Kriegerowie – biografia niemozliwa?

Abstrakt

THE KRIEGERS – AN IMPOSSIBLE BIOGRAPHY?

The biography of Ignacy Krieger and his family is full of gaps and ambiguities. Despite the attempts made by numerous researchers, many basic facts still remain unclear, due to the lack of sources. The aim of the present paper is to verify previous findings, and to complement them with new information. Ignacy Krieger (1817?–1889) and his wife Anna (1818/1820–1899) most probably had six children: Janetta Hof (ca. 1843–1913), Natan (1844–1903), Amalia (1845/1846–1928), Franciszka (1847/1848–1894), Paulina Fuchs (born 1854) and Józefa Baum (1861–1932). The family was of the Judaic faith, however, it underwent gradual Polonization. The Kriegers came from outside of Kraków; in the 1840s and 1850s they lived in Lipnik (currently a part of the city of Bielsko-Biała). What Ignacy did there for a living remains a mystery, and we do not know when he took up photography. In 1860 he opened an atelier in Kraków; at first, the studio was located at 13 Grodzka Street, and then it was moved to the corner of 42 Main Market Square and 1 St. John’s Street. In the early 1860s Krieger also ran a studio in Tarnów. After his death, the photographic studio continued to work invariably, under the same family name, and was run by his children – Natan and Amalia, who had probably learnt the profession by assisting their father. Due to the character of their work, the Kriegers had connections with Kraków’s academic circles, and were members of the Society of Friends of Kraków History and Heritage. At the twilight of her life, in 1926, Amalia Krieger donated the negatives and equipment of the atelier to the municipal commune of Kraków, at the same time establishing a foundation dedicated to the blessed memory of Ignacy,Natan and Amalia Krieger. However, the fate of that family legacy after Amalia’s death is rather obscure. The negatives were donated to the Museum of Industry in Kraków, and following its liquidation, presented to the Library of the Academy of Fine Arts, whence they were finally (in 1967) transferred to the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. Unfortunately, most ofthe studio’s equipment has not been tracked down, except for the table which has survived at the Juliusz Słowacki _eatre in Kraków. The private legacy of the Krieger family comprises furniture and some smaller objects which had been donated by Amalia to the Museum of Industry (and are currently in the possession of the National Museum in Kraków), as well as family photographs (at the Museum of Kraków and the Museum of Photography in Kraków). The tombstones of Ignacy and Natan Krieger have been preserved in the Jewish cemetary at Miodowa Street in Kraków.