Kazimierz (; ; ) is a historical district of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and Kraków Old Town,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located south of the Old Town of Kraków, separated from it by a branch of the

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

river. For many centuries, Kazimierz was a place where ethnic Polish and Jewish cultures coexisted and intermingled. The northeastern part of the district was historically Jewish. In 1941, the Jews of Kraków were forcibly relocated by the German occupying forces into the Krakow ghetto just across the river in Podgórze, and most did not survive the war. Today, Kazimierz is one of the major tourist attractions of Krakow and an important center of cultural life of the city. The boundaries of Kazimierz are defined by an old island in the

river. The northern branch of the river ( – Old Vistula) was filled-in at the end of the 19th century and made into an extension of Stradomska Street connecting Kazimierz district with Kraków Old Town.

Early history

Three

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...

settlements are known to have existed on the island defining Kazimierz. The most important of these was the pre-Christian pagan Slavic shrine at

Skałka Basilica of Saints Michael the Archangel and Stanislaus the Bishop, also known as Skałka, which means "a small rock" in Polish, is a church situated on a small outcrop in Kraków atop of which a Pauline monastery is also located. The crypt ...

(“the little rock”) at the western, upstream tip of the island. This site, with its sacred pool, was later Christianised as the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in the 11th century and was the legendary site of the martyrdom of St. Stanisław. There was a nearby noble manor complex to the southeast and an important cattle-market town of Bawół, possibly based on an old tribal gord (Polish: gród), at the edges of the habitable land near the swamps that composed the eastern, downstream end of the island. There was also a much smaller island upstream of Kazimierz known as the “Tatar Island” after the Tatar cemetery there. This smaller island has since washed away. On 27 March 1335, King Casimir III of Poland () declared the two western suburbs of Kraków to be a new town named after him, Kazimierz ( in Latin). Shortly thereafter, in 1340, Bawół was also added to it, making the boundaries of new city the same as the whole island. King Casimir granted his location privilege in accordance with Magdeburg Law and, in 1362, ordered defensive walls to be built. He settled the newly built central section primarily with burghers, with a plot set aside for the Augustinian order next to Skałka. He also began work on a campus for the Kraków Academy which he founded in 1364, but Casimir died in 1370 and the campus was never completed. Perhaps the most important feature of medieval Kazimierz was the ''Pons Regalis'', the only major, permanent bridge across the

() for several centuries. This bridge connected Kraków via Kazimierz to the Wieliczka Salt Mine and the lucrative Hungarian trade route. The last bridge at this location (at the end of modern Stradomska Street) was dismantled in 1880 when the filling-in of the ''Old Vistula'' river bed under Mayor Mikołaj Zyblikiewicz made it obsolete.

Jewish Kazimierz

Jews had played an important role in the Kraków regional economy since the end of the 13th century, granted the freedom of worship, trade and travel by Bolesław the Pious in his General Charter of Jewish Liberties issued already in 1264. The Jewish community in Kraków had lived undisturbed alongside their ethnic Polish neighbours under the protective King Casimir III the Great, the last king of the

Piast dynasty The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule in Pol ...

. Nevertheless, in the early 15th century pressured by the Synod of Constance some dogmatic clergy began to push for less official tolerance. Accusations of blood libel by a fanatic priest in Kraków led to riots against the Jews in 1407 even though the royal guard hastened to their rescue. As part of the re-founding of the Kraków university, starting in 1400, the Academy began to buy outbuildings in the Old Town. Some Jews moved to the area around modern Plac Szczepański.Francis William Carter, ''Trade and Urban Development in Poland: An Economic Geography of Cracow, from Its Origins to 1795,''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, 1994, p.71. The oldest synagogue building standing in Poland was built in Kazimierz at around that time, either in 1407 or 1492 (the date varies with several sources). It is an Orthodox fortress synagogue called the Old Synagogue.Sacred Destinations
Old Synagogue, Krakow
/ref>The Jewish Krakow
The Old Synagogue: ul. Szeroka 24.
Page stored at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Rebecca Weiner
The Old Synagogue
The Virtual Jewish History Tour In 1494 a disastrous fire destroyed a large part of Kraków. In 1495 the Polish king John I Albert (''Jan Olbracht'') ordered Jews out of the

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

of Kraków and allowed to settle in the Bawół district of Kazimierz.Jewish Krakow, A Visual and Virtual Tour
The Kupa Synagogue: ul. Miodowa 27
from the

The Jewish Qahal petitioned the Kazimierz town council for the right to build its own interior walls, cutting across the western end of the older defensive walls in 1553. Due to the growth of the community and the influx of Jews from Bohemia, the walls were expanded again in 1608. Later requests to expand the walls were turned down as redundant. The area between the walls was known as the ''Oppidum Judaeorum'', the Jewish City, which represented only about one-fifth of the geographical area of Kazimierz, but nearly half of its inhabitants. The Oppidum became the main spiritual and cultural centre of Polish Jewry, hosting many of Poland's finest Jewish scholars, artists and craftsmen. Among its famous inhabitants were the Talmudist Moses Isserles, the Court Jew Abraham of Bohemia, the Kabbalist Natan Szpiro, and the royal physician Shmuel bar Meshulam. Kazimierz Alte Schul 07799

The golden age of the Oppidum came to an end in 1782, when the Austrian Emperor Joseph II disbanded the kahal. After the 1795 Third Partition of Poland, Kraków was acquired by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, and Kazimierz lost its status as a separate city and became a district of Kraków. In 1822, the walls were torn down, removing any physical reminder of the old borders between Jewish and ethnic Polish Kazimierz. The richer Jewish families had moved out of the overcrowded streets of eastern Kazimierz, but because of the injunction against travel on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

, most Jewish families stayed relatively close to the historic synagogues in the old Oppidum, maintaining Kazimierz's reputation as a “Jewish district” long after the concept ceased to have any administrative meaning. By the 1930s, Kraków had 120 officially registered synagogues and prayer houses scattered across the city and much of Jewish intellectual life had moved to new centres like Podgórze. In a tourist guide that was published in 1935, Meir Balaban, a Reform rabbi and professor of history at the University of Warsaw, lamented that the Jews who remained in the once vibrant Oppidum were “only the poor and the ultraconservative.” However, this same exodus was the reason why most of the buildings in the Oppidum are preserved today in something close to their 18th century shape. Kazimierz 07797

During the Second World War, the Jews of Krakow, including those in Kazimierz, were forced by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

into a crowded ghetto in Podgórze, across the river. On December 5–6, 1939, the Germans blockaded all Jewish homes in Kazimierz and other parts of Kraków and brutally confiscated everything collectively valued more than Zł 2,000 ($625) from individual Jewish residences. Later on, all non Jewish Polish residents living in the parts of Podgórze were ordered to move to Kazimierz by March 20, 1941. Jews were given the same amount of time to move to the ghetto in the opposite direction. Some non Jewish Poles told the Germans that it would be impossible to move some of their businesses and workshops to Kazimierz because of inadequate facilities there. Their appeals fell on deaf ears. Most of Jews were later killed during the liquidation of the ghetto or in death camps.

Postwar Jewish Kazimierz

After the Second World War, on 11 August 1945, the Kraków pogrom took place in Kazimierz, in which the Kupa Synagogue was burned down and many Jews were assaulted by a Polish mob. During the war, the Nazis had largely destroyed Kazimierz, and the communist authorities left it a crumbling ruin. It became a dark and dangerous place, devoid of Jews. Since 1988, a popular annual Jewish Cultural Festival has drawn Cracovians back to the heart of the Oppidum and re-introduced Jewish culture to a generation of Poles who have grown up without Poland's historic Jewish community. In 1993,

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

shot his film '' Schindler's List'' largely in Kazimierz (in spite of the fact that very little of the action historically took place there) and this drew international attention to Kazimierz. The filming crew used different locations of Kazimierz to create scenes from the movie: Oskar Schindler's apartment (Straszewskiego 7), Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego bridge, “Plac Zgody” (in fact, Szeroka street in Kazimierz), the courtyard of the Drezner family (between Jozefa and Beera Meiselsa streets), the scene with Leopold Pfefferberg on an empty street (the intersection of Jakuba and Ciemna streets), ghetto hospital scene (today: a police station on Szeroka street) Since 1993, there have been parallel developments in the restoration of important historic sites in Kazimierz and a booming growth in Jewish-themed restaurants, bars, bookstores and souvenir shops. In addition, some Jews have moved to Kazimierz from Israel and the United States. Kazimierz as well as Krakow has had a small growth in the Jewish population recently. A Jewish youth group now meets weekly in Kazimierz and the Remah Synagogue, which actively serves a small congregation of mostly elderly Cracovian Jews. Each year at the end of June, the Jewish Culture Festival takes place in Kazimierz. It is Europe's largest Jewish festival of culture and music and attracts visitors from around the world. Music at the festival is very diverse and played by bands from the Middle East, the United States and Africa, besides others. File:Façade of the Tempel Synagogue of Kraków in June 2024.jpg, File:Krakow Synagoga Tempel 20071111 1123 2077.jpg, File:Jewish Heritage Route of Kazimierz of Kraków.jpg, File:Ariel restaurant.JPG, File:Szeroka,_Kraków,_2009.jpg, File:Tenement,_15_Szeroka_street,_Kazimierz,_Krakow,_Poland.JPG, File:בית ברובע היהודי בקרקוב (1).jpg, File:Landau (Jordan) tenement house, 2 Szeroka street, Kazimierz, Kraków, Poland.jpg, File:Krakow JewsMonument 7002.jpg, File:Jan Karski Kraków Ulica Szeroka.jpg, File:Kraków - Plac Bawół.jpg, File:Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.jpg, File: Jewish quarter - panoramio (4).jpg, Courtyard of the Drezner family File:Szeroka street, Kazimierz, Krakow, Poland.jpg, File:Muzeum Żydowskie Galicja (cropped).jpg, Galicia Jewish Museum File:JCC from Midowa 3.jpg, Jewish Community Centre of Krakow File:Remuh Jewish Cemetery in Kraków (Poland)8.jpg, Remah Cemetery established in 1535

Sights

Christian part

''See map:'' :1. Market Square (Wolnica) with a town hall, now housing an ethnographic museum Kazimierz's square-shaped market square (Wolnica square) sized 195 x 195m used to be almost as large as the Krakow Market Square and served similar functions - trading activities took place there, it was town hall's location, where the highest administrative and judicial authorities of the city of Kazimierz had their seat. From each side of this square, there were leading three streets. On the corners of the square, two gothic temples were built, and both of them survived to this day in a great state. Today's Wolnica Square, half the size of the original one, gained its borders after Kazimierz was incorporated into Krakow in 1800. In its south-eastern part, there is a sculpture/fountain, Three Musicians - the work of the Krakow artist Bronisław Chromy. The only evidence of Kazimierz's former urban independence is the lofty town hall at Wolnica Square. Once gothic (relics of the 14th-century walls are preserved in the basement), it burned twice and was rebuilt each time. As a result of these changes, it gained battlement attics, rare in Krakow, and a tower covered with a modest helmet. After Kazimierz was incorporated into Krakow, the town hall lost its function. With time, it was adapted to the needs of an industrial and commercial school, and later a primary school for Jewish youth.
:2. Gothic St Catherine's Church :3. Gothic Corpus Christi Church :4.

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

Church on the Rock (

), the site of Saint Stanislaus's martyrdom :5. Museum of Municipal Engineering

Jewish part

''See map:'' :6. Old Synagogue, now housing a Jewish History museum :7. Remah Synagogue :8. High Synagogue :9. Izaak Synagogue :10. Kupa Synagogue :11. Tempel Synagogue, still active :12. Old Jewish Cemetery in Krakow

Gallery

Churches

File:Kościół Bożego Ciała w Krakowie za murem od ulicy Wawrzyńca.jpg, Corpus Christi Basilica, 1405 File:Krakow kosciol sw Katarzyny 20070930 1522.jpg, St. Catherine Church, 1426 File:2007PolskaSkałka.jpg,

, 1751 File:Krakow St.Trinity Church 20060806 1638.jpg, Trinity Church, 1758

Synagogues

File:Krakow Synagoga Stara 20070920 xxyy.jpg, Old Synagogue, 15th century File:Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery, gate, 40 Szeroka street, Kazimierz, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Remah Synagogue, 1557 File:Krakow Synagoga Wysoka 20071010 1659.jpg, High Synagogue, 1563 File:Krakow PopperSynagogue 7005.jpg, Wolf Popper Synagogue, 1620 File:Krakow synagogue 20070805 1109.jpg, Kupa Synagogue, 1643 File:Krakow Synagoga 20070930 1539.jpg, Izaak Synagogue, 1644 File:Krakow_synagoga_20070805_1115_1.jpg, Kowea Itim le-Tora Synagogue, 1810 File:Tempel (Progressive) Synagogue, 1860 design, Ignacy Hercok, 24 Miodowa street, Kazimierz, Kraków, Poland.jpg, Tempel Synagogue, 1862 File:Krakow synagogue 20060805 1639.jpg, Bne Emuna Prayerhouse, 1886. Today it houses the Judaica Foundation - Center For Jewish Culture File:Krakow synagogue 20070805 1040.jpg, Chewra Thilim Synagogue, 1896. Now a restaurant File:Solomon Deiches's Prayer House (Synagogue), 6 Brzozowa street, Kazimierz, Krakow, Poland.jpg, Deiches Synagogue, 1910

References

*Bałaban, Majer ''Przewodnik po żydowskich zabytkach Krakowa'' Krakow: B'nei B'rith, 1935. *Bałaban, Majer ''Historja Żydów w Krakowie i na Kazimierzu, 1304-1868'' (Vol. I, II) Krakow: KAW, 1991. (reprint) *Burek, Edward (ed.) ''Encyklopedia Krakowa''. Krakow: PWM, 2000. *Michalik, Marian (ed.) ''Kronika Krakowa''. Krakow: Kronika, 2006. *Simpson, Scott ''Krakow'' Cambridge: Thomas Cook, 2006. *Świszczowski, Stefan ''Miasto Kazimierz pod Krakowem'' Krakow: WLK, 1981. *Jakimyszyn, Anna ''Żydzi krakowscy w dobie Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej'' Krakow-Budapeszt 2008.

External links

The Jewish Cultural Festival
in Krakow
The Galicia Jewish Museum

Jewish Community in Kazimierz
on Virtual Shtetl {{Authority control Jewish ghettos in Europe Historic Jewish communities in Poland Neighbourhoods of Kraków Culture of Poland Jews and Judaism in Kraków Jewish Quarters Casimir III the Great