Szewska streets, including a section of the Jewish district. Jews were blamed for causing the disaster and before the flames died down, many Jewish houses were attacked and plundered. The extent of damage done to the Jewish district must have been significant indeed, for shortly after the fire King Jan I Olbracht allocated the northwestern part of Kazimierz – the area in question being located between the current Józefa and Bożego Ciała streets and the city walls – to the Jews for development. However, the king did not order for the expulsion of the Jewish community from Kraków. At the end of the 15^th century the resettlement of Jews to Kazimierz began; to a great extent, this process was a voluntary one, as the Jewish Town, which was already developing at a rapid pace, gave the Jews a greater sense of security compared to Kraków, where fewer and fewer Jews chose to settle.

Sources contain few clues about the economic activities of Kraków Jews during this period (the medieval documents of the Jewish community council did not survive into the 20^th century, while others were destroyed during World War II). What is known is that they mostly engaged in lending money for interest, with many loans being secured by a pledge. The list of borrowers included burghers, noblemen, the clergy and even a number of Polish kings, including Ludwik Węgierski, Queen Jadwiga, Władysław II Jagiełło and Kazimierz IV Jagiellon. In many cases, third parties acted as guarantors while in other cases, the debtor issued a promissory note. This practice gave rise to many conflicts that mostly ended up being resolved in the courtroom. Apart from finance, Jews engaged in trade and probably also crafts; however, there is no information on those activities in the court records. Bożena Wyrozumska

Jews from Kraków, a small number of Jews who had settled in Kazimierz prior to the resettlement, and a growing Jewish community from Bohemia and Moravia inhabited the new Jewish district in Kazimierz. Jews from Bohemia and Moravia arrived in Poland at the beginning of the 16^th century (primarily in 1517-1518). Additionally, many migrants from German towns and Silesia migrated to Kazimierz; a small Sephardic Jewish community was also present. Despite its heterogeneity and many conflicts (which included the incident of 1519, when the Jews from Bohemia and Moravia temporarily established a separate community council with its own rabbi in Kazimierz), the dominance of the Kazimierz community remained mostly unchallenged.

In 1595 a statute (containing 93 articles in total) was adopted, its provisions being applicable to most of the social, private and daily aspects of Jewish life in Kraków. A number of departments were set up to oversee various spheres of everyday life, including the department of charity, the department of trade and order, the department of treasury and the department of moral supervision. Taxes were paid both to the state (e.g.: coronation tax) and municipal authorities (e.g.: fees for trading rights and the extension of the Jewish Town). The funds for the charges in question were provided by the chazakah (concessions for the right to trade or for leasing).

Despite the restrictions imposed on their activities by the authorities of Kraków and Kazimierz, the Jewish community managed to prosper from late 15^th century until the Swedish Deluge. They leased many shops in Kraków, maintained trade relations with towns in Bohemia and Germany (including Frankfurt an der Oder, Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig) as well as Austria (Vienna), the Netherlands and the Levant (through the city of Lviv). They traded in a variety of goods, including hides, furs, textiles (mostly broadcloth) and armaments. To a great degree, they managed control the trade of precious stones, ores, and handcrafted luxury items such as jewellery and clocks. The dynamic development of Jewish trade relieved the community’s internal tensions. Until the mid-1600s the oligarchy that formed within the kehilla continued to wield power in the community; in most cases, they were able to prevent less affluent stallholders, craftsmen and travelling traders from exerting any influence, which made it easier for the community council to act in the common interest.

Pursuant to the agreement concluded in 1583 between the Kazimierz city council and the Jewish community council of Stradom, the area of the Jewish Town was extended (with subsequent extension taking place in 1608). Additionally, many provisions were enacted that extended the scope of Jewish trading rights (further provisions of this kind were adopted in 1609 and 1615). Jews were granted the freedom of trade in all types of goods, with the exception of oat and hay; they were also not allowed to run inns or taverns. The efforts of the Jewish community to extend the scope of trading rights continued – with varying degrees of success – until the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. According to Meir Balaban, in the mid-17^th century there were approximately 4,500 Jewish residents in Kazimierz (although this number appears to have been exaggerated). Sources indicate that ca. 70 Jewish craftsmen were active in Kraków – mostly tailors, furriers, hatters and haberdashers as well as cobblers, undertakers and book-binders. This period also saw the foundation of first Jewish craftsmen’s guilds and the emergence of Kraków as an important centre of Hebrew printing. Additionally, the Jewish school system developed rapidly: the Kraków yeshiva enjoyed a great reputation among Jewish academic centres located abroad (mostly in Bohemia and Moravia, as well as in Vienna and the Rhineland). The most eminent representative of the Jewish intellectual elite in Kraków was Mojżesz Isserles.

The end of this golden age of the Jewish community in Kraków began with the great fire of 1643, which consumed most of the buildings in the Jewish district, and the Great Plague of 1651-1652, which claimed about 3,500 lives in Kraków. Additionally, a sizeable wave of refugees from the territories engulfed by the Khmelnytsky Uprising arrived in the city in 1648. The most significant change in the situation of the Jews of Kraków, however, was brought about by the occupation of this city by Swedish forces, which plundered the Jewish Town in September 1655. Nevertheless, two months later the Jews of Kazimierz paid a half of the contribution demanded by the Swedes – 40 thousand thalers. In the autumn of 1656, a famine raged in the Jewish district, much like everywhere else in the city. It may have been caused by the allocated food rations, which were insufficient. After the Swedish forces left Kraków in 1657, the Jews of Kazimierz were accused of collaboration; a part of the general public believed that their conduct was similar to that of the Polish Brethren (Arians). However, the Jewish community was spared the fate that befell the Arian community, even though the municipal authorities intended to impose drastic restrictions on the economic activity of Jews. Upon arriving in Kraków, Jan II Kazimierz granted audience to a Jewish delegation at the Wawel Castle. The Jews offered 60,000 zlotys to the king and a further 30,000 zlotys to J. F. Keiserstein, the commander of the allied Austrian forces, and pleaded to forgive them for their acts at the time of the Swedish occupation. The Kraków nobility refrained from taking an unequivocally antagonistic stance towards the Jews and as a result, Jews were allowed to remain in the town of Kazimierz. The Jewish community began the process of rebuilding their extensive international trading and cultural ties and were soon able to restart craft production in the war-ravaged town.

Prejudice against Jews precipitated an escalation of anti-Jewish uproars in the 17^th century, including the events of 1660, 1663 and the most dire incident of all, which took place in 1682. The conflict in 1682 was related to the so-called Szachna Case, which involved a Jew named Szachna, who was accused of purchasing silverware which had been stolen from a church. In most cases, however, these events were met with a decisive response of the local noble government as well as of the state authorities. In January 1661, King Jan Kazimierz confirmed the privileges that the Jews of Kazimierz had hitherto enjoyed.

In the 1670s and the 1680s, due to the economic prosperity in Kraków and the need to rebuild the devastated city, Jewish trade saw a significant upturn; still, it proved impossible to overcome the financial crisis. As a result, in the second half of the 17^th century and during the Saxon period, many Jewish merchants and bankers were unable to pay off the individuals (including both laymen and clergymen) who had placed deposits with them. To make matters worse, in 1698 King August II Mocny issued a moratorium on the repayment of the monies that Jews owed to their creditors; this coincided with the bankruptcy of a large company owned by R. Forbes, to which 187 Jews owed substantial amounts of money. The commission tasked with the liquidation of this business contacted its creditors directly with the Jewish debtors, which only served to exacerbate the crisis in the Kazimierz community – a crisis that would continue until the very end of the Commonwealth.

At the turn of the century Jews began to settle in Kraków, Stradom, Kleparz, private estates surrounding the city, and on the land owned by the Crown. Even though Jews were not officially allowed to purchase real property there, this prohibition was probably ineffective. What the Jews definitely could do, on the other hand, was to rent shops and warehouses, while many turned a blind eye on the fact that many a tenant stayed overnight on the rented premises; among other locations, a large number of Jewish stores were located in the building known as the Grey Tenement House (Szara Kamienica).

Although various sources indicate that the number of Jews in Kraków increased markedly during this period, large groups of migrants ceased to flock to the Jewish Town, with the last group arriving from Vienna between 1670 and 1671. In the private independent estates surrounding the town, more and more Jewish craftsmen flouted existing prohibitions and restrictions, relying on the protection of their influential patrons who included noblemen and members of the clergy alike. Other Jews took advantage of the economic situation and secured leading positions in various types of manufacturing, including leathercraft and the manufacture of fur clothing, trade in animal hides (the company of A. Rebes), salt trade (the Pawłowicz family) as well as the trade in goldware, tin and lead. Jewish merchants were able to increase the scope of their trading ties. Their destinations included Leipzig (between 1675 and 1764 over 80 Jews from Kraków travelled there, most of them engaged in fur trade), Wrocław (where a group of Jews originating from Kraków gathered around J. J. Fränkel, the former Kraków rabbi, while at the same time maintaining close ties with their city of origin) as well as Frankfurt an der Oder. Its activity and international connections gave the Jewish community council additional opportunities for restoring itself to its former position. Another favourable factor was the contributions paid by Sweden, which the community council received in 1702 and 1705 during the Great Northern War (1700–1721).

From 1727 onwards, Jakub Abrahamowicz and his wife, Helena, leased the revenues from Crown land for three years. More and more Jews worked as innkeepers and leased breweries (with a right to collect profits), including the royal brewery by the Vistula River, which, from the 1730s onwards, was leased by Lejzor Mojżeszowicz, Jakub Lejzorowicz and his son Lejb Jakubowicz (the latter two becoming the king’s middlemen, which meant that they were exempt from the jurisdiction of the community council, including the obligation to pay any charges which it imposed).

The fierce competition between Jewish and Christian innkeepers in Kleparz – still a separate town at the time – continued until the 1740s. On an increasing number of occasions, Jews were accused of breaching the contracts concluded with the municipal authorities. At the same time, the influence of the community council decreased markedly as it grew into an institution in which a narrow elite composed of the members of just a few families now held sway, unwilling to share their absolute power with anyone. This led to a situation where, to a large extent, the community council became dependent upon the nobility and the magnates, who were the creditors of the kehilla, as well as upon the provincial governor and his administration. This state of affairs only served to exacerbate the conflicts between the local oligarchy, which sought to liberate itself from the jurisdiction of the community council with regard to legal and tax issues and the Jewish poor. Tensions also rose between Jews and the municipal authorities. The decision to increase the taxes and fees payable to the community failed to restore balance to the budget. The position of the community in the 18^th century was rapidly deteriorating, mostly due to the approach taken by the wealthy members of the kehilla, who shifted the rising tax burdens to the poor members of the Jewish community and took out new loans in order to pay back their existing debts. Following the session of the Sejm held in Grodno in 1718, at the request of the Kazimierz community council, a special commission began to analyse the financial condition of the kehilla and to examine its debts, which were estimated to amount to 600,000 zlotys.

Following the death of King August II Mocny in 1733, the financial crisis of the Jewish community in Kraków became even more acute. Power struggles erupted between the nobility of Kraków and Sandomierz and the Kazimierz kehilla. The conflicts between the Jews from smaller towns in Lesser Poland and those living in Kazimierz also became increasingly intense, with one of the contentious issues surrounding who would become the land rabbi, as residents of smaller towns did not want this position to be taken by the rabbi of Kraków. The further escalation of conflicts occurred in the 1740s and the 1750s, the most notable among those being the feud between the Landau and Fränkel families, both of which believed that the decision on who would become the rabbi should be up to them. In 1722, a trade dispute arose between Jews and the Merchants’ Congregation of Kraków. As a consequence, on 4 March 1744, King August III ordered the closure of all Jewish stores in Kraków and forbade Jews to engage in the trade in broadcloth, silk, spices, ironware and “Nuremberg goods,” i.e. various small items, toys and trinkets. In addition, Jews also faced a ban on the sale of liquors and were no longer allowed to own houses on the outskirts of Kraków. This dispute raged on until mid-1761, although the royal decree itself was suspended in 1745. On 17 June 1761, the municipal guard destroyed about 40 Jewish stores located on the Main Square and in the vicinity thereof. An intervention of the army put an end to this operation, while Jan Klemens Branicki, the provincial governor of Kraków, backed the Jews, ordering, among other things, that all confiscated goods be returned to their owners.

During the period of the Bar Confederation, Jews opted for neutrality, awaiting further developments. However, they were forced to endure many instances of injustice both at the hands of Confederation supporters and the Russian soldiers, who turned the town of Kazimierz into their base of operations during the siege of Kraków in 1769. As a result, both sides of the conflict imposed taxes on the Jewish population.

In the years 1772-1776, Kraków was occupied by Austrian forces. The Austrians attempted to conduct a census of the Jewish population (in the second half of the 18^th century, ca. 3,500 Jews resided in Kazimierz) and make an estimate of the value of Jewish property. The periods for the repayment of Jewish debts were extended. Despite all the efforts made, the financial situation of the community did not improve. In 1776, the city councils of Kraków and Kazimierz and the representatives of the Jewish community reached another agreement. However, the Kraków authorities continued their relentless push towards imposing restrictions on Jewish trade (including efforts made in this regard in 1787 and 1789). These demands were upheld following the adoption of the Constitution of 3 May 1791. Attempts were also made to make it illegal for Jews to take residence anywhere outside the town of Kazimierz. However, all those efforts failed and only after the partition of Poland did any changes in this regard occur. Andrzej K. Link-Lenczowski

After the city of Kraków was incorporated into Austrian territory in 1796, the new authorities imposed special taxes on the Jewish population, known as the Sabbath candles tax, the kosher tax and headpin tax. Initially, Jews were also obliged to serve in the army, although this was subsequently exchanged for additional taxation. Substantial wedding charges were introduced and the traditional kehilla was reorganised so that it would now be led by five Vorstehers, elected for a three-year term from a group consisting of a dozen or so of the most affluent members of the community and approved by the Kraków city council. In return, Jews enjoyed the Tolerance Patent of 1789, which guaranteed them unrestricted religious freedom. Austrian authorities subjected the Jews to a significant pressure to adopt German language and culture in order to use them as one of the pillars of their reign in Kraków. This posed a serious threat to the maintenance of Jewish tradition, mostly in terms of education, since the existing school system was based upon cheders and yeshivot. The new school system followed the spirit of the European Enlightenment; schools known as the haskalahs were established all across Galicia by H. Homberg.

The Jews of Kraków were evicted from other parts of the city (i.e. from the non-Jewish parts of Kazimierz, Stradom and Zwierzyniec) in the course of the so-called rumatio (a Latin term for forced eviction of a recalcitrant debtor) in 1801-1802 and resettled to the Jewish Town in Kazimierz. Consequently, approximately 300 Jewish inns, stalls and stores vanished from the streets of Kraków.

In 1804 there was a total of 207 wooden houses in the Jewish Town, inhabited by approximately 4,300 people (ca. 18% of the overall population of Kraków). The cramped conditions were not conducive to trade. Transactions were mostly concluded on stalls located in the streets or in one of the 164 stores. The “low revenue – high turnover” rule meant that the goods were competitive and attractive to buyers, which elicited protests from Christian merchants. As far as crafts production was concerned, there were 324 masters in total, along with their apprentices and journeymen. Most Jewish craftsmen were blacksmiths and haberdashers, followed by tailors, shoemakers, bakers, butchers and goldsmiths. The period of the Napoleonic Wars and the related changes of both national borders and transport routes formed an opportunity for the wealthiest Jewish merchants to multiply their fortunes; one of them was B. Luxenburg, a tax lessee.

Significant changes occurred in the Jewish Town in 1809-1813, when Kraków was incorporated into the Duchy of Warsaw, the constitution of which proclaimed that all men are created free and equal (with respect to Jews, these provisions were not applied in practice, but were a taste of the coming emancipation). The conferral of the status of a free trade city upon Kraków was of enormous importance to Jewish merchants. On 10 May 1810, Duke Frederick Augustus I visited the Jewish Town during his stay in Kraków, where he was welcomed with honours. The duke’s decree of 19 March 1812 stated that the Jewish Town would be extended towards the Vistula and that members of the Jewish elite would be allowed to reside outside its walls (on the condition that they wore European-style clothing and sent their children to state schools). The kehilla, in its pre-reform iteration, was also restored, and the Sabbath candle tax was abolished.

The fall of the Duchy of Warsaw and the occupation of Kraków by the Russians brought huge losses to the Jewish population, which suffered when the Vistula River flooded the surrounding areas in the summer of 1813.

The establishment of the Free City of Kraków following the Congress of Vienna brought about new legal regulations for the Jewish community. The Arrangement Statute for Jews stated that a Jewish Committee would supersede the kehilla, acting as an institution tasked with the performance of all administrative functions with respect to the Jewish population. Additionally, it would supervise commissions responsible for social welfare, charity, hospital operations, and the departmental school with a Polish teaching programme established in 1810 (and operating in the building of the Kazimierz city hall from 1835 onwards). The alumni of the school would later lay the foundation for a new community of modern, assimilated Jews known as the progressives or the maskilim. In order to accelerate this process of “civilizing the Israelites”, the authorities ordered all Jewish schools to be closed down. Following the lapse of six years from the publication of the statute, young Jews were obligated to demonstrate knowledge of either Polish or German. All Jews were still deprived of public rights (including civic, political and municipal rights), while the right to participate in elections was only granted to the most affluent of them (a total of 291 Jews participated in the first Committee elections). The new laws also imposed numerous restrictions on the Jewish population, including restrictions on the right to enter into marriages, as well as restricted access to many of the institutions operating in the city (such as guilds, the Merchants’ Congregation and the city council) and to numerous professions. In addition, Jews were under an obligation to reside in a ghetto[1.1] that was separated from the rest of the city by a wall. The right to apply for certain public rights (such as the right to take up residence in the Christian part of the city) were available to those who could prove that they had lived in the city for at least six years and had adequate financial resources. Furthermore, applicants had to wear European-style clothing, shave their facial hair and send their children to public schools (in the early 1840s, there were approximately 200 “civilized” Jews in Kraków). Leaving the ghetto was considered by other Jews to be tantamount to a crime, and the rabbi would place a curse, known as the herem, upon culprits. In 1840, the progressive group of Jewish intellectuals residing in Kraków, comprising mostly doctors and lawyers holding German, or, in fewer cases, Polish university diplomas, formed the Association for Religion and Civilisation, led by A. Gumplowicz; a few members of this organisation later took part in the November Uprising. One of the first residents of Kazimierz who published his writings in Polish was S. Baum, the secretary of the community council.

The unfavourable legal environment did not prevent the development of the Jewish community. At the time of the incorporation of Kraków into Galicia, there were 13,000 Jews in the town (which accounted for ca. one third of all residents of Kraków). The high population density in the ghetto resulted in an increased risk of epidemics (more than 40 percent of all those who succumbed to the 1813 cholera epidemic were residents of the Jewish Town). During this period, the Jews of Kazimierz engaged mostly in trade and usury. Another popular profession was that of a middleman, with as many as 225 individuals working in this capacity in 1850. Many Jews worked as craftsmen, while entrepreneurs were still few in numbers. The most profitable professions included moneychanging (in 1840 there were over 40 individuals who worked as moneychangers) as well as the grain trade. The Bornstein, Hamberstam, Horowitz, Meisels and Samelsohn families were financial tycoons with a powerful influence not just in Kazimierz, but in the entire city of Kraków as well. The fact that the city was located in a spot where all three partitioning powers met, as well as its free trade status, increased many Jewish fortunes (some of which were also built upon contraband). At the same time, however, there was a relatively high number of beggars in the Jewish Town (approximately 400 in 1832).

In the 19^th century, the contribution of the Jewish community to the development of the economy of Kraków was gradually increased, with a number of areas in both trade and manufacturing in which they held a monopoly, such as the drapery trade, the zinc trade, making shanks for shoes or bookbinding. Many Jews also ran second-hand bookshops; most of them were located in the vicinity of Szpitalna Street. Religious life was concentrated in the synagogues maintained by the community council as well as in private prayer houses. Apart from the still-dominant Orthodox Judaism, the influence of the Hasidic Movement was increasingly making its presence felt. For a few dozen years, a fierce rivalry continued among the followers of these two branches of Judaism. In the early 1840s, Reform Judaism also made its way into the town of Kazimierz. The proponents of the progressive movement (known as the maskilim) opened their own prayer house according to the ritual principles agreed upon during the 1844 Brunswick Rabbinical Assembly, which immediately made them the target for attacks for both of the conflicted religious groups. In 1862 the Tempel, a progressive synagogue, was erected in Kazimierz, becoming a centre for all proponents of assimilation.

During the 1846 Kraków Uprising, Jews supported the National Government, which, on 22 February 1846, proclaimed that all citizens of the reborn Poland would be equal before the law in its manifesto entitled To the Polish Nation, subsequently addressing the Jews with a special appeal entitled To our Brothers Israelites. Apart from the progressives (including, among others, J. Warszauer, J. Oettinger, H. Markusfeld, M. Krzepicki, H. Rosenzweig), one of the most active individuals involved in the uprising was the Orthodox Rabbi Dow Ber Meisels. A group of Jews took part in a skirmish with a retreating Austrian squad that was making its way through Kazimierz. As a result of participation in the Uprising, the authorities subsequently imposed numerous repressions, arresting many individuals and forcing the community council to pay a contribution.

The Jews of Kraków also expressed their support for the Polish drive towards liberty during the Spring of Nations. Many of them became members of the civic committee or joined the National Guard. Rabbi Meisels was one of the members of the Polish delegation that made its way to Vienna. Jews were also among the victims of the Austrian artillery strike that hit Kraków on April 26, 1848. The protests accompanying the funerals of those killed, including two Jews, served to reinforce the feeling of solidarity with the Poles. In their appeal entitled To our Brethren in the Grand Duchy of Posen (issued on May 3, 1848), the Jews of Kraków expressed their displeasure at the fact that their brethren from Poznań chose to cooperate with the Germans. In their appeal to the Parliament in Vienna, in which they called for emancipation, they also discussed Polish national aspirations. In the summer of 1848, a group of the most active members of the Jewish community established the Klub zur Förderung der geistigen und materiellen Interessen der Israeliten and the Educational Support Club. One of the aspects motivating Jews to fight for equal rights was revealed at a demonstration held in May 1848 in Kazimierz, in which Jews demanded the abolishment of the kosher tax and the Sabbath candle tax. In the supplementary elections to the Parliament of Vienna held in December 1848, Rabbi Meisels managed to secure a seat for himself; another member of the National Committee, Sz. Samelsohn, participated in the delegation of A. Młocki, which made its way to France. The progressive and Polonised Jews supported Poles when the January Uprising began; the meeting point for those who decided to take part in the armed struggle (including A. Aleksandrowicz, J. Bienefeld, J. Drobner, H. Markusfeld and S. Loewenhardt) was the apartment of A. Gumplowicz, whose two sons also took part in the uprising.

Nevertheless, most of the Jews of Kraków were still the Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jews and conservatives, who remained largely separate from Polish society. Their main source of income was the trade with Christians. They obeyed the rules of the Talmud and abided by the rulings of the local rabbi with respect to all significant issues. Between 1856 and 1883, Sz. Schreiber, the leader of the conservative faction of the Jewish community in Galicia, served as rabbi. His successors were Ch. L. Horowitz (who also adhered to a conservative viewpoint) and A.O. Thon, who had more progressive leanings.

The December Constitution of 1867 brought about nearly complete equality of rights for Jews and opened up a path towards modernisation. The Jewish community council was also reformed and initially referred to as the Israelite Congregation. From 1912 onwards, its offices were located in a purpose-built edifice at 2 Skawińska Street. The Statute of the Community Council, adopted by the Governorate, was subsequently modified on three occasions, the last changes being made in 1914. The Congregation (community council) was controlled by the Religious Council, initially comprising 24, then 30 members, divided into four sections (religious, educational, treasury and charity sections); the members of this Council were elected in three electoral districts according to census-based electoral regulations (similar to the regulations applicable to the community council). The executive bodies were the supervisory board, the president and individual departments. The Jewish Registry District was a separate public-law institution, which performed the functions of a civil registry office. The rabbi maintained the relevant records, acting in the capacity of a state official. The statute also specified the duties of individual community council officials (including the rabbi). The financing of the activities of the community council (in addition to its own assets in the form of both real property and funds) was provided by way of a religious tax as well as other various fees (such as the charge for the ritual slaughter of cattle and poultry or the charge for matzo flour). Bequests and donations also funded communal life.

The most significant expenses were related to the upkeep of the new hospital on Skawińska Street (built in 1861-1866), remuneration for officials and the support of the poor. The community council was relieved from the performance of charity and welfare activities and the administration of cemeteries, the hospital, nursing homes and orphanages, as these actions were performed by various civic organisations (brotherhoods, associations and foundations). In 1872, there was a total of eight such institutions in the community. In 1899, a total of 7 brotherhoods and 13 associations were registered. The oldest and most renowned brotherhoods included the Chevra Kadisha (which maintained cemeteries), the Bikur Cholim and the Machsike Cholim (which provided aid to the old and the sick) as well as Talmud Torah (which ensured the proper functioning of educational institutions). There were also institutions of a new, modern kind, which included the A. Rappaport Foundation, the B’nai B’rith lodge (from 1895 onwards) and Schlaraffia (established in 1909). A branch of the Baron Hirsch Foundation supported professional education. Various libraries and reading rooms as well as self-training and educational associations were established.

In the second half of the 19^th century, the number of Jews in Kraków rose from 13,500 in 1850 to 32,000 in 1910. However, Jews’ share in the overall population of Kraków fell from 34% to 22% due to the continuing development of the city. From approximately 1848-1849 onwards, despite the opposition of the Kraków city council, Jews continued to leave the ghetto[1.2] to settle in the central districts – a process that culminated in the purchase of two tenement houses on the Main Square by Jewish buyers. At the end of the period of Jewish autonomy, Jews resided in all districts of Kraków; the largest Jewish population – apart from Kazimierz and Stradom – was present in Śródmieście and in Wesoła. More and more often, Jews became the owners of properties located in the centre of the city (on the Grodzka, Floriańska, Sławkowska, Szpitalna and Sienna streets). In 1910, they owned 763 houses (38% of all houses in Kraków).

The strong economic position of Jews of Kraków allowed them to make substantial investments, mostly near Dietla and Starowiślana streets. They also had significant shares in the Municipal Savings Bank. In terms of professional life, most Jews still engaged in trade-related activities and, to a lesser degree, in craft and industrial production. The emergence of capitalism, however, contributed towards the rise of a new, more modern society. New social strata came into being, including the intelligentsia. This particular group was expanding as more and more young Jewish men and women began their education in lower-secondary schools and continued their path of learning at the Jagiellonian University. Between 1866 and 1918, a total of 1462 Jewish students studied at this particular institution, most of them choosing law or medicine as their majors. Another new social stratum – the proletariat – also emerged during this period.

The most powerful Jewish capitalists (industrialists, bankers, traders and landowners) took control over the Kraków Chamber of Trade and Industry; for many years A. Mandelsburg served as its vice-chairman, finally rising to the position of chairman in 1897. He was succeeded by M. Dattner. The community council elections were characterised by intellectual rivalries (along with members of the bourgeoisie who shared their convictions) – the Orthodox on one hand and Hasidic petit-bourgeoisie on the other. Because the electoral regulations continued to be non-democratic, the poor continued to be excluded from the process. The successive presidents of the kehilla in years 1869-1914 were: Sz. Samelsohn, A. Mandelsburg, L. Horowitz and S. Tilles.

From the beginning of the 20^th century, Jews became active participants in nascent modern political parties. The “Hovevei Zion” movement, established in 1893 and acting through various associations that promoted the return to Hebrew traditions (Libanon, Akiba, Sfas Emes) was transformed into the branch of the Zionist Organisation in West Galicia in 1906. In 1910, the national congress of the fledgling movement was held; for a period of 30 years, its leader was A. O. Thon, a rabbi and preacher from the Tempel synagogue. During the congress in Kraków in 1904, the members of the Achdut association established the Poale Zion, representing the left-wing faction of the Jewish national movement. The Independent Jewish Party of A. Gross, on the other hand, became an organisation representing a more liberal-democratic viewpoint. Jewish socialists, led by H. Grossman, E. Haecker, M. Horowitz, and others, had previously been centred on the Progress and Bruderlichkeit associations; during this period, however, they joined the Polish Social Democratic Party as well as the Jewish Social Democratic Party. The new Jewish political and ideological organisations had their own press and propaganda publications.

Cultural and linguistic divisions among the Jewish community, which were only exacerbated at the turn of the 20th century, led to the establishment of three distinct educational systems: the Hebrew system (Zionists), the Yiddish system (traditional Orthodox Jews) and the Polish system (assimilationists). The Jews of Kraków participated in the elections to the City Council, the Diet of Galicia and the Parliament in Vienna. From the 1860s, Jews had a varying number of representatives in the Kraków city council (Józef Sare was the vice-mayor during the period between 1905 and 1927); there were also Jewish deputies in the Parliament in Vienna (Rappaport, Mandelsburg, Schreiber, Gross) as well as in the Diet of Galicia (Samelsohn, Rappaport, Sare). They also had a representative in the District School Council. In the Academy of Learning, Jews were employed as correspondent members (Jews who wished to attain the title of university professors were usually forced to endure tremendous difficulties).

The daily relations between Jews and Christians were mostly limited to the sphere of trade and services. Anti-Jewish violence was relatively rare during that period (one example of such acts is the unrest in Stradom in 1894).

On 11 August 1914, the community council authorities established the Israelite Committee, which then published the Appeal of the Jews of Poland; the entire Jewish elite subsequently abandoned Kraków, which at that time faced the risk of a Russian offensive, leaving their brethren at the mercy of the advancing armies. The collapse of the welfare structures of the community council further exacerbated the pre-existing and significant difficulties in securing the necessary supplies. A group of young Jewish intellectuals joined the Polish Legions; their commitment was to be backed by the elders in financial terms, although, instead of the promised 10,000 kronen they received a mere two thousand.

The collapse of the existing community council authorities led to a Zionist takeover in 1917. In July 1918, Zionists began to publish their own newspaper, Nowy Dziennik. The riots of January, February and March 1918 led to widespread hunger and were a taste of the coming wave of radicalism. In November 1918 the so-called Jewish revolt began, depriving the pro-Polish, assimilated elite of their influence once and for all. Backed by ca. 20,000 protesters, the Jewish National Council for Western Galicia, led by A. O. Thon, took over the community council. Self-defence forces were established, later to be transformed into the Jewish Guard; the building on Wolnica Square served as their headquarters. On 6 June 1919, the Jewish Guard defended their brethren during anti-Semitic riots sparked by general Haller’s troops[1.3].

During the interwar period, the number of Jews residing in Kraków (who, until 1937, were split into two distinct community councils – the Kraków community council and the Podgórze community council) increased from 45,000 in 1921 to 56,600 in 1931. Moreover, the share of Jews in the total population increased from 24.5% to 25.8%. At the end of the 1930s, the Jewish community in Kraków, with its 60,000 residents, was the fourth largest Jewish community in Poland.

The new provisions governing the life of the Jewish communities in the Second Polish Republic were implemented in Kraków in 1928. These provisions redefined the structure of the community council and demanded Jews to join the Religious Association of the Mosaic Faith. Other novelties that were introduced included fully democratic elections featuring universal and equal suffrage, direct secret ballots, and a proportional electoral system. The community council retained its religious, rather than national, character (contrary to the demands of the Zionists), while at the same time enjoying a broad scope of competences and a significant degree of autonomy. The religious, charitable and cultural needs of the members of the community were satisfied by way of a complex system of agencies, institutions, foundations and associations, whose functioning was dictated by the community council budget with a positive balance.

Approximately 45% of the Jews of Kraków engaged in trading activities. About 35% worked as craftsmen or in the industry (in some areas, such as the production of clothing, watchmaking and watch repairs, jewellery, construction and the foodstuffs industry, Jews were the dominant group). The number of Jewish doctors and solicitors also grew during this period. In the Jewish community, the proletariat accounted for approximately 30%, while intellectuals and clerks accounted for 20%. The rest were mostly members of the petit-bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie proper, the latter being few in numbers.

The acculturation process, which began in the 1860s, was reinforced by the public schooling system. Young Jews joined Polish schools en masse, seeing education as an opportunity for social advancement. In 1923, Jewish students accounted for approximately 32% of all students at the Jagiellonian University; in the following years the numerus clausus rule has taken its toll, and the figures fell to approximately 12% in the 1937. The feelings of national identity, engendered at the end of the 19^th century (mostly by Zionists), meant that many educated Jews believed Palestine to be their true homeland. In 1921, during the general census, ca. 60% of all Jews of Kraków declared their nationality as Jewish; on the other hand, in 1931 about 20% of them considered Polish to be their mother tongue. A community of Polish Jews which was present in the Academic Union, the Association of Polish Jews and the Association of Jews, and the Participants of the Struggle for Poland’s Independence attempted to bridge the gap dividing the two nations, but these activities proved ineffective, despite official backing.

Although a tendency for secularisation emerged among the Jewish elite, most of the Jews resident in Kraków stayed true to Judaism. Their spiritual life was attended to by the section of the Religious Council dealing with the matters of faith as well as by the rabbinate, the members of which – apart from the rabbi himself, who also used the title of the Chief Rabbi of Kraków – included innitially eight initially and later nine assessors (also known as lower rabbis). In addition to the six synagogues maintained by the community council, there were 66 private prayer houses in Kraków, maintained by, inter alia, religious brotherhoods, associations of craftsmen, charities and Hasidic communities. The position of the Tempel, a private synagogue owned by the Association of Progressive Israelites, was distinguished by the fact that it had its own rabbi, although it was still under the jurisdiction of the community council. Even though synagogues and prayer houses were spread across the entire city, Szeroka Street remained the centre of Jewish religious life, with four synagogues, four prayer houses and the cemetery where M. Isserles was interred. Two new Jewish cemeteries as well as two ritual bathhouses (mikvot) were built. Kosher food was provided courtesy of a number of slaughterhouses and goose farms. Other Jewish establishments in Kraków included libraries and reading rooms; some of them focused on Talmudic literature, whereas others concentrated on secular books (one of them was the Ezra, the first Judaist library in Poland, established in 1899).

The cultural and ideological diversity of the Jewish community became apparent during the two consecutive elections to the community council, which took place in 1924 (according to the kehilla electoral law) and in 1929 (according to the new, democratic law). During the first election, the most significant rivalry was between the Zionists (Association of National Jewish Factions) and the representatives of the remaining groups within the kehilla (the progressives, the Orthodox Jews and the Hasidim), who created the Jewish Civic Committee and managed to attract approximately 75% of all votes from among 3,800 of those eligible to vote. During the second ballot the Zionist associations block (list no. 3) managed to gain a greater share of votes, taking 9 seats in the 25-person Religious Council. The Jewish elite, which held sway over the kehilla for many years, lost the absolute majority in both the Council and the Administration. The next elections were delayed due to the protracted merger of the Kraków and Podgórze community councils, which were finally united on 1 January 1937; until the beginning of World War II, a Temporary Administration under R. Landau governed the Jewish community in Kraków.

The Zionists dominated the parliamentary elections held in 1919-1930, receiving more than 90% of all Jewish votes. A. O. Thon, a deputy to the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic until 1935, was the leader of the Et Livnot (Time to Build) faction, which supported cooperation with the Poles. He was succeeded by I. Schwarzbart, a Zionist from Kraków. Apart from the General Zionists, there were two other Jewish nationalist organisations in Kraków: the Mizrachi religious party and the radical Revisionist Zionist party. Their rivals were the members and supporters of the General Jewish Labour Bund (often referred to simply as the Bund), along with their youth group, Zukunft, which was led by J. Bross and L. Feiner. Other parties attempted to merge elements of nationalist and socialist ideologies; these included the Poale Zion and the Hitachdut, supported by the youth organisations known as Przedświt (“Daybreak”) and Gordonia. However, none of these leftist movements, despite their active approach and the support of the trade unions, managed to gain popularity among the poor yet religious Jews of Kraków. The Agudath, under the auspices of which the congress of the rabbis of the Małopolskie Province was held in Kraków in 1927, represented moderate Orthodox circles. The City Council elections produced different results, especially in the 1930s, when – on two occasions – large pro-government blocks were established under the influence of the Sanation movement; these blocks – the members of which included both Zionists and Orthodox Jews – were the Jewish Block for Economic Cooperation (1933) and the Representation of the United Jewry of the City of Kraków (1938).

In the Second Republic of Poland, Jews continued to expand their scientific, educational and cultural achievements. Apart from university professors (including R. Taubenschlag, L. Sternbach, J. Rosenblatt, A. Rosner), the Jewish community was also represented by teachers of three secondary schools with different educational profiles, six primary schools as well as vocational and artistic schools and a teachers’ seminary. These schools formed part of a number of different educational structures that corresponded to the ideological and cultural diversity among the Jewish community (Yavneh, Tarbut, Centos, Beit Yaakov, Chorev). Some Jewish teachers also worked in Polish schools. The artistic community included painters (A. Nacht-Samborski), architects, poets (M. Gebirtig), and journalists (there were ca. 70 Jewish newspapers in circulation at the time). Other related professions included publishers, booksellers, printers and antiquarians. In 1897, the Jewish theatre was founded; initially an amateur affair, it was transformed into a permanent establishment known as the Krakaver Yiddish Teater on Bocheńska street in the mid-1920s. There were also Jewish cinemas and as many as 18 sports clubs (with names such as Maccabi, Przedświt and Siła). Tomasz Gąsowski

The onset of World War II and the subsequent commencement of the Holocaust spelled catastrophe for the Jewish Town in Kraków. The events that followed were the consequence of the German policies directed against Jews, which provided for the gradual deprivation of rights, followed by undermining the material basis for their existence, the confiscation of property, isolation in ghettos, exploitation as cheap workforce and, finally, complete extermination. The civil administration (the offices of the district governor [Distrikt-Gouverneur], the municipal superintendent [Stadthauptmann]) and the police were involved in the programme of repressions against Jews. The strategy was supervised by the commandant of the security police (Sicherheitspolizei) in the Kraków district, in the fourth department of which (known as the Gestapo – the secret police) there was an office that managed all affairs pertaining to the Jewish population of Kraków (its successive directors being P. Siebert, O. Brandt, W. Kunde and H. H. Heinrich). The German municipal superintendents – Karl Schmid and Rudolf Pavlu – proved particularly relentless in their efforts aimed at the persecution of Jews.

Most of the administrative regulations in this regard were discriminatory in nature: they included the obligation to wear armbands bearing the Star of David (23 November 1939), penalties for non-compliance with the above (19 February 1940), distinguishing signs for Jewish stores and enterprises (8 September 1939) as well as for doctors’ practices (18 September 1940), prohibition on private car ownership (5 April 1940), restriction on the use of streetcars (1 March 1940) and trains (26 January 1940, 20 Februay 1940), restricted access to the Planty Park and prohibition of entry into the Main Square (29 April 1940). The exclusion of Jews from economic life and the deprivation of property was achieved, among others, by way of regulations which imposed the obligation to register any private property and assets (24 January 1940, 15 February 1940); Additionally, bank accounts belonging to Jews were blocked (20 November 1939); enterprises and workshops were confiscated and Jewish economic associations were forced to disband.

On 15 November 1939, the trust office (Treuhandstelle) was established, its mission being to hold all nationalised Jewish companies on trust. Jewish social and cultural organisations were also abolished; Jews were expelled from all judicial institutions and Jewish public schools were disbanded, with only the schools maintained by the Jewish community council being allowed to carry on their activities. Many historical monuments to Jewish culture were desecrated and destroyed, including the Old Synagogue and Jewish cemeteries. Fixtures and fittings were stolen from synagogues, while synagogue treasuries, archives and collections of books and manuscripts were plundered.

Synagogue buildings were subsequently converted into storage facilities and warehouses. Luxurious apartments and stores were seized and many people were forced to pay taxes and bribes. Every German operation in the ghetto brought about confiscation on a mass scale, with valuable goods such as furniture, works of art, carpets, clothing and other items designed for everyday use being taken away from houses. The tenement houses at 2 and 4 Limanowskiego Street served as warehouses for holding Jewish property, which was subsequently transported away to the Reich. Hundreds of Nazi German officials also confiscated Jewish property for their own private purposes, including R. Wendler, the district superintendent.

The number of Jews in Kraków, which, immediately before the beginning of World War II, was estimated at around 60,000, increased to 70,000 following the influx of war refugees, as indicated by the census carried out between 8 and 21 November 1939 by the Jewish community council. German authorities, however, considered such a numerous Jewish population in the capital of the General Government to be unacceptable and ordered a programme of mass deportation of Jews (Judenaussiedlung aus Krakau) on 18 May 1940. Initially, the deportation progressed slowly; subsequent regulations of 21 and 30 November 1940 were intended to expedite the process and to implement more radical measures, including the right to carry out round-ups and the restriction of the amount of permitted luggage to just 25 kg. The trail of the deported Jews led through the transit camp in the fort on Mogilska Street to Lublin District in the General Government, including the Lubelski, Białopodlaski and Radzyński districts, where between 1942 and 1943 they shared the fate of their brethren from those areas and perished in the extermination camps in Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka. In the course of the aforementioned operation, from mid-1940 until 28 February 1941, Germans deported the total of ca. 60,000 individuals.

Shortly before the establishment of the ghetto, there were 11,000 Jews in Kraków; subsequently, as a result of the extension of the city boundaries at the end of 1941, it increased to approximately 20,000. From 20 March 1941, Jews were only allowed to live inside the ghetto, while from 15 October onwards leaving the ghetto was punishable by death. At the beginning of the occupation, the Judenrat (the Council of the Jewish Community) operated in Kraków, initially led by M. Bieberstein and then by A. Rosenzweig; after they were executed, they were replaced by D. Gutter, who, with the aid of the Jewish police and various informants, collaborated with the Nazis with great zeal, which, however, did not save him from execution in the Płaszów camp. Pursuant to the disposition of the district governor dated 5 July 1940, the Jewish Ghetto Police (the Ordnungsdienst) was established; its duties included maintaining order in the ghetto and providing support in the course of performing arrests, deportation to extermination camps, as well tracking down underground resistance members and Jews who remained in hiding with the help of Aryan documents. Most of the members of the Ghetto Police were executed in 1943 in Płaszów.

The decree on forced labour for Jews issued by governor Hans Frank on 26 October 1939 was the starting point for the exploitation of Jews by Germans, who used them as a cheap workforce. A register of all individuals to whom the decree applied was drawn up on 4 March 1940. Initially the community council designated 250 people every day to perform various everyday tasks such as work in military garrisons, removal of debris or snow clearing; the obligation was later extended to thousands of Jews, who were enslaved in workshops in the ghetto, labour, and concentration camps as well as in the manufacturing sector (primarily weapons factories) and forced to perform public works.

At the same time, Germans continued to carry out their plans for physical extermination of the Jewish nation. The primary location where executions took place was the concentration camp in Płaszów. Jews were also executed in prisons (on the Montelupich and Św. Michała streets as well as in Krzesławice and on the so-called Glinnik in Przegorzały), in the julags (Jewish work camps) and in the headquarters of the Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei), the Ghetto Police and the Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei). There were many instances of murder – including both individual killings and mass executions –in Kostrze, Tyniec, Bieżanów, Bieńczyce, Branice, Mogiła, Prokocim, Ruszcza, Bonarka, and other locations. Many Jews were also murdered on the streets of Kraków itself; on 13 June 1943, several Jewish women were shot while attempting to escape during the transfer from the women’s section of the prison on Helclów Street to the prison on Montelupich street. During two large-scale “operations” (1-8 June 1942 and 28 October 1942), ca. 13,000 Jews were transported away from the ghetto to the Bełżec concentration camp; hundreds were executed on the spot. The regulation issued by W. Krüger (10 November 1942) provided that Jewish residential districts were only allowed in Kraków, Bochnia, Tarnów, Rzeszów and Przemyśl. All Jews who were found away from ghettos and camps could be executed on the spot.

On 14 March 1943, during the liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto, ca. two thousand Jews were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp; about 1,500 people were killed in gas chambers almost immediately upon arrival. A few hundred people were shot dead in the streets of the ghetto, with the rest transported to the Płaszów camp. The Jews of Kraków were sent to nearly all of the Nazi German labour and concentration camps in southern Poland (including those in Wiśnicz Nowy, Pustków, Szczebno, Skarżysko, Częstochowa, Lwów-Janowska) as well as to extermination camps in the entire area of occupied Poland and the rest of Europe (mostly to Auschwitz, Flossenbürg, Gross-Rosen, Mauthausen).

The Jewish Social Self-Help (Jüdische Soziale Selbsthilfe – JSS), which was renamed as the Jewish Aid Office (Jüdische Unterstützungsstelle – JUS) in 1942, and which formed part of the Central Welfare Council in the General Government, attempted to bring relief to Jews and to save them from the tragic fate that awaited them. The headquarters of this organisation was located in Kraków and was led by M. Weichert. The JSS/JUS provided Jews with food and medications, relayed donations from abroad and ran aid committees; despite the allegations of collaboration with the Nazis raised by certain Jewish underground organisations, it continued to operate efficiently until the summer of 1944.

From March 1943, the Polish Council to Aid Jews (also known as the “Żegota”), an underground organisation dedicated to saving Jewish lives, operated in Kraków. Its activities mostly involved providing Jews with safe places to hide, obtaining false documents, secretly transporting people abroad and allocating the financial support provided by the Polish Underground State. Hundreds of Jews were saved thanks to the support provided by Polish families (despite the fact that all forms of aid to Jews carried the death penalty). Some of the Jews managed to survive the concentration camps and regain their freedom upon the liberation of the camps by Allied forces. Some ended up in the Soviet Union during the war, where many survived despite the waves of repressions and imprisonment in Soviet labour camps. About 1,000 Jews, former prisoners of the Płaszów camp, managed to survive by virtue of their employment in the factory of a German named Oskar Schindler. It is estimated that a mere 3,000 Jews of Kraków (5% of the original population) managed to survive the war. Ryszard Kotarba

The surviving Jewish residents of Kraków began making their way back to the city as early as mid-January 1945. The first to return were the ones who had survived the war by hiding in towns and villages around Kraków. They were followed by the former prisoners of German camps and, sometime later, by those who had been deported deep into the Soviet territory. All of them were utterly exhausted physically and deprived of everything they used to have before the war broke out. The official lists from years 1945-1949 show that the number of Jewish resident in Kraków was subject to significant fluctuations. In April 1945 there were 500 Jews in Kraków; in June 1947 this number shot up to 20,000, whereas in April 1950 only 4,000 remained. The post-war city of Kraków often formed a mere temporary stage in the process of great migration, the primary destinations being Palestine and the United States. The Zionist Organisation “Bricha” operating in Kraków helped many people leave Europe – in most cases illegally.

Jews who chose to settle in Kraków found employment mostly in cooperatives (with approximately 150 Jews working in 9 cooperatives in 1947) and in private craft workshops (approximately 420 individuals in 1947). The attempts to restore the Jewish trading activities faced significant difficulties. For a while the situation allowed for a rapid development of kibbutzim – in 1947 there were as many as 10 in Kraków. Some members of the Jewish community were living off the modest funding provided by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). There was also a resurgence of political activity. Between 1945 and 1949, a number of Jewish political parties came into being in Kraków, including the Ichud Zionist party, Poale Zion, the Bund, Mizrachi, and Agudath, which represented religious interests. Most of them also had their own youth sections. A Jewish faction also existed within the Polish Workers’ Party (PPR). The efforts aimed at the reconstruction of the economic, cultural and political foundations of the Jewish community in Kraków were overseen by the Provincial Jewish Committee in Kraków led by L. Kupfenberg and then by E. Stulbach, member of the PPR. The offices of the Committee were located at 38 Długa Street. However, the functioning of the Committee faced difficulties due to the increasingly bitter rivalry between the Zionists and the communists. An agency of the Jewish Historical Commission, led by M. Borwicz, was also active in Kraków.

In April 1945, the Jewish Religious Association was established with Rabbi M. Steinberg at its helm; it was then renamed as the Jewish Religious Congregation, with offices at 2 Skawińska Street. However, it was soon to be torn by a conflict in its midst, as the proponents of a more secular approach (led by the Chief Rabbi of the Polish People’s Army, Lt. Col. D. Kahane) clashed with those who wanted the organisation to retain its independent and traditional, religious character. The Congregation persuaded the administrative authorities of Kraków to return a total of five synagogues and has then commenced the restoration of two of them – the Remuh and the Tempel synagogues – from its own funds. In addition, an infirmary (employing 25 medical doctors) and four care facilities have also commenced their activities in Kraków.

Until 1949, the educational system comprised an eight-grade primary school and a grammar school, both of them teaching in Polish. Hebrew classes were also available at the school located on Przemyska Street, which had links with the HeHalutz Zionist organisation. There were also religious schools, including a primary school that was maintained by the Talmud Torah association and a secondary school (yeshiva).

Relations between Jews and Poles in Kraków deteriorated following the anti-Semitic events that took place in the summer of 1945 and 1946, the most serious of which (11 August 1945) was tantamount to an attempted pogrom. The rise of the state of Israel in 1948 brought about an exodus of Jews from Poland with the support of national authorities.

The number of Jews in Poland began to dwindle. The subsequent migration waves (1956–1957 and 1968–1969) resulted in a situation where a mere handful of Jews remained in Kraków, spread across all districts of the city; most of those who remained were old, sick or lonely people. Following its restoration, the Old Synagogue was transformed into the Museum of Judaism (a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków). Cleanup and renovation works were performed in the old Jewish cemetery on Szeroka Street.

At the end of the 1960s, Jewish stores, workshops and antique bookshops vanished from the landscape of Kraków. The aid provided by the JDC was also discontinued. In the 1980s, the Religious Congregation in Kraków, encompassing 3 provinces, had approximately 200 members. In the mid-1980s approximately 100 people celebrated the Passover Seder. The crisis extended to religious life as well, even though the efforts of the chairmen of the Congregation – M. Jakubowicz and his son Czesław – two synagogues continued to operate in Kraków. The faithful would pray there in the presence of two cantors, though without a rabbi. From the 1980s, due to the negligible synagogue attendance, religious services were only held at the Remuh Synagogue and in a very simplified form, since few of those attending could speak Hebrew. From among the old rituals, the only ones which managed to survive were the funerals at the Jewish cemetery on Miodowa Street. A part of the building on Skawińska Street, which, until the end of the 1950s, had been the location of the Tarbud primary school, was taken over by a work cooperative. Apart from the Congregation, which provided a supply of matzo for celebration and issued approximately 30-40 kosher meals per day, the Kraków branch of the Social and Cultural Jewish Association also continued to operate at 30 Sławkowska Street until 1968.

In 1990, the Kraków Congregation had 229 members (both men and women), making it the largest such organisation in Poland. Around 1995 this number fell to 164; that same year, the former name of the community council was restored. In 1985, the first Bar Mitzvah in Kraków in 35 years was held, followed by the first Jewish wedding in 38 years, organised in 1994. However, none of the people who were in the middle of attention during these celebrations were actually members of the Kraków religious community. In the 1990s, the Social and Cultural Jewish Association, with offices at 14 Sławskowska Street, was reactivated. The new educational and cultural initiatives, as well as programmes related to the protection of cultural heritage, received the backing of the R. Lauder and Nissenbaum foundations. The activities of the Jewish Cultural Centre and the Jewish Culture Festival in Kazimierz are conducive to the gradual rebirth of Jewish culture in Kraków. In 1997, a rabbi began residing in Kraków once again. Tomasz Gąsowski

© The entry was written on the basis of information found on the PWN Publishing House website; see: The PWN Encyclopedia|http://encyklopedia.pwn.pl]], [[urle:Polish landuage dictionaries|http://sjp.pwn.pl]] i [[urle:Foreign language dictionaries.