Kraków, ulica Stradomska 10
Transcription
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 • • • • • • • 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 • • • • • • • • 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. [email protected]