Z dziejów krakowskiego węzła kolejowego – przebudowa i modernizacja w latach 1939–1945

Abstract

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE KRAKOW RAILWAY JUNCTION POINT – REDEVELOPMENT AND MODERNIZATION IN THE PERIOD 1939–1945

The article discusses issues concerning German investments in Kraków’s railway infrastructure during World War II – a topic that has not been the subject of a separate research paper to date. Publications presenting the development of railway in Kraków concentrate mainly on the earlier history, particularly on the period prior to World War I. Archival sources (i.e. topographical maps, geodetic plans, architectural designs, etc.) constitute the most valuable material for this kind of research. One of the most important goals of this paper is to draw the public’s attention to the question of conservation and protection of the dilapidated historical railway facilities from that period. The facilities in question constitute interesting examples of the architectural trend that became briefly predominant during WWII; they also reflect the scale of capital investment made by the German occupation authorities as part of their general programme of redevelopment of the occupied territories. The period spanning from the beginning of railway in Kraków (1847) to the outbreak of the war is defined by the opening dates of new railway connections and the railway stations accompanying them, the most significant of these being the junction point stations: Kraków Główny Osobowy (Main Passenger Railway Station) and Kraków Płaszów. On the threshold of the war Kraków had a very well developed railway network, including connections to such major destinations as Katowice, Lvov, Warsaw and Zakopane. However, the question of the construction of a new, larger Main Railway Station in a different location remained unresolved, and so did the issue of the modernization of the old, Austrian railway traffic management system. Following the capturing of Kraków on 6 September 1939, Germans organized the railway routes in General Government into the General Division of the Eastern Railway (Generaldirektion der Ostbahn). Among the duties of this administrative body was the redevelopment of the railway network after its partial destruction in 1939, the organization of passenger and freight railway transport, and the expansion of the occupied country’s railway network as part of the modernization programme. One of the most noteworthy projects that the Third Reich wanted to realize was the spatial expansion of Kraków as part of Hubert Ritter’s plan of 1941 – a project that was never accomplished. Germans’ plan was to build a brand new railway network with a larger traffic capacity and a number of new passenger and freight railway stations. In the aftermath of USSR’s attack, German financial outlays for warfare were increased, which necessitated the adaptation of the planned expansion of the Kraków railway network to the already existent system of railway tracks and stations. For Germans the most important railway connection was the Wrocław – Kraków – Lvov line which was duly redeveloped and modernized. In the period 1942–1943 they built the Kraków Łobzów – Kraków Płaszów line encircling the city, which allowed them to exclude the Main Station from the busy east – west freight railway traffic. The construction of the Kraków Prokocim – Kraków Bonarka Freight Line, including the network of flyovers which were to facilitate railway traffic in the south-west direction (Skawina, Auschwitz) commenced a bit later; this investment was completed after the war. There were plans for the redevelopment of the Kraków Main Station which, however, were not accomplished. German authorities wanted to expand the technical infrastructure, including the construction of new railway traffic management facilities, e.g. the large switch tower with an impressive architectural design which, in fact, was never built. Three new signal boxes were constructed at the freight station, two of which are noteworthy for their unique architectural style. A housing estate for Ostbahn employees – a typical example of the unmistakable Th ird Reich style – was built near the Płaszów Station. A few social facilities for the communal use of Ostbahn employees (whose number grew steadily, especially towards the end of the war) were also built in the vicinity of the station and the engine workshop. The construction of the railway line encircling the city was directly linked with the considerable expansion of the freight station in Prokocim which was supposed to cater for the needs of the intensified freight railway traffic on the Lvov line. The expansion of the Prokocim station included the construction of two new sets of yard tracks and infrastructure facilities (i.e. flyovers, switch towers, an engine workshop, technical and storage facilities), some of which were completed after the war. A housing estate of semi-detached houses for the railway employees was also built near the station. The plan to liquidate the bothersome left-side railway traffic on the Lvov line was not accomplished during the war. Apart from the large-scale railway construction projects, several lesser ones were also carried out in that period in and around Kraków, e.g. the works on the Kocmyrzów line (the railway stop at Czyżyny Monopol; redevelopment of the Wesoła – Grzegórzki sideline), and on the Katowice line (redevelopment of the Mydlniki Station). Kraków’s railway infrastructure was badly affected by the Soviet takeover of the city. The postwar reconstruction of the Kraków railway junction point included the completion of Ostbahn’s construction projects which had been interrupted in 1944, one of them being the Prokocim – Bonarka rail link which was finally completed in 1960.