After World War 1 anti-semitism rose in Krakow and continued all the way through to the start of World War 2.

Krakow was occupied by the Nazi Army on September 6, 1939. The persecution of the Jews began almost immediately. By October 26, 1939 Krakow was declared the capital of the GENERALGOUVERNEMENT, this made the persecution of the Jews in Krakow even worse. By November 28, 1939 the Jewish Committee or JUDENRAT was formed. In December of that same year the Nazis began to do terror actions against the Jews by seizing property and burning down synagogues. The Nazis continued issuing decrees restricting the Jews of Krakow by now making the city's boulevards and squares off limits in May of 1940. At the same time the Nazis began expelling Jews from Krakow, tjis way they could say that the capital of theGENERALGOUVERNEMENT was free of Jews. By March of 1941 40,000 Jews had been taken out of their homes and all their property stolen as they were shipped to nearby towns, only 11,000 remained in Krakow. At the same time in March a Ghetto was formed in the southern part of the city and a decree was made that all remaining Jews must report to the ghetto immediately. On March 20, 1941 the ghetto was sealed off from the rest of the city by a brick wall and barbed wire. By the end of that year over 18,000 Jews of Krakow and some small villages were living in this small ghetto. Also in the ghetto the Nazis built several factories to take advantage of the slave labor, at the same time there were also some factories outside of the ghetto. Each day the Jews working in those factories were taken from the ghetto each day and then brought back each night. One of the operators of one of the offsite factories was a man made famous for saving over a thousand Jews, Oscar Schindler. On March 19, 1942 the Nazis began a new terror campaign called the Intelligenz Aktion, in which about 50 of the top minds were deported straight to Auschwitz. By may more deportations followed sending more people to Extermination camps. By March 1943, 5,000 Jews remained in the Krakow ghetto. At this time 2,000 were sent to Plaszow work camp (among these were Schindler's Jews), 700 were killed on the spot and the remaining 2,300 were sent to Auschwitz to be exterminated.

Resistance

From the creation of the Krakow ghetto various underground resistance movements were at work. One of the most prominent who pushed for an armed struggle against the Nazis was the Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (Jewish Fighting Organization), which was not part of the group by the same name in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The fighters believed that there was no way to mount an uprising from inside the confines of the ghetto, therefore the must fight on the "Aryan" side of the walls. The most famous attack occurred at the Cyganeria Cafe which was located at the center of the city, this was chosen because it was a hot spot for German officers. During the operation 11 Nazis were killed and 13 were wounded. By the end of 1944 the Jewish resistance movement had sustained great losses and made a decision to move across the border into Slovakia and the Hungary where they continued to fight in the capital city of Budapest.

Post War

After the war had finished around 4,000 Jews returned to Krakow and made their homes their once again. The coming years would prove t be full of continuing anti-semitic feelings from the city's population. As a result between 1946 and 1951 most of the Jewish population left Krakow and by 1968 only a few Jews remained in Krakow.

Sources:

Krakowski, Shmuel. "Krakow." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Ed.

Israel Gutman. 4 vols. New York:Macmillan Publishing Co., 1990.

"Cracow." Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Eds.

Robert Rozett and Shmuel Spector. New York: Facts on file, 2000.

Dombrowska, Daunta, Stefan Krakowski, and Arthur Cygielman. "Cracow." Encyclopedia Judaica. Ed.

Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 5. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007.256-263

Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Holocaust Documentation & Educ Ctr. 14 May 2008