Kraków has always been regarded as the cultural centre of Poland, and before World War II it was likewise an important cultural centre for approximately 65,000 Jews – one quarter of the city’s total population – who enjoyed the city’s relatively tolerant climate. Persecution of the Jewish community began almost immediately following German occupation in early September 1939, however. Despite an increasing series of regulations restricting the civil rights and personal freedom of Jews, more and more were arriving in Kraków from the rest of Poland in the hope of finding safety amidst the city’s dense community. In October 1939, the Nazis registered 68,482 Jews in Kraków.
Building the ghetto wall in Krzemionki; 1941.

Conditions continued to worsen, however, and in April 1940, Hans Frank – Nazi commander of the ‘General Government’ (the part of German-occupied PL that was not directly incorporated into Germany) – ordered the resettlement of Kraków’s Jews, in keeping with his desire for the capital of the General Government to be a “Jew-free city.” As a result of resettlement in late 1940, Kraków’s Jewish population was reduced to the 16,000 deemed necessary to maintain the economy at the time, with the 52,000-odd others forcibly deported, largely to labour camps in the east.

Establishment of the Kraków Ghetto

 
'Like a nestless bird carrying fear on its wings,
I walk my wife and children through the deluge of tears,
expelled from paradise into an alien world,
not knowing what sin have I committed.'
-translated excerpt from Miałem Kiedyś Dom (I Once Had a Home), by Mordechaj Gebirtig, May 1941

On March 3rd, 1941 Otto Wächter, Governor of the Kraków district, decreed the establishment of a new ‘Jewish Housing District’ on the right bank of the Wisła River in the district of Podgórze . What would become known as the ‘Kraków’ or ‘Podgórze Ghetto’ initially comprised an approximately 20 hectare (50 acre) space of some 320 mostly one- and two-story buildings in Podgórze’s historic centre bound by the river to the north, the Krzemionki hills to the south, the Kraków-Płaszów rail line to the east, and Podgórze’s market square to the west.
Putting up hebrew signs in the Kraków Ghetto
In the 17 days between the ghetto’s establishment and the March 20, 1941 resettlement deadline, approximately 3,000 original residents of the district were relocated across the river to be replaced by some 16,000 Jews , whose property and possessions were confiscated with the exception of what they could carry into the ghetto. Thousands of unregistered Jews also illegally entered the ghetto seeking protection, bringing the total population of the Kraków Ghetto to about 18,000 .

Overcrowding was an obvious problem with one apartment allocated for every four families and an average of two square metres of living space per person . Windows facing ‘Aryan’ Podgórze were bricked or boarded up to prevent contact with the outside world and a 3 metre high wall was erected around the confines of the ghetto, crowned with arches conscientiously designed to resemble Jewish tombstones. Four guarded entrance gates accessed the ghetto – the main gate from Rynek Podgórski on ul. Limanowskiego, another on the east end of ul. Limanowskiego near its intersection with ul. Rękawka and ul. Lwowska, a third close by at the intersection of ul. Lwowska and ul. Józefińska, and another at Plac Zgody (today known as Plac Bohaterów Getta ). A tram initially ran through the ghetto, and though it made no stops, food and other valuable commodities frequently found their way into the ghetto via its windows.

Many Jewish institutions were transferred into the ghetto, and several non-Jewish businesses continued to operate, most notably Tadeusz Pankiewicz’s Eagle  Pharmacy on Plac Zgody. Many Jews also worked outside the ghetto, particularly in the Zabłocie industrial district, which included Oskar Schindler’s enamelware factory at ul. Lipowa 4.
Tram going through the entrance to the Jewish Ghetto near the intersection of ul. Lwowska and ul. Józefińska, 1941.

Deportations

Following an October 15th, 1941 decree requiring all Jews of the Kraków region – not just the city centre – to move to the Podgórze Ghetto, a further 6,000 Jews from villages around Małopolska entered the ghetto, making conditions unbearable. To alleviate the distress Nazi authorities happily announced that they would begin deportations, and 1000 people - mostly elderly and unemployed –were loaded into cattle cars and sent to Kielce, where they were expected to find aid from local Jewish authorities. Not knowing what else to do, many of them actually returned clandestinely to their families in the Kraków Ghetto.
Krakow Ghetto deportation; ul. Lwowska, June 1942.
Papers being checked in the Kraków Ghetto.

On June 6th, all previous documents were declared invalid and ghetto occupants were required to apply for a new ‘Blauschein’ or Blue Pass; those that were denied likewise met their deaths in Bełżec, including popular poet and songwriter Mordechaj Gebirtig and renowned painter Abraham Neuman. By the end of the action, 7,000 Jews had been sent to their deaths, and many more simply shot in the streets. [The June deportations were one of the best documented of such actions, however photos from the events are still commonly misidentified as having been taken during the ghetto's liquidation in March 1943.]

Two weeks later the area of the ghetto was reduced almost by half to the north side of ul. Limanowskiego and demarcated by barbed wire. The increased density of the population and increasing brutality of the Germans set off a wave of suicides. Though some remained optimistic, worse was to come. Work was also beginning on the nearby KL Płaszów labour camp, which would eventually portend the end of the Jewish ghetto in Kraków.