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Concept
Kraków pogrom
Summary
The Kraków pogrom was the first anti-Jewish riot in post World War II Poland, that took place on 11 August 1945 in the Soviet-occupied city of Kraków, Poland. The incident was part of anti-Jewish violence in Poland towards and after the end of World War II. The immediate cause of the pogrom was a blood libel rumour of a ritual murder of Polish children by Jews in the city. A false allegation that a child had been abducted by a Jewish woman had grown to allegations that Jews had killed up to 80 children over the course of weeks. These allegations led to attacks on Jews, as well as some Poles mistaken for Jews, in the Kazimierz quarter, and other parts of the Old Town, and the burning of the Kupa Synagogue. At least one person was killed and an unknown number were injured.
Before the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, around 68,000 to 80,000 Jews lived in Kraków. In January 1945, there were only 2,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors in the city who had not fled following the arrival of the Soviet Red Army. Some Jewish refugees returned to Kraków from the Soviet Union and from neighbouring villages and towns. By May 1945, there were 6,637 Jews in the city.
The return of these Jews was not always welcomed, especially by the antisemitic elements in the populace. Anti-Jewish violence in Kraków was a serious problem according to the Soviet-installed starosta in the city, even though "no serious antisemitic events were recorded in the rural and small-town regions." In June 1945, the new communist voivode of Kraków described in his report alleged growing tensions to his superiors. In his report for 1–10 August, the Kraków city administrator (starosta grodzki) noted the "insufficient supply of food."
On 27 June 1945, a Jewish woman was brought to a local Milicja Obywatelska police station and falsely accused of attempting to abduct a child. Despite the fact that the investigation revealed that the child's mother had left the child in the care of the suspect, rumours started to spread that a Jewish woman abducted the child in order to kill him.
Official source
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