80: Krakow Pogrom

80 years ago today (August 11, 1945) the Krakow Pogrom occurred in Poland.

 

(Picrure: Marek Szapira, a Polish Jewish Student of the University of Warsaw, from 1934, stamped in 1937 with the inscription "Place in Odd Benches" (in the Ghetto Benches,)

Note: Marek survived the Warsaw Ghetto during the German Occupation and hid on the Non-Jewish Side.

During the 1969 Polish Government Anti-Jewish Attacks he was imprisoned by the Communists. He was released after 9 months and was allowed to move to Sweden (by giving up his Polish Citizenship.)

He died in 2002.

Marek Szapira shows the Pre-War World 2 Anti-Jewish Discrimination in Poland and the Post-World War 2 Anti-Jewish Discrimination in Poland.)

This was 3 months after the end of World War 2 in Europe and was not carried out by the Germans.

The Pogrom was carried out by Polish Civilians and Polish Communist Government Officials.

Before World War 2 in September 1939 there were 80,000 Jews living in Krakow, but by August 1945 there were 6,637 Jews (99% were Holocaust Survivors) living in Soviet-occupied Krakow.

On July 27, 1945 a Jewish Woman was brought to the local Communist Police Station accused of kidnapping a Non-Jewish Child.

Despite the truth coming out (that the Child’s Mother had asked the Jewish Woman to care for the Child) the rumors about more and more Child Abductions and Killings by Jews spread like wildfire.

On August 11, 1945 mobs of Poles attacked the Kupa Synagogue beating up those inside praying during the Sabbath and setting fire to the Torah Scrolls.

Jewish Men, Women and Children across Krakow were beaten and their homes destroyed.

There was one official Victim of the Pogrom: 56 year old Róża Berger, a Survivor of Auschwitz, who was killed while standing behind a closed door.

Polish Policemen and Soldiers actively participated in the Pogrom.

In total, 145 Suspects were arrested including 40 Militiamen and 6 Soldiers of the Wojsko Polskie (Polish Army.)

In October 1945, 25 People were charged with inciting racial hatred, robberies, and violence against Jews. Twelve of those charged were Polish Officers.

 Ten of the accused were sentenced to Prison.

The August 1945 Krakow Pogrom was one of a series of Anti-Jewish Pogroms carried out in Poland in 1945 and 1946.

Around 2,000 Jews (Holocaust Survivors) were killed by Polish Civilians and Polish Officials simply for being Jewish.

Due to these Pogroms and the Soviet Occupation of Poland 150,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children fled Poland for the West up until 1948.

People seem to think that Poland wasn’t Anti-Semitic (Anti-Jewish) until the Germans invaded in 1939.

Poland was part of the Pale of Settlement that Jews were required to live in by the Russian Czar from 1791 until 1917.

Russian Troops (along with Polish Civilians) regularly carried out Pogroms against the Jews during that time.

Things did not change when Poland became Independent in 1918.

The Polish Government created “Ghetto Benches” in 1935 that limited the number of Jews allowed into Polish Universities.

Jews that were allowed into the Universities had to carry a special ID Card stating they were part of the Ghetto Bench Quota and were to be segregated from Non-Jewish Students.

Traditional Polish Professions (Doctors, Lawyers, etc.) were also restricted to Non-Jews.

In 1938, the Polish Government revoked Polish Citizenship from tens-of-thousands Polish Jews who had lived outside the Country for an extended period of time.

When the Germans deported 17,000 Polish Jews from Nazi Germany to Poland in October 1938, the Polish Government refused to accept them and forced them to live in “No Man’s Land” between the borders.

It was only when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939 that the Jews were “allowed” into Poland where most were murdered during the Holocaust.

In 1968 Poland’s Communist Government started an official Government Propaganda Campaign against the Jews.

Attacks against the 40,000 Officially-Registered Polish Jews began.

14,000 Polish Jews were allowed to leave Communist Poland at that time by giving up their Polish Citizenship and never being allowed back in Poland.

Once Communism ended in Poland in 1990 things began to improve for the few Jews left in Poland.