On 11 August 1945, a crowd of Polish citizens broke into the Kupa synagogue in Kraków’s Kazimierz district during Shabbat services, destroying the synagogue and setting it on fire, killing at least one person in the process and wounding an unknown number of Jews who had been at prayer.
Despite the horrors of the Holocaust, the return of 50,000 to 60,000 Polish Jews was met with aversion and in some instances with acts of hostility and mistreatment of Jews, including local resolutions to expel the returnees. Attacks on the Kupa Synagogue occurred often, with Poles throwing stones at the synagogue, breaking windows, and shouting insults.
Ahead of the incident the governor of Kraków warned of rising antisemitism, writing in a June 1945 report: "The question of the society's attitude towards Jews is a serious problem. On July 27, the police detained a woman suspected of kidnapping a child. It turned out to be his guardian, but the persistent news spread around the city that Jews were kidnapping and murdering Polish children “to make matzo."
Similar to the Kielce pogrom in 1946, this pogrom started with a rumor about ritual murders of Polish children committed by Jews. Several thousand Jews lived in Kraków when the pogrom took place.
The incident occurred after multiple instances of rock throwing at the synagogue. On the last occasion, Jewish soldiers and the synagogue caretaker caught the young rock thrower and dragged him to the synagogue. The young boy broke free, ran away, and reported the incident, telling authorities that the Jews had attempted to murder him, and that he had seen the bodies of other murdered children inside.
After the gruesome and libelous news began to spread, an aggressive crowd of several thousand Poles attacked the synagogue and a Jewish shelter located nearby. The synagogue was torn apart, and the Torah scrolls and religious books were destroyed as Jews were dragged out into the street and beaten. Perpetrators also attacked nearby Jewish apartments.
Uniformed policemen and soldiers participated in the pogrom, seemingly legitimizing the violence against Jews. Authorities eventually detained dozens of people who had participated in the pogrom, ultimately, sentencing fourteen to sentences ranging from one to seven years in prison.
While it is not certain how many Jews were killed during the Kraków pogrom, archival documents confirm the death of at least one person, Róża Berger.
By the early 1990s, only a few hundred Jews remained in Kraków.
