Matthew Mills

November 3rd – 6th 2023

Cultural work inside Kraków, Poland. This trip was a reconnaissance of what the city and local culture have to offer for my personal development in photography. This worked well because of the historical impacts that time has had on the city, with the population of the Jewish community being deported to Auschwitz during WWII and then the introduction of communism by becoming a satellite state of the USSR.

Impacts of WWII and the invasion of Poland. Context (Link). The first recorded presence of a Jewish population inside Kraków dates back to the early 13th century. After the census of 1931, over 55,000 people identified as Jewish in Kraków. This was almost one-quarter of the total population of about 250,000. After the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II, the German army occupied Kraków in the first week of September 1939. After the occupation of the city, the German military authorities initiated measurements to isolate the Jewish population in the city. This then initiated the creation of the Ghettos in May 1940, moving between 15,000 and 20,000 into the Podgórze district. This area was gated and guarded, with high walls between any exits. There was one pharmacy in the Ghettos due to the constant outbreak of diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis.

During this time, Oskar Schinder used the slave labour of the Jews in the ghettos to work in his enamel actory. This, however, was the way that he managed to keep between 700 and 1200 Jewish people alive during their deportation from the ghettos to the concentration camps. Information (link)

Hans Frank was appointed leader of Poland by the German Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. Eventually, Frank was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity on October 1, 1946, by the International Military Tribunal in Nürnberg. There, he was sentenced to death by hanging. Before this, in October of 1939, Frank established his headquarters in the Wawel Castle in Kraków. This was then designated as the capital of the general government; this was then a base for the stationed members of the higher SS and police personnel. This is a central building in the city with a high vantage point and many different exits. This allows it to be well defended due to the scale of the wall and the limited uncontrolled access around the quarters of the building. 

Impacts of communism during 1947–1989 According to information found on the Britannica website, Poland became a republic post-war known as the Polish Republic; this was before it was renamed after 1952 as the Polish People’s Republic. At this time, the Polish People’s Republic was under direct control of the USSR. This is also known as a puppet state. This was interesting because it allowed Poland to have the amazing architecture of the USSR, and now this mixes with all the other architecture in the city really well because of the vast contrast between the styles.

References