Fashionable SzerokaStreet in the Jewish Quarter. Everything is the same except the Jews are gone. |
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In September 1939, Krakow was captured so
quickly by the Germans that it avoided the prolonged bombing
and destruction that devastated other conquered European cities.
I have not been able to determine why the Nazi's allowed synagogues
and other structures clearly identifiable with Judaism to remain
standing in Kazimierz. Whatever the reason, the fact that much
of Kazimierz remains intact made this photographic exploration
possible. Jewish Krakow Today I am not religious, but I was disheartened spending Friday evening, the start of the Jewish Sabbath on Szeroka Street, the core of the prewar Jewish community of Kazimierz. On this night, fashionable people arrived in expensive cars and were eating in quaint outdoor restaurants soaking up the ambiance of the neighborhood. Before the war, these streets would have been filled with Orthodox Jews, hurrying to the scores of synagogues in the vicinity. |
This Friday evening kids are playing soccer in the courtyard of the Altschul, a synagogue built in 1407. Every Friday evening before the Holocaust, hundreds of the observant would have been gathered here to welcome the Sabbath.
On this Friday evening, local children were enjoying a game of soccer in the courtyard of the Altschul, the oldest synagogue in Poland. From the year 1407 until the German takeover in 1939, on any Friday evening, this courtyard would have been crowded with the faithful congregating to welcome the Sabbath with prayer. The playful children were showing no disrespect. There are virtually no Jews left to pray in Kazimierz and the Altshul no longer operates as a synagogue. The prewar Jewish population of Krakow numbered over 60,000, the vast majority of whom perished during the war. That number today is estimated at 200. |
