Kraków pogrom

The Kraków pogrom was an organized anti-Jewish riot that happened in the Kazimierz district of the Polish city Kraków on August 11, 1945,[1] which had a large number of Jewish residents.[1]

Background

After the Holocaust in which at least 6,000,000 Jews were killed by the Axis powers[2] (including 90% of Polish Jews),[2][3] some of the 50,000‒60,000 Jewish survivors were mistreated by local Poles after returning to their hometowns.[1]

Vandalism of synagogues and assaults on the survivors were common in cities like Chełm, Częstochowa, Kraków, Lublin, Miechów, Płock, Przemyśl, Radom, Rzeszów and Tarnów.[1] Kraków's governor wrote in a June 1945 report:[1]

The question of the society's attitude towards Jews is a serious problem [. ...] persistent news spread around the city that Jews were kidnapping and murdering Polish children “to make matzo”.

Polish anthropologist Joanna Tokarska-Bakir estimated that 50 pogroms happened in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine between 1944 and 1948.[4][5] Dozens of anti-Jewish incidents happened in the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands[4][6] to the extent that Holocaust survivors were advised not to speak Yiddish in public.[4]

Events

The pogrom started with a teenager ‒ caught throwing rocks repeatedly at the Kupa Synagogue ‒ accusing the synagogue of trying to kill him.[1] The teenager also lied about seeing dead bodies of children in the synagogue.[1] The rumor spread, and thousands of Poles attack the Kupa Synagogue on August 11, 1945.[1] Some soldiers and policemen joined the riot.[1]

The Kupa Synagogue was burned down in the riot,[1] along with the Torah scrolls and religious books.[1] Jews were beaten on the streets,[1] resulting in one dead and dozens wounded.[1] The wounded Jews were also attacked when being treated in hospitals.[1] A survivor of the pogrom said:[7]

I was carried to the second precinct of the militia where they called for an ambulance. There were five more people over there, including badly wounded Polish woman [sic]. In the ambulance I heard the comments of the escorting soldier and the nurse who spoke about us as Jewish crust whom they have to save, and that they shouldn't be doing this because we murdered children, that all of us should be shot. We were taken to the hospital of St. Lazarus at Kopernika Street. I was first taken to the operating room. After the operation a soldier appeared who said that he will take everybody to jail after the operation. He beat up one of the wounded Jews waiting for an operation. He held us under cocked gun and did not allow us to take a drink of water. A moment later two railroadmen appeared and one said, "It's a scandal that a Pole does not have the civil courage to hit a defenceless person", and he hit a wounded Jew. One of the hospital inmates hit me with a crutch. Women, including nurses, stood behind the doors threatening us that they were only waiting for the operation to be over in order to rip us apart.

Meanwhile, one of the rioters, who happened to be a caretaker of Kazimierz, testified:[1]

Everyone said that the Jews murdered children. I also saw that the soldiers catch mainly Jews, this is how the old hatred towards Jews aroused in me and I just relieved myself.

Aftermath

145 suspects were arrested,[8] including 40 militiamen and 6 soldiers.[8] The Kraków military court sentenced fourteen persons to between one and seven years in jail.[1][8] Paul Katz, one of the Holocaust survivors, said that he usually wore Russian uniform borrowed from his brother in Kraków to avoid danger.[4] The uniform allowed him to walk around the city safely during the pogrom.[4]

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15
    • Engel, David (1998). "Patterns Of Anti-Jewish Violence In Poland, 1944–1946" (PDF). Yad Vashem Studies Vol. XXVI. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem. ISSN 0084-3296.
    • Szaynok, Bożena (2005). "The Role of Antisemitism in Postwar Polish-Jewish Relations". In Blobaum, Robert (ed.). Antisemitism and its opponents in modern Poland. Cornell University Press. p. 272. ISBN 978-080144347-3.
    • "Anniversary of the Kraków pogrom of 1945". POLIN Museum. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
    • "This week in Jewish history | Kraków pogrom ends with synagogue demolished, at least one dead". World Jewish Congress (WJC). August 10, 2021. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
    • Tokarska-Bakir, Joanna. "The Kraków Pogrom of 11 August 1945 against the Comparative Background" (PDF). Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Waligórska, Magdalena; Weizman, Yechiel; Friedman, Alexander; Ina, Sorkina (May 27, 2023). "Holocaust Survivors Returning to their Hometowns in the Polish-Belarusian-Ukrainian Borderlands, 1944–1948". The Journal of Holocaust Research. 37 (2): 191–212. Retrieved May 16, 2025.
  5. ↑ Tokarska-Bakir, “Postwar Violence against Jews in Central and Eastern Europe,” p. 74.
  6. ↑ Adam Kopciowski, “Anti-Jewish Incidents in the Lublin Region in the Early Years after World War II,” Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały (2008): pp. 177–205, specifically p. 177; Kwiek, Nie chcemy Żydów u siebie, pp. 214–5.
  7. ↑ István Deák; Jan Tomasz Gross; Tony Judt (2000). The politics of retribution in Europe : World War II and its aftermath. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-691-00953-7. OCLC 43840165.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Cichopek, Anna (2003). "The Cracow pogrom of August 1945". In Zimmerman, Joshua D. (ed.). Contested Memories: Poles and Jews During the Holocaust and Its Aftermath. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. pp. 221–238. ISBN 978-081353158-8. OCLC 54961680.
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