Cmentarze żydowskie w Podgórzu

Zarys problematyki badań

Abstract

JEWISH CEMETERIES IN PODGÓRZE. AN OUTLINE OF RESEARCH ISSUES

During World War II most of Jewish cemeteries in Poland were destroyed. This was also the case of the two Kraków necropoles located in the Podgórze district, namelythe ‘old’ cemetery on Jerozolimska Street which had been established by the Jews of Podgórze in 1887, and the ‘new’ cemetery on Abrahama Street, founded on the initiative of the Jewish Community in Kraków and opened in 1932. In the years 1942–1945 a Nazi forced labour camp, later transformed into a concentration camp – KL Plaszow – existed onthe site of the above mentioned two necropoles. The history of these cemeteries has not been the subject of a monographic study so far, therefore, the aim of this paper is to present the most important findings on the history, spatial changes, and the state of preservation of the necropoles. The paper drawson source material, such as firsthand accounts, visual materialin the form of photographs (traditional and aerial), drawings,plans, maps, and historical documents. On the basis of these sources, the history of the cemeteries’ functioning is divided into three major stages whose descriptions are reflected in the structure of the paper. The first part of the article discusses the prewar period. The authors reconstruct the process of the ‘old’cemetery’s expansion and describe the buildings that existed at that time. They also analyse documents concerning burials (the book of the dead). Materials pertaining to the ‘new’ cemetery, especially the details of the investment process arealso examined here. Special attention is paid to the three-dimensional reconstructions of the pre-burial hall. The next part discusses the wartime period, featuring such events as the closing down of the ‘old’ cemetery, the devastation of both of the necropoles, and the mass executions. In this section, the authors analyse the spatial changes taking place during the construction of camp barracks on cemetery grounds, and the purposeful devastation of the cemeteries. The last part shows the endeavour to preserve the cemetery grounds as an area of exceptional cultural significance, as well as the attempts to protect them and have them inscribed into the idea of commemoration; current inventorial and archaeological research is also described in this section. In the conclusion the authors present the perspective of necessary works and possibilities forfurther research.