Kraków pogrom

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The Kraków pogrom refers to the events that occurred on August 11, 1945, in the city of Kraków, Poland, which resulted in one dead and five wounded victims. Since one death (Róża Berger) is confirmed in all historical sources, it is questioned whether this event truly falls under the definition of a pogrom.

Contents 1 Background 2 Unrest 3 Casualties 4 Aftermath 5 Notes 6 References 6.1 Written sources 6.2 Websites

[edit] Background

More than 68,000 Jews lived in Cracow before the German invasion, inSeptember 1939, but only 500 of them remained by January 1945, immediately after the liberation of Kraków by the Red Army.^[1] However this number gradually increased because some survivors from the Holocaust were returning home, and some Jewish refugees were arriving from the Soviet Union. Many Jews also returned to Kraków from neighbouring villages and towns. By May 1945, the number of Jews in the entire Kraków Voivodeship reached about 6415.^[2] This was not welcomed by the anti-Semitic elements in the populace. The safety of the Jewish community in Kraków was becoming a very serious problem. In June 1945, the communist Voivode of Kraków described growing tensions in his report:

In regard to the attitudes of the Polish population towards the Jews, the remnants of Nazi influences acquired during the occupation still linger... Robberies combined with murdering Jews occur: the motives and the perpetrators are usually not found. Nevertheless, their anti-Semitic background is apparent...In the previous month there were no serious anti-Jewish events in the voivodeship, yet there is no evidence that society's attitude towards the the Jews has changed ... An utterly insignificant event, or the most improbable rumour can trigger serious riots. The populace's attitude towards the Jews is a serious problem requiring a constant vigilance on the side of the authorities, and proper interaction with lower level offices.^[2]

[edit] Unrest

The first sign of real danger to the Jewish community occurred on 27 June 1945, when a Jewish woman was brought to a local Milicja station under false pretences. She was accused of attempting to abduct a child. Despite the fact that the investigation revealed that the mother had left her child in the care of the suspect, rumours started to spread that a Jewish woman abducted a child in order to kill it.^[3] A mob shouting anti-Jewish slogans gathered at Kleparski square, but a Milicja detachment brought the situation under control. Blood libel rumours continued to spread. False claims that thirteen corpses of Christian children allegedly had been discovered were disseminated. By 11 August, the number of rumoured "victims" had grown to eighty.^[3]. Groups of hooligans who gathered at Kleparski Square had been throwing stones at the Kupa Synagogue on a weekly basis.^[3] On 11 August an attempt to seize a thirteen year old boy who was throwing stones at the synagogue was made, but he managed to escape and rushed to the nearby marketplace screaming "Help me, the Jews have tried to kill me".^[4] Instantly the crowd broke in into the Kupa synagogue and started beating Jews, who had been praying at the Saturday morning Sabbath service;^[5] and the Torah scrolls were burned.^[6] The Jewish hostel was also attacked.^[6]. Jewish men, women and children, were beaten up on the streets; their homes were broken into and robbed.^[4] Some Jews wounded during the pogrom were hospitalized and later were beaten in the hospitals again.^[7] There is one record of a death relating to Krakow events in the archives of the Forensic Medicine Department in Krakow. The victim was 56-year old Auschwitz survivor Róża Berger, shot while standing behind closed doors.^[8][9]

During the pogrom some Poles, mistaken for Jews, were also attacked.^[10] The epicentre of these events were Miodowa, Starowislna, Przemyska, and Jozefa Streets in the Kazimierz quarter.^[11] The riots were most intense between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., calming down around 2 p.m., only to regain strength in the late afternoon when the Kupa synagogue was set on fire.^[11] Polish milicjamen and soldiers actively participated in these events^[12] Among twenty five of those accused of inciting racial hatred, robberies, and violence against Jews, twelve were officers^[12]

[edit] Casualties

There is one record of a death relating to Krakow events in the archives of the Forensic Medicine Department in Krakow. The victim was 56-year old Auschwitz survivor Róża Berger, shot while standing behind closed doors.^[13][14]

Polish historian Dr Anna Cichopek stated in her university Master Thesis (later published as a book) that all historical sources confirmed this one death.^[1] However, she also noted that in an archival photo taken during the funeral there are five coffins visible, thus suggesting that there might have been five fatalities; she also claimed in her book that the New York Times in 1946 had noted a death of a man (Anszel Zucker), and Polska Agencja Prasowa noted a death of another unknown woman (in addition to Róża Berger) and five wounded.^[1]

Polish historian, Dr Julian Kwiek, who has published existing Polish documents regarding the Krakow event stated that he is not familiar with the documents quoted by Cichopek from outside the scientific literature. He stated that one death is confirmed in all historical sources, therefore it is questionable whether this event truly falls under the definition of a pogrom.^[15][16]

Another historian, Dr Dariusz Libionka from the Center for Holocaust Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences, suggested that the photos showing the coffins were taken in the Spring of the following year and came from another funeral. He also stated that the book by Cichopek was based on weak assumptions^[17] with sources not properly cited,^[18] but the book itself is of immense value.^[17] According to him, the Polska Agencja Prasowa noted one dead person and five wounded. He also questioned the source of information regarding Anszel Zucker's death. According to Libionka it should have been concluded that the Krakow pogrom resulted in one dead and five wounded victims.^[19]

[edit] Aftermath

Kraków pogrom was the first major antisemitic riot in the postwar Poland.^[20][21] Similar acts of anti-Jewish violence were later recorded in other Polish towns.^[7][6] Most notorious of them was Kielce pogrom of July 4, 1946. According to Anna Cichopek more than 1000 Jews were murdered in Poland between 1944 and 1947.^[22] Similarly, according to a prosoviet^[23] Jewish historian Stefan Grajek around 1000 Jews were murdered by antisemitic hooligans in the first half of year 1946.^[24]

However, the renown Jewish-Polish historian Lucjan Dobroszycki announced as far back as in 1973 that he had "analyzed records, reports, cables, protocols and press-cuttings of the period pertaining to anti-Jewish assaults and murders in 115 localities” in which approximately 300 Jews had been killed.^[25]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] Written sources

• (Polish) Julian Kwiek, Wydarzenia antyżydowskie 11 sierpnia 1945 r. w Krakowie: dokumenty, Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, nr 1/2000 str. 77–89.
• (English) Translation of Magdalena Tytuła, Kielce na Kazimierzu, Gazeta Wyborcza (local 'Gazeta w Krakowie'), August 11, 2000,
• (Polish) Darisz Libionka, "Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość", nr 1/2002 str. 179-182
• Bozena Szaynok (2005). "The Role of Antisemitism in Postwar Polish-Jewish Relations", in Robert Blobaum: Antisemitism And Its Opponents In Modern Poland. Cornell University Press. Retrieved on 21 March 2007. p. 272
• Marcin Zaremba Psychoza we krwi. Polityka 05.07.2006 reprint in Onet.pl
• (Polish) Anna Cichopek (2003). The Cracow pogrom of August1945, in Joshua D. Zimmerman: Contested Memories: Poles and Jews During the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. Rutgers University Press, 87.
• Anna Cichopek, Pogrom Żydów w Krakowie, 11 sierpnia 1945 r., Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 2000, str. 10.
• Tomasz Konopka Śmierc na ulicach Krakowa w latach 1945-1947 w materiale archiwalnym krakowskiego Zakladu Medycyny Sadowej - "Pamięć i Sprawiedliwość", IPN, 2005, nr 2, p. 148
• (Polish) 11 sierpnia 1945 roku doszło do rozruchów antyżydowskich. Rozruchy w Krakowie nie były tak tragiczne jak rok później w Kielcach, ale nie obyło się bez ofiary śmiertelnej. 56-letnia Róża Berger zginęła od strzału oddanego przez zamknięte drzwi. Sekcja zwłok, oprócz rany postrzałowej, wykazała wiele ran pochodzących od uderzeń rozbitego strzałem zamka.

[edit] Websites

• Tomasz Konopka, Historia Krakowa pisana protokołami sekcyjnymi available at www.forensic-medicine.pl [2]
• ^ (Polish) Stefan Grajek, Po wojnie i co dalej? Żydzi w Polsce, w latach 1945−1949, (translated from Hebrew by Aleksander Klugman), Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, Warszawa 2003, pg. 254 [10]