The place I want to tell you about is so historically rich and releases such strong emotions that it is not easy to convey all information and impressions in an orderly manner.
Should I focus on history and monuments? Or on the visual impressions? On emotions?
I certainly cannot focus only on the cold facts and beautiful buildings. Each such place draws deeper - into the lives of ordinary people. They are gone, but their energy remains, and I feel the connection with it.
With this approach, it is impossible to write a text like "10 places worth seeing". Sometimes writing is a real ordeal;)
I want to tell you about the parts of Krakow that were once strongly associated with the inhabitants of Jewish nationality; I start with Kazimierz.
Until the end of the 15th century, Jews lived in the center of Kraków - around the Main Market Square. As a result of being mistreated by other residents, they moved to Kazimierz, a town next to Krakow. The Polish king himself gave them the special laws, and they felt safer there. Jews from all over Europe also settled there, incl. From Bohemia and Moravia, from German cities, and the Iberian Peninsula.
In 1800, Kazimierz was incorporated into the city of Krakow as part of the Old Town District. Today we commonly call Kazimierz the Jewish district, although representatives of other nationalities also lived there, and before WWII, about 30% of Jews lived outside Kazimierz.
In this text, I will not write much about history or monuments. As an introduction to a broader topic, I will start by showing you only one very unique, in my opinion, place.
I have lived in Krakow since I was born, and I am pretty often in Kazimierz, but I have never been to the place I want to show.
I only recently read more about the history of this part of town; I want to get to know it better and from a different perspective than before. Travel restrictions have made me look for places to discover in my own city.
I must admit that I was drawn here primarily by the colorful social life - Kazimierz (before the pandemic) was a popular meeting place and fun for both tourists and residents, perfect for spending a good time with a good drink and music. In this respect, it successfully competed with the city center - the vicinity of the main square. Crowds of tourists during the day, and at night - endless party.
It would be great to come back to normality because this positive side of the district is worth showing. Now it is very calm here, which also has its good sides.
Today we will enter the New Jewish Cemetery at 55 Miodowa Street.
Entrance to the cemetery and a fragment of the funeral home, built in 1893.
Why "new"? Because there is also a second, older cemetery in the area, established in the mid-16th century. It is located on Szeroka Street, next to the Remuh Synagogue (built in 1556). Due to epidemiological restrictions, the synagogue and the cemetery are now closed to tourists.
Entrance to the Remuh Synagogue - Szeroka Street
View of the synagogue and the old cemetery from the other side, through the window in the wall.
For now, that's all we can see; I hope that it will change in May.
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Let's go back to the new cemetery. As I have already mentioned, Kazimierz, once a separate town, was incorporated into Krakow in 1800. It was then that the old cemetery was closed (like many others located in dense residential buildings), and a new one was opened. It is a bit off the beaten track, at Miodowa Street.
The term "new" made me expect rather neat, well-kept alleys, and a orderly space.
What I saw was a wonderful, wild garden in which the monuments of memory remain in the union with nature. I felt as if I entered another dimension... I was totally enchanted.
The cascades of ivy covering trees and tombstones create a fantastic atmosphere! In some parts of the cemetery, whole groups of monuments look like green domes. I imagine when the greenery will absorb everything, and the entire area will be like a slightly undulating surface of the green ocean.
The carpet of bright lilies of the valley contrasts with the ivy's dark green. When they bloom, it will be beautiful here!
The cemetery has many faces. It is incredible how its very form reflects the fate of the Jewish people. Next to the charming nooks and crannies, we will find a devastated wasteland.
The Nazis partially destroyed the cemetery during World War II. They used many matzevas for construction works (some served as paving slabs in the Płaszów camp) or sold them to local stonemasons. After the war, part of the stolen matzevas were recovered - they were put back into place or embedded in the fence. So it is not only a cemetery but also a lapidary, which is a kind of collective memorial.
There are also many symbolic tombstones dedicated to entire families murdered in extermination camps. It breaks your heart to read them. It makes you realize that each stone here is a personal drama of many human beings. Some tombstones mention entire, multigenerational families - from older adults to tiny children.
According to various sources, there are about 7-10 thousand tombstones here, and it's easy to believe. Particular parts of the cemetery differ in the density of graves. We can find empty areas damaged by the Nazis, places where graves seem to be evenly arranged, as well as whole groups of matzevas placed next to each other.
I did not notice a clear division into old and new graves. I suspect that lost matzevas were not placed in their original location after the war. I think it was not possible to recreate their position accurately. While walking around, I saw both very old and completely new tombstones. Matzevas both with clear inscriptions and wholly obliterated. Impressive steles and small stones. All of this side by side, without divisions, in unison.
A cemetery is a place where all differences and divisions between people end. Of course, some tombstones are more impressive than others, but they too will eventually crumble, become overgrown with ivy, and the inscriptions will be blurred. Only this delicate aura, energy, fleeting presence will remain, a connection with those who have passed away and those who will come after me.
A beautiful, moody place. Did I choose the proper order to start showing Jewish parts of Kraków from the cemetery? I'm not sure. But I feel that it creates the right mood, the background for the further story.
I'm the only author of the text and photos.
Writing about the history, I used the following sources of information:
http://cmentarze-zydowskie.pl/krakowmio.htm
https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/k/512-krakow/114-cmentarze/17326-nowy-cmentarz-zydowski-w-krakowie-ul-miodowa-55
http://pozabiurem.pl/zydowska-historia-krakowa/