Poll
 | A NEW LIFE FOR THE HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE |
| THE OLD JEWISH DISTRICT- АLIVE AND ATTRACTIVE AGAIN | |
| Location | Poland |
| Ownership | Mixed |
| Finance | Public - private partnership |
| Projects readiness | Finished project |
| Internet links | www.scrapbookpages.com/.../kazimierz/index.html ; www.jewishkrakow.net/; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazimierz ; |
Kazimierz was founded as a separate town by King Casimir the Great in 1335 and was named after this king. In the late 15th century Jews from Krakow were moved there. THey established a separate Jewish town with their houses, businesses, synagogues and cemeteries. The character of this city, later a district of Krakow changed dramatically with the World War II. Nazi moved Jewish population of Krakow to a ghetto, which was established outside of original Kazimierz. As a consequence of the holocaust two thirds of the residents of Kazimierz died either in the ghetto or in the extermination camps. Only six thousands Polish Jews came back to live there but many of them subsequently emigrated to the USA, Israel etc.During the forty years of communism Kazimierz was a strange place, it became inhabited by a lower class of society since its original inhabitants perished. It was not a safe place to be during the evenings or at night. Nobody really cared for Kazimierz - since the original population of the lively Kazimierz was gone. Nazis did not completely destroyed the town, even the cemeteries were still there as well as majority of synagogues, but the Krakow city government did not do anything to improve the conditions of the aging houses. At least no any historical objects were destroyed deliberately since nothing new was built there. Many houses, although partly devastated kept its beauty and history, some Jewish cemeteries were left almost intact since the war as like the time forgot about it. The access to one of these cemeteries was only available through the courtyard of another house. It was strange and charming - to see this old forgotten world in the middle of the town.
The real transformation of Kazimierz started with the change of political system in Poland in late eighties. With the help of the Jewish community all around the world many long-neglected buildings were renovated, among them also the synagogues. The Jewish Festival (June/July) is being held now for over ten years. The festival as well as a popularity of the Spielberg Oscar-winning movie Schindler's List, which action takes place among Jewish community in Krakow brought a surge of visitors to this old Jewish town.
Over the last 20 years, the district of Kazimierz has faced a revitalization as complex as its very history. The process of renewal in the urban village started in the early 1990s and the results are apparent today in al aspects of the district’s life: its building, the scale of business activity, the residents and the image it presents to Krakóvians and visitors. The changes are down to many factors: firstly Kraków’s prosperity and improved communication links with Poland and the rest of Europe as a whole, but the changes the area has seen are far from simple. As a result the growth in the quarter has main been driven by market forces, and nowhere is this more prominent than in the previously dilapidated Jewish quarter, which is dominated by commercial activities based on its Jewish cultural heritage and tourism is now becoming the most important function of the district.
Jewish Landmarks in the Kazimerz District
Strolling old narrow streets of the eastern half of Krakow’s Kazimierz district one still finds a unique atmosphere of the Jewish past of this area. To it attest also the exhibits of the Museum of Judaism at 24 Szeroka street, in the stately brick building of the Old Synagogue, dating back to the 15th century and rebuilt to Renaissance tastes in the 1560s. Other interesting synagogues are Isaac's Synagogue at 25 Jakuba street (17th c., Baroque), High Synagogue at 38 Jozefa street (16th c., late-Gothic/Renaissance), Tempel at 24 Miodowa street (19th c., neo-Romanesque), Popper's Synagogie at 16 Szeroka street (17th c., Baroque), and Remuh Synagogue at 40 Szeroka Street (l6th c., Renaissance) with the adjoining Remuh Cemetery.
Kazimierz's Old Jewish Cemetery
Remuh cemetry by the Remuh Synagogue at 40 Szeroka Street was named after the nickname of famous 16th-century rabbi and religious writer Moses Isserles. Even today pious Jews keep coming to pray at his grave and the graves of their other great men who were buried here. The cemetery was used from 1551 to 1800. Its hundreds old tombstones, dating mostly from the Renaissance, as well as its history and surroundings make the Remuh Cemetery one of Europe's most interesting.
Holocaust in Krakow
In March 1941 the German war administration forced all Krakow Jews to resettle in the newly created ghetto north of the Kazimierz area. The Nazis liquidated it only two years later on March 13, 1943. Most of the 17,000 ghetto inhabitants perished in the Nazi concentration camps, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Krakow’s Plaszow whose site has been turned into a commemoration park with an impressive monument.
Bustling and Lively Again
Kazimierz district has become newly fashionable in the recent decade. With its mushrooming cafes and nightlife spots, it has become Krakow’s equivalent of London’s Soho, Paris’ Quartier Latin, and New York’s Village. Kazimierz district's recreated Jewish past and newborn reputation as a haven of artists and the young have made the rundown area near the Old Town trendy among tourists and the locals alike.
