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, 



  which had a large number of Jewish residents.

Background

After the Holocaust in which at least 6,000,000 Jews were killed by the Axis powers 

  (including 90% of Polish Jews), 

  some of the 50,000‒60,000 Jewish survivors were mistreated by local Poles after returning to their hometowns. 

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

Polish anthropologist Joanna Tokarska-Bakir estimated that 50 pogroms happened in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Ukraine between 1944 and 1948.Tokarska-Bakir, “Postwar Violence against Jews in Central and Eastern Europe,” p. 74. Dozens of anti-Jewish incidents happened in the Polish-Ukrainian borderlandsAdam 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. to the extent that Holocaust survivors were advised not to speak Yiddish in public.

Events

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

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

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

Aftermath

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


Related pages

 Babi Yar
 Racism in Poland
 Jedwabne pogrom
 Szczuczyn pogrom
 Rhineland massacres

References

Category:Pogroms
Category:Jewish history
Category:1940s in Poland
Category:Antisemitism in Europe