Jewish Literature In Kraków 

1918 – 1948

Geoffrey Weisgard

Introduction

As is well known, for several centuries Kraków was the capital city of Poland. As such, it attracted a large and diverse Jewish community[1].  The Jewish population grew from about 26,000 at the beginning of the twentieth century to about 60,000 at the commencement of the Holocaust. A wide variety of literature is one of the features which is therefore to be associated with the community, and its wide range of cultural groups.[2]  The purpose of this article is to give the reader an indication of the nature and scope of the material that is available.

One conclusion that can be reached from what is said below, is that not even the Holocaust completely stemmed the flow of creative writing within the Jewish community. Indeed, such literature, including diaries and poetry together with the recording of testimony, continued after the war. If anything put a stop to Jewish literature in Kraków it was the activity of the Communist authorities which contributed to waves of Jewish emigration in the post war period. Another major factor contributing to emigration was, of course, the creation of the State of Israel.

Many people may believe that the recording of Holocaust testimony has been a relatively recent activity, undertaken mainly by elderly survivors. However, a second conclusion that is reached in this paper is that the recording process started during the Holocaust itself in the form of diaries kept during the German occupation. Some of this testimony was published in 1945 and 1946.

Some authorities have noted that in the twentieth century the Kraków Jewish community was more Polonised than in other cities.[3] For example ‘in Kraków, unlike Warsaw or Łódz, Hassidic Jews speaking flawless Polish (as well as Yiddish) were a common feature of the landscape.’[4] Furthermore, ‘Kraków seems to have been an exception among Polish cities. Anti-semitism was less acute here and the majority of Jews spoke Polish and felt a strong affinity to Polish culture, while also preserving their Jewish identity.’[5]  It follows that any conclusions that can be reached from this article may well not apply to other Polish cities. Almost certainly they do not apply to most Jewish communities which lived in villages and small towns.

It is difficult, of not impossible, to define the term ‘Jewish literature’.[6] Generally, the term is taken in this article to relate to the works written by Jewish authors. Yet the material which is described is not restricted to the work of Jewish authors. The notable exception is the work Apteka w Getcie Krakowskim (The Pharmacy in the Kraków Ghetto) by Mgr Tadeusz Pankiewicz which was first published in 1947. Conversely the term ‘Jewish literature’ does not include, for the purposes of this article, all that was written by non-Jewish authors even though their writings may have had a significant or even profound effect on the Jewish community. In particular, the extensive writings of the Nazi authorities fall outside the scope of the article. If, then, ‘Jewish literature’ is not adequately defined, it must be conceded that what is mentioned below, and what is omitted, must largely depend on the author’s judgement. It can be said, however, that the literature to which reference is made encompasses the Press, Poetry, and Testimony, and a wide range of academic papers. Some of the authors showed remarkable creativity, even when surrounded by destruction.

The period which is covered, 1918 to 1948, on the other hand is an easier aspect to understand. The first date coincides with the end of the First World War and the establishment of the independent Polish Republic. The year, 1948, has been chosen so that recognition can be given to testimonies which were written during the Holocaust and published shortly afterwards. Of course many books and articles relating to the Jewish community of Kraków have been written since 1948 but they fall outside the scope of this article.[7]

Jewish literature in Kraków in the period covered by this article can be considered against the wider background of ‘Polish Jewish Literature in the Interwar Years’. This is the title of a book by Eugenia Prokop-Janiec.[8]  Further information is available from the work ‘Jewish Polish Writers in Cracow between the Two World Wars’ by the same author.[9] In this second work reference is made to the growing sense of Polish nationalism following the end of the First World War. This resulted in ‘a remarkable increase in the number of Jewish authors writing in Polish. Some of them dealt with general or Polish topics, whilst others wrote about Jewish issues or for the Jewish audience’.[10]

The Press

As in Jewish communities today, the Jews of Kraków, with the exception of the most orthodox, did not limit their reading to the Jewish press. Neither did they restrict themselves to newspapers which were published in Kraków. For example the family of one author regularly read three publications. One was Nowy Dziennik which is described below. The second was Naprzód (Forward), the Kraków edition of the official daily organ of the Polish Socialist Party. The third paper was the Bundist daily, Naye Folkstsaitung (New People’s Gazette) which was a Yiddish paper published in Warsaw. Additionally, the author read  Płomyk (Small Flame).[11] This was a non Jewish illustrated weekly for children, first published in 1917.

Nevertheless, by the year 1918, the Jewish community of Kraków had developed a diversity of  newspapers and magazines of its own which reflected a full range of political, religious and social views.

One the most detailed accounts of the Press during the interwar period is the second chapter in a work ‘Jewish Life in Cracow, 1918-1939’ by Sean Martin[12]. Dr Martin points out that an aim of the Jewish Press was to enable individuals to affiliate with the Jewish community in their different ways. These different ways were reflected in the use of language, whether Polish, Yiddish or Hebrew.[13]  Many publications sought to emphasise the Jewish national identity of their readers, whether in the context of life in Poland, or in the context of Zionism. From time to time this resulted in contradictions. For example, the editor of the Yiddish publication Dos Yidishe Vort supported the Hebrew Gimnazjum or Secondary School[14] whilst the Zionist paper Nowy Dziennik  encouraged its readers to show Hebrew as their native language in the 1931 census returns, even though the paper was published in the Polish language.

Examples of Hebrew newspapers which were published in Kraków include ha’Magid and the religious Zionist weekly ha’Mitzpe. Various issues of these publications can be viewed on line at the National Library of Israel at http://web.nli.org.il/sites/JPress/English/Pages   

Nowy Dziennik was the only daily Jewish newspaper in Kraków during the interwar period, and in current times is possibly the best known publication. Despite the Zionist influence of Nowy Dziennik, and the Hebrew Secondary School, publications in the Hebrew language were few in number and the majority were short lived. Having said that, the weekly publication ha’Mitzpe was a Zionist and general paper which appeared from 1904 to 1921.[15] From 1934 to the outbreak of World War II the Association of Zionists-Revisionists, led by Zew Żabotyński, published a Polish language weekly Trybuna Narodowa in Kraków.[16] Some journals catering for Zionist youth published in the Hebrew language but with Polish transliteration rather than Hebrew letters.

The Socialist and Yiddishist movement, The Bund, published its journal in Polish.  However there was an active Press in the Yiddish language,  despite the prevalence of Polish in the interwar Kraków community. This is described in some detail in the work by Sean Martin, and particularly in the chapter entitled ‘The Yiddishist Reaction to Assimilation: Religious and Cultural Responses’.  Martin notes that most of the Yiddish titles were single issue publications and socialist Zionist in political orientation[17]. On the other hand he points out that even within the context of the Yiddish press there was a division between those publications attracting traditionally religious Yiddish speakers, and those attracting Jewish intellectuals, and those directed to the Zionist section of the community.[18] Despite the observation that most Yiddish titles were single issue publications, one should note the exception, Dos Yidishe Vort’\. This was published for a period of over 15 years under the editorship of Samuel Probst.[19]

The Yiddish work Tsvishn Beyde Velt-Milchomes by Isaac Schwartzbart[20] includes a chapter ‘Unser Wochbletter’ which describes various publications including Nasza Tribuna, Tzofim and, of course, Nowy Dziennik. The book also includes a chapter concerning the Polish press and the Jewish community in Kraków.

The number and variety of publications catering for the Jewish community has been noted by Sean Martin, and others such as Czesław Brzoza. The latter author wrote ‘Jewish Periodicals in Cracow (1918-1939)’. This work includes an Appendix listing a bibliography.  In the same publication[21] is an article  by Ewa Bąkowska listing and describing the inventory of Jewish Press in the holdings of the Jagiellonian Library. The appendix prepared by Czesław Brzoza lists some 176 publications, though as previously noted, some of these appeared for only a short period of time, or as single issues.  Publications included specialist professional journals such as The Bulletin of the Association of Jewish Lawyers in the Kraków Advocates’ Chamber, and the Chemical Periodical (Czasopismo Chemiczne)[22]. Additionally there were publications which catered for trade and industry, for example Przegląd Kupiecki and Rękodzieło  Przemysl.[23] An article on the Jewish press in Kraków in the interwar period by the same author, Czesław Brzoza, is also to be found in volume 7 of ‘Polin’.[24]

The works of Czesław Brzoza and others were considered by Dr Sabina Kwiecień (April) in her paper ‘The Jewish Press in Polish in Kraków in the Years 1918-1939’[25]  This paper can be read in Polish or English at http://sbsp.up.krakow.pl/article/viewFile/1036/pdf , though the English Google translation is not very good. The paper emphasises the number of publications and the range of topics and interests which were covered. Other works by Dr Kwiecień include ‘The Jewish Press in Kraków during the Nazi Occupation’[26] and ‘Manifestations of Cultural Life in the Kraków Ghetto in the Light of Jewish Newspapers’.

Napoleon Telz (1866-1942) bought a printing house in Kraków in 1895. His publications included Dziennik Poranny and later the paper of the political party PPS, Dziennik Krakowski.[27]

Whilst the number and variety of publications reflected the diversity of the Jewish community, the fact remains that Nowy Dziennik had by far the largest readership.  Sean Martin has noted that the newspaper was created largely as a response to the antisemitic climate immediately following the first World War. This view seems to be consistent with correspondence held by The Central Archives of the History of the Jewish People, in Jerusalem. This is correspondence dated 1919 with the Polish army which prohibited the distribution of Nowy Dziennik because of accusations in it that the army had been responsible for the recent pogroms in Lvóv.[28]

The pages of Nowy Dziennik include some of the most detailed information about Jewish life in Kraków, and articles written by the community’s most prominent Jewish leaders, including Abraham Ozjasz Thon (1870-1936), and Chaim Hilfstein (1871-   ), a physician, Zionist activist, and co-founder and President of the Gimnazjum (Hebrew Secondary School).  It follows that, in recent years, there has been more comment about Nowy Dziennik than any other publication circulating in the Kraków Jewish community. For example a good half of Sean Martin’s essay on the Jewish Press in the interwar period is devoted to this one publication. By way of further example one can mention the article ‘The Political Thought of the Zionist Nowy Dziennik in its Early Period, July 1918 – January 1919’ by Janusz Fałowski[29]. The twin aims of the publication are stated to be firstly, national autonomy for Jews living in Poland and, secondly the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.As a reflection of the importance of this newspaper, it is a source of recent research into various aspects of social activity.[30]

The wide appeal of the publication is reflected by the fact that Nowy Dziennik had a series of specialist supplements on subjects such as literature and art, films, music, home and school, and home medicine (Lekarz Domowy), as well as supplements for women, and children and young people.[31] The paper also issued supplements for Jewish festivals, including Passover.[32] The literary section of Nowy Dziennik is described in some detail by the works of Eugenia Prokop-Janiec which have been mentioned in the introduction to this article. She has noted that:-

During those [the interwar] years the literary section of Nowy Dziennik became the most significant vehicle for literary endeavours in Jewish Cracow….. The intellectual level of this literary section, whose editor was Mojzesz Kanfer, a theatre and literary critic, was very high.[33]

Nowy Dziennik reported widely on the Jewish Theatre, no doubt reflecting the influence of Mojsesz Kanfer.  A paper by Mirosława Bułat entitled ‘Kraków – Jewish Theater Mosaic’ draws together a wide range of information taken mostly from Nowy Dziennik in the period from 1918 to 1928.[34] Additionally, reference can be made to the publication Jidisz Teater,[35] and the bilingual publication Wiadomości Teatralne/ Teater Yedies.[36]

Sean Martin and other authors have commented at some length at the attitudes, often apparently contradictory, adopted by the management of Nowy Dziennik to the Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish languages. Nevertheless, from a genealogical point of view, little work seems to have been carried out, for example, to prepare a data base of names appearing in the newspaper, or to research any surviving records of the Union of Hebrew Journalists.[37]

Libraries and Reading Rooms

The Remuh Jewish Library which today is run by the Czulent Association  at the Jewish Community Centre in ul. Miodowa is the successor to a long tradition of providing reading rooms to the Jewish community of Kraków. The libraries and reading rooms of the interwar period have been described by Sean Martin.[38]  He explains that the variety of the reading facilities matched the diversity of the community and the societies and political affiliations which served it. For example, a reading room was sponsored by the official kehilla in its administrative building and had 200 members. It was briefly re-opened after the war. The People’s Reading Room also had about 200 members but it reached out to the Jewish working class, combining socialist and Zionist ideology.  Sean Martin also refers to the I. L. Peretz Jewish People’s Library which appeared to be both Yiddishist and socialist. On the other hand the ‘Social Reading Room’ was located on the main market square in Kraków (Rynek Główny), outside the Kazimierz district and attracted the Jewish intelligentsia.  Henryk Vogler, a writer of literary criticism and fiction was a member of this group.[39] Sean Martin refers to the wide range of activities undertaken by the Social Reading Room, its large membership and its commitment to Polish rather than purely Jewish culture.

 ‘The Destruction of Jewish Libraries and Archives in Cracow During World War II’ is the title of a paper written by Marek Sroka in 2003.[40] The author describes not only the destruction and removal of items but also the attempts to protect and rescue collections. Particular reference is made to the Ezra Library which was established in Kraków in 1899.

As noted below in the section relating to the Holocaust,  the Jewish community attempted to maintain libraries even in the Ghetto and at Płaszów.  Some Holocaust survivors who returned to Kraków used municipal libraries[41].

Mordechai Gebirtig

Although much Jewish literature of Kraków in the twentieth century was written in the Polish language, an account of the subject would be incomplete without  recognition of the Yiddish folk poet, Mordechai Gebirtig. Many books and articles have been published to describe the work and life of this man. The following brief summary has been taken from an account made available by The New Cracow Friendship Society[42].

 ‘Mordechai Gebirtig, one of the greatest Yiddish poets and writer of songs in Yiddish folklore, is remembered by Jews from Cracow with great reverence, as he was one of their own. A poor man struggling to make a living from carpentry, Mordechai Gebirtig’s songs were about poverty and hope taken from the streets of Jewish life.

He started his career with two songs, ‘Kinderyorn’ and ‘Hulet, Hulet, Kinderlech’. The songs were written as part of a Yiddish operetta ‘Die Romanishe Chasiny’.

After the notorious pogrom in Pyzytyk in 1936, Gebirtig wrote the now famous song ‘Es Brent’. The melody  is based on a tune used by the fire department of Cracow played on the bugle when driving through the streets of the city. This song became, during the Nazi Occupation, the hymn of the Cracow Jewish Underground Organisation, (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa).

In the Cracow Ghetto, Gebirtig wrote sad songs, amongst others ‘Farewell to Cracow’ when he was ‘resettled’ to Lagiewnik and then he wrote a song with a bit of optimism, ‘The Day of Vengeance’. But Gebirtig did not live to see that day. He was shot in 1942.’

Several of the songs composed by Mordechai Gebirtig can be heard on Youtube. His works are described in various publications including ‘Jewish Music in Poland between the World Wars’[43]

Other authors in the 1920’s and 1930’s

The variety and number of Jewish writers in the inter war period can be illustrated by the following examples.

Rabbi Pinchas Eliahu Dembitzer (1849 – 1920) was the son of a Dayan (religious judge), and was also a Dayan himself. He was the author of commentaries to ‘Givat Pinchas’, a work by the American Rabbi, Pinchas Avraham Perl, which were published posthumously in Kraków in 1925.[44]

Feivel Hirsch Wettstein (1858-1924) was a learned author who had a bookstore in Kraków. His works were published in old Hebrew, many of them around the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries. His one book which falls within the timescale of this article is ‘Le Korot ha’Yehudim b’Polin u’ve Yichud  b’ Krakuv mi snat 1096 ad shnat 1587 (History of the Jews in Poland and Particularly in Kraków from 1096 to 1587); Kraków, 1918. It was arguably F H Wettstein and some of his contemporaries (for example Bernardt Friedberg, 1876-1961)[45]  who laid the foundations on which Prof Majer Bałaban built his writings.[46]

Adolf Gross (1862–1936) was a political and social activist, and an advocate of women’s emancipation. Together with Wilhelm Feldman (1868-1919)  he founded Dziennik Poranny (Morning Daily) which supported the socialist cause. He was also editor in chief of Tygodnik (The Weekly) and contributed to other publications.[47]

Leon Sternbach (1864–1940) was a professor at the Jagiellonian University who wrote extensively about Hellenic and Byzantine Studies. He was arrested with other professors at the University in November, 1939.[48]

Ozjasz Thon (1870-1936) achieved many high positions both within the Jewish community and outside it.  For example, he served as a Deputy in the National Sejm (Parliament) and was the Rabbi of the Progressive Synagogue in Kraków. He was instrumental in the establishment of the newspapers, Nowy Dziennik, and frequently wrote for that publication, as well as being its editor in chief. In this connection, the name of Ozjasz Thon should be linked with that of Wilhelm Berkelhammer (1889-1934) who is mentioned below.  Rabbi Thon  also contributed to the Warsaw paper Hajnt (Today) and the Lvóv based Nasza Opinja, and the Jerusalem weekly, ha’Olam.  Additionally he published numerous papers in various languages in the fields  of sociology, philosophy and politics.  The activities and achievements of Ozjasz Thon have been the subject of a detailed book A Romantic Polish-Jew; Rabbi Ozjasz Thon from various Perspectives.[49]

Prof. Majer Bałaban (1877-1942) was born in what was then Lemberg (now Lviv), where he spent much of his life. He was one of the many who died in  the Warsaw Ghetto. He was clearly, therefore, not a native of Kraków and yet he fully deserves to be included in this account of ‘Jewish Literature in Kraków’. The reason for this is his two volume work Historja Żydów w Krakowie i na Kazimierzu, 1304-1868 published in Kraków in 1931 and 1936.[50]  The work, which refers to many primary sources which have now been lost, is of great use to genealogists, even if they do not understand Polish or modern Hebrew,[51] for the following reasons. Firstly, the work includes a detailed name index. Secondly it includes a useful map from the beginning of the nineteenth century, as well as a number of old photographs and drawings. Thirdly, between them the two volumes contain no fewer than 37 family trees.[52] The Polish publication is available on the site of the Lower Silesian Digital Library (Dolnośląnska Biblioteka Cyfrowa) in Wrocław at

www.dbc.wroc.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=11946&from=publication

A detailed review of Professor Bałaban  has been written by Professor Assaf of Tel Aviv University. It is available at

www.kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/krakow/kra_balaban_hebrew.htm [53]

Mojżesz Deutscher (1878-1941) was a leader of the religious party Agudas Yisroel. As the owner of a printing house he, together with Samuel Probst, published the Krakower Togblat, the Yiddish newspaper of Kraków’s orthodox community. This was published each day for about four months in 1919.[54]

Ignatius Isaak Schwartzbart (1888-1961) was an active Zionist politician. Along with Ozjasz Thon, he was a member of the Polish parliament.[55] He held many other posts including President of the World Union of General Zionists.  He was editor of Nowy Dziennik and also wrote for a number of journals which were published in Lvóv and Warsaw.[56] As noted above in the section relating to the press, he wrote a book in Yiddish about Jewish Life in Kraków between the Two World Wars. This was published in Argentina in 1958.[57]

Wilhelm Berkelhammer (1889-1934) worked as a journalist in various parts of Poland. He was also a publisher. In 1919-1920 and 1925-1934 he served as editor in chief of Nowy Dziennik and he served as vice president of the Kraków Syndicate of Journalists.[58]

Tadeusz Peiper (1891-1969) was a prolific  literary scholar and art critic. He was born in Podgórze, Kraków and founded a monthly publication, Zwrotnica, which was devoted mainly to avant-garde movements in contemporary poetry. As a young man, he converted to Catholicism, not the only Jewish writer to do so.[59]

Felicja Infeld-Stendigowa (Felicja Stending, née Infeld) (1895-1945) who graduated from the Hebrew Gymnazjum and the University in Kraków was an essayist, journalist and literary critic.  She wrote for various publications including Nowy Dziennik and was a supporter of the Women’s International Zionist Organisation.  Her husband, Jakub, and her sister, Bronia, (1902-1943) each founded separate educational establishments in Kraków.[60] Jakub Stendig is mentioned below in the section relating to the Holocaust.

Dr Henryka Fromowicz-Stillerowa was a member of the ‘Social Reading Room’ and wrote for Nowy Dziennik in the 1920’s, and for Nasza Opinja.  She also established  a  magazine for Jewish children, Okienko na Świat.[61]

Zygmunt Fenichel (1896-1964) wrote extensively in the pre-war period on aspects of commercial and social law. His works included a book on labour law which was published in 1939. His post war writings include an account of Jewish legal practice in Kraków.[62]

Zofia Ameisen (1897-1968) was a historian who worked with the Jagiellonian Library. Starting in 1918, she wrote extensively on the subject of illuminated manuscripts.[63]

Samuel Stending (1900-1942) was a Zionist and a teacher at the Hebrew Secondary School. He was also a director of the Jewish Secondary School of Commerce. He wrote about the science of teaching as well as for the Zionist cause.[64]

Bruno Jasieński (Artur Zysman) (1901-1938), of both Jewish and Catholic origin, is another writer identified in the works of Eugenia Prokop-Janiec. She has described him as ‘the avant-garde poet, the father of Polish Futurism’. He lived in Kraków following the end of the First World War and studied in various departments at the University, including philosophy, law and Polish literature. He became one of the founders of a club of futurists, Katarynka.[65]

Juliusz Feldhorn (1901-1943) was a poet, writer, and translator as well as being a well known teacher at the Jewish Gimnazjum (Hebrew Secondary School)  in Kraków. His life and works have been described by several authors including Eugenia Prokop-Janiec[66], Aleksander Skotnicki, Natan Gross[67] and Irena Bronner.[68] He translated works by Dante and Goethe and as an art critic he wrote in Nowy Dziennik.[69] He also wrote on a wide range of topics from science to histories of the railways and of the postal and telegraph services. In 1938 he wrote ‘Artists and their Works’. The manuscript survived the Holocaust though the work was not published until 1962.

Chaim Loew (Löw) (Leon Przemski) (1901-1976) was associated with Nowy Dziennik as a writer and a literary critic. He held a doctorate in Polish Literature from the Jagiellonian University, and taught at the Hebrew Secondary School.  His book for young people, ‘Objects, Countries and Customs’ was published in 1939.[70]

Julian Przyboś (1901-1970) has been described as ‘one of the most important poets of Kraków Avantgarde’. He studied Polish Literature at the Jagiellonian University from 1920 to 1923 and during that period he helped create the Academic Circle of Literature and the Arts.[71] Przyboś was not Jewish but is credited with helping protect a Jewish family during the Holocaust[72]

Moshe Altbauer (1904-1998) was a renowned linguist.  In 1932 he obtained his doctorate at the Jagiellonian University with his dissertation ‘On the Polish Language and the Jews’. He later wrote on the mutual influences of the Slavonic languages and Yiddish.[73]

Roman Brandstaetter (1906-1987) was born in Tarnów and graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków with a degree in philosophy and Polish. Beginning in 1927 he published poetry and critical essays in publications such as Nowy Dziennik, though he did not live in Kraków following his graduation.[74]

Professor Julian Aleksandrowicz (1908-1988) wrote a manuscript of a haematology textbook based on his research between 1936 and 1939. He was able to smuggle the notes out of the Ghetto and bury them in Płaszów. They were retrieved after the war and were published in 1946.[75] The professor founded one of three hospitals in the Kraków Ghetto and later became a physician in the Polish resistance, Armia Krajowa, under the nom de guerre Doktor Twardy. His work ‘Pages from Dr Twardy’s Diary’ was published in 1983.[76]

Reference is made below to Michał Borwicz (Max Boruchowicz)[77] (1911-1987) who after the Holocaust became head of the Central Jewish Historical Commisssion. Having attended the Hebrew Secondary School (Gimnazjum) and University in Kraków  this author wrote two works which were published in that city. These were ‘Physiology of Despair and Nihilism’ (1937) and a novel ‘Love and Race’ (1938).

Henryk Vogler (1911-2005) was a literary critic, and the first editor in chief of Literary Publishing. He spent time in several labour camps including Płaszów and returned to Kraków in 1945, later becoming editor of Gazeta Krakowa.[78]

Felix Rafael Scharf (1914-2003) was born in Kraków where he attended the Hebrew Gimnazjum and the Jagiellonian University. He was a journalist with Nowy Dziennik and also a member of the editorial board of the Revisionist Zionist journal Trybuna Naradowa.  In 1938 he emigrated to the United Kingdom where he became Nowy Dziennik’s London correspondent. His experiences are recorded in his work ‘Poland, What Have I to do with Thee…’[79] Extensive information and comment about him are also set out in ‘The Jews in Poland, Volume II’[80]

Tourist Guides

The growth in the number of visitors to Kraków in the pre-war period may be evidenced by the publication of two books with the same title, Przewodnik po Żydowskich Zabytkach Krakowa (A Guide to the Jewish Monuments in Kraków). Both were published in or about 1935. One was written by Majer Bałaban and the other by Ozjasz Mahler of the Jewish Secondary School or Gimnazjum in Kraków.  Both books give a brief history of the Jewish quarter, together with a description of the cemeteries and some of the streets and squares. Additionally, the guide by Ozjasz Mahler includes a map of Kraków and Kazimierz in the 15^th century.  This clearly shows Kazimierz was situated on an island within two branches of the Vistula river. The work by Professor Bałaban can be viewed at http://ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra/docmetadata?id=181639[81]  and at

http://genealogyindexer.org

Cultural and Social Groups

The Jewish community of Kraków catered for a very wide range of cultural and social interests in the interwar years. Many such interests were supported by publications and directories. For example, in 1937 the B’nai B’rith movement in Poland published a book listing the names, addresses and occupations of all its officers and members, including those in the Solidarność Lodge in Kraków. Extracts can be found at www.GenTeam.at and www.kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/krakow/kra_bnei_brith.htm .  For a few months in 1928 and 1929 the Kraków lodge published its own journal, and copies of some issues are held at the Jagiellonian Library.

Other journals were published by organisations such as The Jewish Cultural and Educational ‘Tarbut’, The Jewish High School, The Association of Jewish Artists, Painters and Sculptors, and The Jewish Theatre, as well as by a full range of political and youth groups.[82]

Sport and Youth

A summary of Jewish sporting clubs and associations is provided by Sean Martin in his work ‘Jewish Life in Cracow, 1918-1939’[83] and in a Yizkor (Memorial) book which was published in 1981.[84] However in the few pages reserved for this subject, no reference is made to sporting newspapers or magazines. For this one has to turn to ‘The Maccabees of Sport: Jewish Sport in Kraków’[85] That book refers to a number of sporting publications, including Tygodnik Sportowy (Weekly Sports) which  reported on Jewish sporting activities from May 1921 to July 1925. The editor was Henryk Leser, and the circulation varied between three and seven thousand.[86] Mr Leser was very active in Makkabi Kraków, eventually becoming President, and he also  became President of The Jewish Council for Physical Education.[87]

Jewish sport was widely reported in the non-Jewish press, such as in Kurier Sportowy (Sports Courier), and particularly in Przegląd Sportowy (Sports Review) which was founded in Kraków in 1921.  Another publication which reported Jewish sport was Raz Dwa Trzy (One Two Three). Of course, Jewish Sporting events were also widely reported in the Jewish Press, particularly in Nowy Dziennik. The reports covered not only the activities of Makkabi but also those of the leftist movement Jutrzenka and a large number of Jewish clubs that were affiliated to neither of these movements.[88]

Copies of speeches and newspaper clippings concerning Maccabi-Kraków, are amongst the documents held by The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People which is in Jerusalem,[89] whilst copies of other sporting newspapers are available at the Jagiellonian Library in  Kraków.

The Jewish press in Kraków catered for a youthful readership not only on sporting matters, but also in connection with Zionist and academic interests.  The wide range of publications addressed to young people is illustrated in Bibliographies of Polish Judaica which was published by the Jagiellonian University in 1993. Many references to this publication have already been made in the section above which concerns the general Jewish press.  Many youth organisations, particularly those linked with the general Zionist movement, published their own periodicals or took advantage of the hospitality of Nowy Dziennik. Other organisations, and particularly the Scouts displayed more independence.  Just two of the many youth magazines that can be mentioned are Cofim (a monthly for Jewish Youth) and Diwrey Akiba which was published by the Union of Jewish Scouting Youth in Kraków. Diwrey Akiba was edited by Shimon Draenger who later became a leader in the ŻOB, the association of Jewish underground fighters.[90] Student associations published through Przegląd Akademicki which appeared as a supplement to Nowy Dziennik, whilst the needs of children and young teenagers were addressed by Okienko na Świat (Window on the World) which was published and edited by Dr Henryka Fromowicz- Stillerowa,[91] as well as non Jewish publications such as Płomyk

Works written during the Holocaust

Given the most atrocious conditions under which the Jewish population lived during the Holocaust, and remembering that writing of any kind was forbidden in the camps on the pain of death, it is to be expected that the most extensive writings during that period were by non Jewish authors.  These, of course, include the occupying powers who kept extensive records. Only limited reference to these records is given in this article since they can hardly be described as ‘Jewish Literature’. Some might regard this exclusion unwarranted. It can certainly be argued that at least some works by non Jewish authors ought to be included in this account.  One such work is that written by the Pharmacist, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who was one of the very few gentiles who was permitted to live in  the Ghetto.  His work, Apteka w Getcie Krakowskim (The Cracow Ghetto Pharmacy), was written immediately following the liquidation of the ‘Jewish Quarter’ and was first published in 1947. It has since been translated into many languages including English, modern Hebrew and French.[92]

Another diary written during the Holocaust by a non Jewish author was published in 2010 under the title Niemcy w Krakowie; Dziennik 1 IX 1939 – 18 I 1945.[93] This is the  diary of Edward Kubalski, a long serving secretary to the Kraków magistrates.

A newspaper, Gazeta Żydowska, was published in the Kraków Ghetto from 1940 to 1942, about two or three times a week. The paper included various articles written by anonymous Jewish contributors on matters relating to Jewish cultural and everyday life.[94] The Gazeta included a section entitled ‘Guide for Housewives’ which contained recipes and other advice regarding the running of households.[95]  The paper also carried a number of adverts. However it must be remembered that  Gazeta Żydowska was under the control of  the Generalgouvernement.[96]

By contrast, it is likely that an independent Jewish news sheet was published by Akiva or some similar movement during the winter of 1939/40. Reference is made to such a publication in the well researched novel ‘Journey of Ashes; A Boyhood in the Holocaust’[97] Reference should also be made to Dr Sabina Kwiecień’s ‘The Jewish Press in Kraków During the Nazi Occupation’[98]

It appears that, as in the area of secular education, the Jewish press was significantly more restricted in the Kraków Ghetto than in Warsaw.[99] During 1943, however, the Chalutz Underground Movement published a paper in Polish, which was known by its Hebrew name Hechalutz ha’Lochem. The issues were typed by Shimshon (Simek) Draenger, and stencilled (i.e. copies were produced) by his wife Justyna (Gusta) Davidson. Issues 29 to 38 of the paper have survived and are held at the Ghetto Fighters’ House (Beit Lochamei ha’Geta’ot) in Israel.[100] An extract from the issue dated 27 August, 1943, which has been translated into English, is to be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/schindler/sch015.html  The publication, Hechalutz Halochem has been described by Arieh Bauminger in his work ‘The Fighters of the Cracow Ghetto’.[101]

Members of the orthodox  community maintained their religious studies during the period of the ghetto, and even at Płaszów.  At least one source refers to a library at Płaszów which was attended by authorities such as Rabbi Yosef Hirsch of Kraków and Rabbi Frankel, the son of the Podgorzer Rav.[102] The leftist youth movement, Hashomer Hatzair, also maintained a secret library as part of its initial activities in the Ghetto.[103]

It is clear that diaries and similar records were written during the Holocaust. It has been suggested that during the course of the war, hundreds and perhaps thousands of Jews wrote about their experiences. Such evidence has the advantage of being contemporaneous with the events the authors describe, whereas testimonies written after the war contain elements of memory and imagination, and were influenced by experiences and knowledge gained after the events which are described.[104]

A few of these war time diaries have survived to be published after the war. In her paper ‘Jewish Women in the Kraków Ghetto; An Outline of Research Issues’[105] Matryna Grądzka notes that a collection of diaries is held at The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, as file number 302, ‘Pamiętniki’ She states that eleven out of sixteen diaries concerning occupied Kraków in the collection were produced by women and teenage girls. Several of those diaries do not seem to have been published. However, some authors, for example Cesia Frymer and Pola Warszawska, have filed testimonies at Yad Vashem.

Amongst the diaries which are described by Ms Grądzka are those written by two teenagers. One work is by Halina Nelken, who is mentioned below. The other is Renia Knoll; Dziennik which has been published by the Jewish Historical Institute.  One important work is Pamiętnik Justyny  (Justyna’s Narrative) written in a prison cell at the infamous Montelupich Prison from February to April 1943. The manner in which it was written and preserved is described by Aryeh Bauminger in his work ‘The Fighters of the Cracow Ghetto’.[106] The work, by Gusta Dawidsohn Draenger, was one of several published by the Jewish Historical Commisiion of Kraków in 1946. It describes in some detail the activities of the Jewish Underground Organisation, Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa. The original handwritten diary is held at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum (Beit Lohamei Haghetaot), in Western Galilee, Israel, together with a wide range of other material relating to the Ż.O.B.[107]

Mire Gola (1911-1943) was a leading member of the ŻOB in Kraków, having previously been active in the Communist party in Przemyśl and then in  Lviv. Her activities in the ŻOB included the publication of a newspaper and pamphlets.  Whilst in the Kraków Ghetto she also wrote a number of poems in Yiddish and Hebrew. Some were dedicated to her husband and dead child. Others were revolutionary and included ‘Instead of Progress’ which was written whilst she was  held at the Montelupich prison.[108]

Tadeusz Seweryn (1894-1975) was an ethnographer and researcher of folk art. In 1943 he was active in the formation of the Council for Aid to Jews (Żegota) and from 1943 to 1946 he wrote pamphlets and articles in the underground press. His essay ‘Chleb i Krew’ (Bread and Blood) was published in 1946.[109]

A notebook of Janina Hescheles was also published in Kraków in 1946 under the title Oczyma Dwunastoletniej Dziewczyny’ (In the Eyes of a Twelve Year Old Girl). The author lived in Lvóv and survived the Janowska camp. In 1943 she escaped to the Aryan side of Kraków where she survived the war.[110]

Some diaries which were written during the Holocaust remained unpublished for many years. For example ‘The Krakow Diary of Julius Feldman’ was written at about the same time as Pamiętnik Justyny but was not published until long after the War. Indeed, the diary was not discovered until 1964 when a resident on ul. Limanowski was renovating his home.[111]

Ana Novac (1929-2010), was born in the area of Hungary/Transylvania and passed through several labour and concentration camps. She kept a journal which described her experiences in  Płaszów and Auschwitz during a six month period in 1944. The diary is a collection of the thoughts of a 15 year old, young woman, and the style of writing is personal to the author.  The journal was published as Les Beaux Jours de ma Jeunnesse in 1992, and again as The Beautiful Days of my Youth five years later.[112]

Halina Nelken (1924-2009)  was  15 when war broke out. Her diaries relating to the period up to spring, 1943 were left with a close friend. They now form the basis of the book And Yet I am Here. The diaries cover the periods which the author spent at home in the Ludwinów district of the city, in the Kraków Ghetto and in Płaszów. Her writings include poetry which was written both during and after the Holocaust. However, her post war work was not favoured by the Communist authorities.[113]  In 1945 she returned to Kraków where she earned her degree in the history of art and philosophy. She later emigrated to America and was recognised as an authority on the history of Polish art.[114]

Reference can again be made to Julian Aleksandrowicz’s ‘Pages from Dr Twardy’s Diary’ which was published in 1983. This recorded some of the doctor’s activities with the Armia Krajowa.

Some works, at first sight, appear to have been written during the Holocaust or shortly afterwards but in fact have been written many years later. Stella Müller (later Müller-Madej) was only nine years old when war broke out. However, her memoir Dziewczynka z Listy Schindlera; Oczami Dziecka was not published until the author was well into middle age, despite the title which translates into ‘A Girl from Schindler’s List; [Through] The Eyes of a Child’.

Some testimony  was written during the Holocaust in the form of poetry. Henia Karmel (1923-1984) and her sister, Ilona (Ila) (1925-2000) were born in Kraków, and spent time in the Ghetto there and also in Płaszów. Ila wrote Rocznica (Anniversaries) in the Ghetto in 1943. It starts ‘A w moim domu nie zalśnia, żałobne gromnice’ (In my house no mourning candles will ever glisten).  The work was published in 1946. [115] The poems of Henia and Ila survived, and in 1947 they were published in New York as Spiew za Drutami (Song behind the Wire). They are now available in the book A Wall of Two; Poems of Resistance and Suffering from Kraków to Buchenwald and Beyond.[116]

Tadeusz Pankiewicz refers to the work of a mathematician, Dr Rappaport. Whilst in the Kraków Ghetto, Dr Rappaport wrote a solution to a mathematical problem which was considered by Pythagoras to be unsolvable. It was concerned with trisecting an angle by means of a straight edge and a compass. Dr Rappaport did not survive; however, his theorem was smuggled out of the Ghetto and published after the War.[117]

Mordechai Gebirtig, who has already been mentioned, lived in the Kraków Ghetto until his death on 4 June, 1942. His works during the Holocaust included the following:

Blayb gezunt mir, Kroke (Bid me farewell, Kraków)

Erev Yom Kippur (Yom Kippur Eve)

S’tut wey (It hurts)

Ich hob shoyn lang (Ah, how long)

S’is gut (It is good)

Minutn fun bitokhn (Moments of hope)

Gehat ich hob a heym (Once I had a home) and

In geto (In the ghetto).[118]

A bibliography prepared by Stephen D Corrsin refers to the ‘Kraków Ghetto Notebook’. of works by Mordechai Gebertig.[119] A paper by Sinai Leichter entitled ‘Gebirtig’s Ghetto Songs’ is included in ‘The Jews of Poland, Vol II’[120]

Leopold Infeld (1898-1968) was born in Kraków but before the war he emigrated to Canada later returning to Poland as an eminent theoretical physicist. His experiences illustrate that not all Jewish emigrants from Kraków were well received by their new host communities. 1941 saw the publication of Infeld’s memoirs Quest; The Evolution of a Scientist. Leopold’s older sister, Felicja (Fela) wrote short pieces for Polish language newspapers, whilst his other sister, Bronia, was active in education.[121]

Zuzanna Ginczanka (pen name Sara Ginzburg) moved to Kraków in 1942, having previously lived in Warsaw and Lvóv. She lived outside the Kraków ghetto on Aryan papers until her arrest and imprisonment. Whilst in Kraków she wrote the poem ‘Non omnis moriar’ (Not all of me will die) which was published in the weekly periodical Odrodzenie in 1946.[122], and in W 3cią Rocznicę Zagłady Ghetta w Krakowie’.

In the Silver Anniversary Book of The New Cracow Friendship Society,[123] Natan Gross has compiled an extensive list of  ‘Jews from Cracow as Builders of the Jewish State and its Democracy’. In the section on authors and publishers he has identified some of the following who wrote during the Holocaust period:-

Meir Bosak (1912-1992) was born in Kraków where he became a teacher at the Hebrew Secondary School. He started his writing career in the Płaszów ‘camp’ (a word which these days completely fails to describe the labour and concentration establishments of the Holocaust period).  He was a noted poet and historian.[124] After the war he co-edited Sefer Kraka, I’r v’Em b’Yisrael.[125]

Abraham Bosak (b. 1905) kept a diary on scraps of paper in the Płaszów camp. Surviving members of his family visited Płaszów after the war and discovered the diary in the foundations of the barracks. The papers formed the basis of a book written in modern Hebrew by a nephew Joseph Bosak – ‘And the Ram was not Caught in the Thicket – A Biography of Abraham, 1939-1944’; Moreshet and Sifriyat Poalim, 1986.[126]

Arie Bauminger (1913-2002) started his writing career in Poland but is possibly better known as having being an editor of a Yizkor  (Memorial) book, ‘Sefer Kraka, Ir v’Em b’Israel’[127]  and one of the first directors of Yad Vashem. His book ‘The Fighters of the Kraków Ghetto’ was published in Hebrew in 1967, and was later translated into EnglishJoseph (Józef) Bau (1920-2002) was another Cracovian whose writing career can be traced to Płaszów, and who later settled in Israel. He was trained as a graphic artist and at Płaszów he wrote signs and made maps for the Germans. Whilst there, he created a miniature book with his own poetry. His literary works also included the forging of identity papers. After the war his illustrated memoirs were published in Hebrew and then English, as Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry?[128] Some of his poetry is included in the work Bearing the Unbearable: Yiddish and Polish Poetry in the Ghettos and Concentration Camps.[129]

Works written after the War

Following the liberation of Kraków in January 1945, many survivors returned to the city. By the beginning of 1946 the number of Jews in Kraków had reached nearly 10,000 and a number of institutions were established to meet the secular, occupational, religious and Zionist needs of the community.[130]  One such institution was  the Centralna Żydowska Komisja Historyczna w Polsce. (The CŻKH or The Central Jewish Historical Commision). From 1945 to 1947 the Commission was headed by Michał Borwicz who edited many of the publications which the Commission published.[131]   The first work to be published, in 1945, was  Dokumenty Zbrodni i Męczeństwa’ (Documents, Crime and Martyrdom) . This was followed the next year by Literatura w Obozie (Literature in the Camp).  Two other works which were published in 1946 have already been mentioned. These are Pamiętnik Justyny (Justina’s Diary) and W 3cią Rocznicę Zagłady Ghetta Krakowie (The Third Anniversary of the Destruction of the Ghetto in Kraków). A further early publication of the CŻKH was Es Brent (It is burning) which was about the works of Mordechai Gebirtig.

Nella Rost (later Nella Rost Hollander) was a daughter of the pre war leader Ozjasz Thon. She was a literary scholar in her own right and worked with the CŻKH.  Her post war writings included a description of Jewish society in Kraków during the period of occupation.[132] Previously, she had written about her father  in the Jewish news weekly Nasza Opinja which was published in Lvóv.[133]

Jozef Wulf (1912-1974) spent time in the Kraków before joining a group of Jewish resistance fighters. Between 1945 and 1947 he was an executive member of CŻKH and later wrote extensively about the Holocaust. For example he wrote ‘Gebirtig i Neuman[134] w Ghetcie’ which was included in W 3cią Rocznicę.

Dora Agastein (later Dora Agastein Dormont) was another Holocaust survivor who wrote in the post war period. Her work included a chronology relating to the occupying power concerning the Jews in Kraków, which appeared in W 3cią Rocznicę and a paper ‘Jews in Kraków During the Nazi Occupation’.[135]

Nachman Blumenthal (1905 – 1983) wrote a glossary of terms used by the Nazis, ‘Słowa Niewinne’ (Words of the Innocent) which was also included in W 3cią Rocznicę. He was a member of the Central Jewish Historical Commission before emigrating to Israel where he became active with the Ghetto Heroes Museum (Lohamei ha’Geta’ot) and Yad Vashem.

In 1945 and 1946, Maria Hochberg Mariańska collected testimonies from children and teenagers who surfaced from hiding.  The testimonies form the basis of The Children Accuse[136] which includes several references to Kraków.  The author’s work ‘Dzieci’ (Children) was included in W 3cią Rocznicę.

It appears that in the immediate post war period Kraków was a very significant centre of Jewish publishing. This is illustrated by the fact that several of the books relate to matters arising during the Holocaust well outside the Kraków region. For example in 1946 the Jewish Historical Commission in Kraków published a book about the Bełzec camp some 180 miles (290 km) to the north east of Kraków.  The book wwas written by Rudolf Reder (1881 – 1968), one of only two survivors of the camp.

The work of the Commission and other publishers reduced after 1947, very possibly as a result of the type of government intervention which curtailed Zionist activity. By 1950 much of the surviving community, including Michał Borwicz, had emigrated, and little record of Jewish literature is to be found for the second half of the 20^th century even though the last wave of Jewish emigration did not take place until 1968. It may be concluded, therefore, that Jewish writing and publishing was brought to an end not by the Holocaust but by the population and policy changes brought about by communism  As one commentatorhas put it ‘Socialist realism promoted an optimistic vision of the building of a new societal system. Literary works and paintings were populated with peasants and workers bravely building the country. In such art there was no place for painful recollections of the ghetto or for poems about the Holocaust.’[137]

Many authors were unwilling or unable to record their experiences in the years which immediately followed the Holocaust. Their writings were therefore not published in the period covered by this article. It is worth noting, however, that the process behind the writings of the first generation of survivors is described by Katarzyna Zechenter in her work ‘Kraków in Jewish Literature since 1945’.[138]

It is perhaps inevitable that some recorded testimony describes the activities of Oskar Schindler. The first interview with him was by Herbert Steinhouse in 1948. It is described in the book Oskar Schindler and his List.[139]

The immediate postwar period is described by Monika Stępień in her paper ‘The Image of Post-War Kraków in Jewish Writing, 1945-1950’.[140]  It is apparent that some authors who wrote their memoirs in the last quarter of the twentieth century began writing much earlier. For example Halina Nelken (1924-2009) wrote her first poem after the war in June 1945.[141] She went on to write works which included ‘And Yet, I am Here’ which is based on her wartime diaries,[142] and ‘Images of a Lost World – Jewish Motifs in Polish Painting 1770-1945’.[143]

Rabbi Menashe Ya’akov Levertov (1906-1966) was a scholarly Rabbi who was included in Schindler’s List. He wrote an account of Jewish religious life during the German occupation which appeared in a publication of the Jewish Historical Commission in 1946. This was W 3cią Rocznicę Zagłady Ghetta w Krakowie (On the Third Anniversary of the Destruction of the Kraków Ghetto) A translation in English, together with other information relating to Rabbi Levertov is available at www.levertov4ever.com .  The Rabbi was briefly Chief Rabbi of Kraków after the war. He married Rachel, daughter of Rabbi Chaim Kanner who had been Chief Rabbi of Podgórze. Further information can be found at www.kevarim.com/rabbi-chaim-canner/ .[144]

Natan Gross (1919-2005) worked with the Historical Commission for the Study of Nazi Crimes collecting testimonies of survivors. He wrote articles for several Jewish publications in the post war period, including W 3cią Rocznicę. He also edited a Zionist youth monthly.[145] The works of Natan Gross also included A Contemporary Selection of Jewish Poetry (1947) and Songs of Israel (1948). Several of his poems were republished as Okruszyny Młodości’ (Crumbs of Youth) in 1976.[146] He later wrote works which included Who Are You, Mr Grymek[147] In 1947 and 1948 Natan Gross directed a number of films including Mir Lebngelibene (We who have Stayed Alive/Survived).[148]

Artur Sandauer (1913-1989)  taught at the Hebrew High School in Kraków in the years immediately before the war. In 1948 and 1949 he was the editor of periodical Odrodzenie (Renaissance). He later became a professor in Warsaw, where he wrote commentaries on Jewish writers such as Julian Tuwim and Antoni Słonimski. His works included a collection of wartime stories Śmierć Liberała (Death of a Liberal) which was published in 1947. The stories depict members of the secular liberal Jewish elite whose ideas are brutally tested  by the Holocaust.[149]

Jakub Stendig (–1952) was a civil engineer who worked in the Płaszów camp as a prisoner architect. In 1946 his work on Płaszów was published in Kraków by Wojewódzka Żydowska Komisja Historyczna. A Hebrew version was published in Tel Aviv in 1970.[150] Jakub Stendig also wrote about the destruction of the cemeteries, synagogues and other Jewish buildings during the occupation.[151]

Conclusions

The popular view of Polish Jewry in the twentieth century is often wholly negative. Arguably, this is consistent with the view that the Holocaust obscures or at least distorts our view of what preceded it. Another popular view is that the Jewish community was largely homogenous – religious and poor.

However, it is closer to the truth to say that the Jewish community in pre war Kraków was both vibrant and varied. The range of newspapers and other publications catered well for the diversity of the readership, even if some publications were only short lived.  Not even the Holocaust completely stemmed the flow of creative writing within the community, writing which took several forms including diaries and poems as well as prose. Rather the ‘end’ of Jewish literature was a result of the policies of the communist authorities, and the creation of the state of Israel, which gave rise to various waves of emigration.  Even that ‘end’ has proved temporary as is evidenced by the volume of research and literature which has been published in recent years.

Geoffrey M Weisgard, February, 2016                                                     Manchester, UK

weisgard@hotmail.com