Kraków, ulica Stradomska 10

This presentation was originally prepared
for the students of
III Społeczne Liceum Ogólnokształcące
and Społeczne Gimnazjum nr 7,
Kraków, ulica Stradomska 10.
Please, meet Mrs Genia Wohlfeiler-Manor
and Mr Nahum Manor.
Meet also Mr Jan Dresner.
It’s worth meeting them
as they come from a world
that has practically vanished
and of which only little has survived.
JEWISH
KRAKÓW
The world of Kraków Jews
constituted an essential part
of the history of the city,
greatly contributing to its
development.
Photo: Ulica Krakowska
before WWI (top)
and the Old Synagogue.
13 and 14 March 1943
saw a symbolic end of that
world,
for it was then that the
German Nazis destroyed it
by finally liquidating the
Kraków Ghetto.
Around 64 thousand people of Jewish descent
lived in Kraków before WWII,
which constituted around 25 per cent
of the total population of the city.
Photo: A traditional Jewish family in the Kraków Planty gardens.
You may know the following public figures
that come from the world of Kraków Jews:
film director Roman Polaoski
writer Roma Ligocka
art photographer
Ryszard Horowitz
Around 70 per cent of Kraków Jews lived in Kazimierz
– once a separate town founded by King Casimir the Great,
and a Jewish quarter of Kraków in the interwar period.
The remaining 30 per cent
of Jewish Cracovians
lived in other parts of the city.
Mrs Genia Wohlfeiler, for
instance,
lived in ulica Zyblikiewicza 15,
just outside the oldest part
of the city,
Mr Nahum Manor in ulica Czarnieckiego,
and Mr Jan Dresner in ulica Gertrudy 29, by the Royal Hotel.
RELIGION
RELIGION
The Kraków Jews prayed in
synagogues
that have survived till today:
the Old Synagogue in ulica
Szeroka;
RELIGION
the Kupa Synagogue
between ulica Miodowa and ulica Warschauera;
RELIGION
the High Synagogue in ulica Józefa 38;
RELIGION
Mr Kalman Wohlfeiler,
Mrs Genia Wohlfeiler’s father,
was a cantor in the High
Synagogue.
RELIGION
the Isaac Synagoue on the corner of ulica Izaaka
and ulica Kupa;
RELIGION
the Wolf Popper Synagogue in ulica Szeroka;
RELIGION
the Rema Synagogue, also in ulica Szeroka;
RELIGION
The Rema Synagogue derives its name
from ReMa, or Rebbe Moshe Iserles (16th c.),
a great rabbi, law codifier and philosopher.
Photo: ReMa’s grave in the Old Cemetry by the synagogue.
RELIGION
Progressive Jews,
applying religious law in a liberal manner,
prayed in the Tempel Synagogue in ulica Miodowa.
RELIGION
The figure of Ozjasz Thon
was closely linked with the
Tempel Synagogue.
He was a rabbi, Zionist activist,
preacher, columnist
and Member of Parliament.
RELIGION
Apart from the seven
main synagogues,
more than a hundred
smaller prayer houses
existed in Kraków,
such as Kovea Itim
le-Torah,
or the Society of Torah
Study, in ulica Józefa 42,
RELIGION
or the Synagogue of the Michał Hirsch Cypres Society
of Prayer and Charity in ulica Agnieszki 5,
which now houses the Alef Hotel.
RELIGION
Of the various religious institutions,
the building of the former mikveh, or ritual bath,
has also survived in ulica Szeroka 6.
Today it houses the Klezmer Hois Restaurant.
WORK
WORK
Many Kraków Jews were
traders.
The poorest – mostly in
Kazimierz –
peddled in street markets.
Photo: Street peddlers
in ulica Szeroka.
WORK
Photo: The Fish Market, now non-existent,
in front of the Isaac Synagogue, (left);
Jews selling shoes in the street (right).
WORK
Photo: the market in Plac Nowy;
the round structure in the background
used to be a kosher (ritual) poultry slaughterhouse.
WORK
Photo: the market in Plac Nowy today.
WORK
Those better-off worked as skilled craftsmen
or ran small shops,
both in Kazimierz and other parts of the city,
WORK
like Chaja and Kalman Wohlfeiler,
Mrs Genia Wohlfeiler’s parents,
who ran a fruit and sweets shop in ulica Starowiślna 18.
Photo: The place is still a shop today.
WORK
Mr Jan Dresner’s father, in turn, ran a fabric shop
on the ground floor of the building in ulica Stradomska 10.
WORK
The richest Kraków traders
ran shops in the centre of the city.
WORK
Photo: Jewish shops
in ulica Floriaoska.
WORK
Photo: Jakob Gross’s china shop in Rynek Główny 8
(the Main Square),
where orders were also placed
by the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.
WORK
Photo: In front of the Taffets’ second-hand bookshop in ulica Szpitalna.
“At the beginning of each school year a veritable carnival took place there –
crowds of (…) students rolled along the pavement and the street,
selling, buying and exchanging books, haggling over the price.” (Rafael F. Scharf)
WORK
Jewish Cracovians earned their living also in other trades.
They ran hotels;
Photo: Aleksander Ritterman and his hotels.
WORK
factories;
Photo: Bernard Liban, the owner of a chemical plant.
WORK
restaurants;
Photo: The Thorn Restaurant (left)
in ulica Krakowska 13;
Mayer Rapaport’s Hotel & Restaurant
on the corner of ulica Brzozowa
and ulica Dietla 63.
WORK
They also worked as lawyers;
Photo: Rafał Landau,
who ran his office
in ulica Grodzka 69.
He was also President of the
Jewish Religious Community.
WORK
Photo: Ignacy Landau,
a lawyer;
Deputy Mayor of Kraków
(1929-1934).
WORK
architects
Photo: Józef Sare (hence ulica
Sarego);
he designed and co-designed the
building of Collegium Medicum
and the buildings of the presentday Nowodworski Liceum (I LO)
and Sobieski Liceum (II LO);
Deputy Mayor of Kraków (19051929).
WORK
medical doctors
Photo: Jan Landau,
a pediatrician,
Head of the Jewish
Hospital in ulica Skawioska.
WORK
academics
Photo: Rafał Taubenschlag;
Head of the Chair of Roman
Law, the Jagiellonian
University.
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
The Jewish community of Kraków put a great emphasis on education.
Depending on the degree of their assimilation, piety and affluence,
Jewish parents sent their children to various schools.
The most religious sent their children to cheders –
Jewish religious schools for boys up to 13 years of age –
and yeshivas – religious educational institutions for single young men
above the age of 13.
Their curriculum focused on the study of the Jewish languages –
Yiddish and Hebrew – and later on the study of the Talmud.
EDUCATION
Photo: the building of the former
Talmud Tora religious school
on the corner of ulica
Warszauera and ulica Estery –
an evening school for boys
who attended lay schools in the
morning.
EDUCATION
Year 1921 saw the foundation
of the first modern religious
comprehensive school for boys
– Cheder Ivri.
The Boys Humanities
Tachkemoni Gimnazjum
was also opened here in 1927
(tachkemoni means
“education” in Hebrew).
Photo: The Cheder Ivri and
Tachkemoni schools before
WWII and today.
EDUCATION
Photo: Boys from Cheder Ivri in ulica Miodowa 26 (left)
and boys from a present-day cheder in the Jerusalem Old Town.
EDUCATION
Many Jewish children attended
state schools,
where a majority of the teaching
staff were Christian.
In the 15th Municipal Primary
School in ulica Miodowa 36,
most of the teachers were Catholic,
while all the girl-pupils were Jewish,
like little Genia Wohlfeiler.
Photo: A drawing of the school
building by Mrs Genia WohlfeilerManor.
EDUCATION
The school educated its pupils in a public-spirited and patriotic way,
which can be testified by the school chronicle kept by the pupils.
Photo: the school building today, now housing 11th Primary School.
EDUCATION
Photo: An entry in the school chronicle by Eugenia Wohlfeiler
on the national holiday of the anniversary of the Constitution
of May 3 (1936).
EDUCATION
Photo: An entry in the school chronicle by Eugenia Wohlfeiler
on Independence Day (11 November 1935).
EDUCATION
Photo: An entry in the school chronicle by Eugenia Wohlfeiler
about the pupils’ participation in the memorial ceremonies after
Marshall Piłsudski’s death.
EDUCATION
Photo: An entry in the school chronicle
about the Kraków Days taking place in the city.
EDUCATION
Photo: An entry in the school
chronicle by Paulina Silberberg
about the pupils’ participation
in the construction of the
Piłsudski Mound at Sowiniec
(October 1935).
EDUCATION
The most known Jewish school
in Kraków
was the Hebrew Primary School
and the Jewish Chaim Hilfstein
Coeducational Gimnazjum
in ulica Podbrzezie 8/10.
It was a comprehensive school
whose language of instruction was
Polish.
As the only Jewish gimnazjum
in Poland,
it guaranteed admission to Kraków
Jagiellonian University
and Jerusalem Hebrew University
without entrance exams.
The excellent teaching staff,
mostly educated at the Jagiellonian
University,
guaranteed in turn a high level of
instruction.
EDUCATION
Photo: The building of the Jewish (Hebrew) Gimnazjum
before WWII and now.
EDUCATION
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The gimnazjum teachers included
specialists in their fields:
Hirsz Scherer – headmaster,
a mathematician;
Joachim Metallmann – a biologist
and Jagiellonian University associate
professor;
Benzion Katz – a Hebrew teacher
and translator of classic Greek and
Latin literature;
Benzion Rappaport – a prominent
philosopher;
Nachman Mifelew – a playwright
(writing in Yiddish);
Chaim Löw – a Polish teacher and
literary critic;
Juliusz Feldhorn – a Polish teacher,
writer and art critic.
Photo: a physics lesson.
EDUCATION
“Feldhorn’s lessons had nothing of
teachers’ routine (…)
and diverged from the required syllabus.
He taught to look and listen.
He made concerts of classical and
modern music played from records,
acquainted the students with
masterpieces of fine art by means of
slide shows (…).”
(Natan Gross)
EDUCATION
“There were national holidays in which the whole school took part.
Independence Day, for instance.
On 3rd May [Constitution of May 3] we would also go to Temple [the synagogue]
for a special service.
School education was in the spirit of Polish patriotism (…).
We lived in Poland, we were Polish citizens, we felt Polish (…).” (Natan Gross)
EDUCATION
Photo: Students of the Hebrew Gimnazjum in a history lesson at
the Wawel Castle with Mr Ozjasz Mahler; 1939.
EDUCATION
Mr Jan Dresner
and Mr Nahum Manor
(then called Monderer)
also attended the Hebrew
Gimnazjum in ulica Podbrzezie.
Photo: Young Nahum in the
uniform of a gimnazjum scout.
EDUCATION
In September 1939, when WWII broke out,
thirteen-year-old Genia Wohlfeiler had begun attending,
unfortunately not for long,
the Jewish Coeducational Trade High School,
which existed in ulica Stradomska 10.
EDUCATION
The headmaster of the school
in ulica Stradomska 10
was Dr Samuel Stendig,
President of the Psychological
and Pedagogical Society
in Kraków,
author of numerous academic
publications.
EDUCATION
There were also other Jewish
schools in Kraków,
such as the Jewish Crafts School
in ulica Podbrzezie 3,
whose building now houses
the Institute of Biology of the
Pedagogical University;
EDUCATION
the girls’ Work Centre Private
Vocational High School
in ulica Skawioska Boczna
(now ulica Wietora 7),
where the 64th Gimnazjum is
located today;
EDUCATION
the so-called New School,
a gimnazjum for poor talented Jewish girls in ulica Starowiślna 1,
where all the teaching staff worked for free;
EDUCATION
or the Beit Jakow (Beit Yakov) schools for girls, founded by Sara
Szenirer:
the evening religious school in ulica Augustiaoska 30
and the Teachers’ College in ulica Stanisława 10 (in the photo).
CULTURE
CULTURE
The community of Kraków Jews published over sixty newspapers and magazines
before WWII.
Half of them were published in Polish,
while the remaining ones mostly in Yiddish and a few also in Hebrew.
The most popular among them was the Nowy Dziennik,
a daily read by Jewish intellectuals of Zionist views,
issued from July 1918 to early September 1939.
Besides the Lviv Chwila and the Warsaw Nasz Przegląd,
the Nowy Dziennik was one of the three most important Jewish newspapers
in prewar Poland.
CULTURE
Photo: the Nowy Dziennik office and printing house
in ulica Orzeszkowa 7.
CULTURE
The yard of the house in ulica Bocheoska 7 was the seat
of the Society of the Kraków Jewish Theatre, playing in Yiddish.
Unfortunately, it never reached the reputation
of the Polish-language theatres.
CULTURE
Mordechai Gebirtig was one of the more
interesting figures of Kazimierz.
A joiner by trade, he was a folk poet, songster and
actor, creating in Yiddish.
Having been moved to the Kraków Ghetto,
he sensed his tragic end.
He died during a roundup for the deportation of
June 1942.
Before his death, he managed to part with his city
through a poem:
Farewell, my Krakow! So, I wish you well!
The wagon’s waiting at my house.
The wild enemy drives me out
As one drives out a stray dog —
Without mercy, far away from you.
CULTURE
Photo: A plaque commemorating
Mordechai Gebirtig
on his home in ulica Berka
Joselewicza 5, where he lived.
SPORT
SPORT
A dozen or so Jewish sport clubs existed
in Kraków before WWII.
The two best known ones were the MAKKABI
Jewish Sport Club
and the JUTRZENKA Jewish Sport Society
(jutrzenka means the “morning star”).
SPORT
MAKKABI had its football field in ulica Koletek.
Photo: The ceremony of the MAKKABI Week (1937).
The Wawel Castle in the background.
SPORT
Photo: The team of NADWIŚLAN play here today.
SPORT
Romek Wohlfeiler, Genia
Wohlfeiler’s older brother,
played for Makkabi.
Photo: Romek and Genia.
SPORT
Romek’s Makkabi friends helped the Wohlfeiler family
secure a place in Schindler’s factory during the war.
SPORT
Photo: Makkabi playing against Cracovia on their field
in ulica Koletek.
SPORT
JUTRZENKA had their field where the Wisła stadium is today
(the grey oval in the picture).
The old Wisła field was right next to it.
SPORT
It was a JUTRZENKA footballer, defender Józef Klotz,
that scored the first goal for the Polish national team
in the history of their international games,
which happened from a penalty kick in 23 min. of the match against Sweden
in Stockholm in the spring of 1922.
Poland won 2:1.
SPORT
Leon Sperling, or Munio (1900-1941),
was one of the best known Jewish players of Kraków.
He played for Cracovia and Poland (standing fourth from right).
“An outstanding left-winger, with excellent technique,
a great individualist.” (Józef Kałuża, Cracovia)
Photo: The Polish national team at the Paris Olympic Games, 1924.
SPORT
The building of the Jewish Gymnastics House in ulica Wietora
demonstrates that Jewish sport in Kraków
was not limited to football only.
SPORT
Today, the building houses
the Old Town Youth Culture Centre.
MEDICAL
AND CHARITABLE
INSTITUTIONS
MEDICAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
The Jewish Hospital, one of the best equipped in the city,
was located in ulica Skawioska 8.
It was founded in the 1860s.
MEDICAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
Photo: The former Jewish Hospital today.
The building now houses the Second Internal Diseases Chair of
the University Hospital.
MEDICAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
Photo: The Jewish Hospital in ulica Skawioska.
MEDICAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
Various institutions ran charities, including orphanages.
Photo: The house of the former Jewish Orphans’ House
in ulica Dietla 64 (left), run by Róża and Łazarz Rock;
the dormitory of an orphans’ boarding school in ulica Bonerowska 10.
MEDICAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
The Kraków Jewish community also took care of the elderly.
Photo: The house of the former Asyfas Skeinim Association
for the Protection of the Jewish Elderly in ulica Chmielowskiego 6.
MEDICAL AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS
Neither did the Kraków Jews neglect their poor.
Photo: The building of the former Beit Lechem (House of Bread)
Association in ulica Skawioska 31.
It ran a charity kitchen.
An end to Jewish Kraków was put by the Second World War,
survived by very few Jewish Cracovians,
Genia and Nahum Manor and Jan Dresner among them.
The traces of the Kraków Jews’ existence bear testimony
to their centuries-long contribution to the city’s and country’s
development.
Now when they are gone,
memory of them should be retained.
Whether and how this is done
will reflect on our decency and righteousness.
JEWISH KRAKÓW
Farewell, my Kraków!
So, I wish you well!
The wagon’s waiting at my house.
The wild enemy drives me out
As one drives out a stray dog —
Without mercy, far away from you.
Farewell, my Kraków!
Holy is your earth;
There my beloved parents rest.
To lay with them eternally
Will not be my fate —
A grave awaits me somewhere else.
Farewell, my Kraków!
Perhaps this day I’ll see
For the last time all that’s dear to me.
At my mother’s gravesite,
My heart cries out in pain —
It was so hard to part from her.
Author:
Translation:
Music:
Singer:
My eyes are crying, too,
‘Till I’ve no more tears to shed;
My father’s cold gravestone is wet with them.
And my grandfather’s gravestone,
I cannot find at all —
It must have turned to sand by now.
Mordechaj Gebirtig
Bret Werb
Ewa Kornecka
André Ochodlo
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Sources used in the presentation:
Duda Eugeniusz, Żydowski Kraków. Przewodnik po zabytkach i miejscach pamięci,
Kraków 2003
Holokaust. Historia i zagłada Żydów, an educational programme by the Galicja
Jewish Museum, Kraków
Kronika szkolna uczennic żydowskich z lat 1933-1939, Kraków 2006
Rympel Manuel, „Słowo o Żydach krakowskich w okresie międzywojennym (19181939)”, *in:+ Kopiec wspomnieo, W. Bodnicki and others (ed.), Kraków 1964
Skotnicki Aleksander, Oskar Schindler w oczach uratowanych przez siebie Żydów,
Kraków 2007
Świat przed katastrofą. Żydzi krakowscy w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym,
Kraków 2007
Zbroja Barbara, „W sercu żydowskiego Kazimierza”, Gazeta Wyborcza,
http://krakow.gazeta.pl/krakow/1,90719,6625720,W_sercu_zydowskiego_Kazimie
rza.html
Zbroja Barbara, „W stronę Synagogi Tempel”, Gazeta Wyborcza,
http://krakow.gazeta.pl/krakow/1,90719,6625716,W_strone_synagogi_Tempel.ht
ml
This presentation was prepared by ADAM MUSIAŁ.
adammusial711@gmail.com