Pogroms in Kraków in 1918 and 1945: Historical analysis

• Published date: 01 March 2024
• Author: Anna Cichopek‐Gajraj
• Date: 01 March 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21368

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Pogroms in Krak

ow in 1918 and 1945: Historical

analysis

Anna Cichopek-Gajraj

School of Historical, Philosophical and

Religious Studies (HST Faculty), Arizona

State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Correspondence

Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, Arizona State

University, 975 S Myrtle Ave #4302,

Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.

Email: acichope@asu.edu

Abstract

What can a temporal comparison of two pogroms in

the same city in the wake of two vastly different mili-

tary conflicts reveal about context and function of anti-

Jewish violence? What can it tell us about historical

continuity and change? These questions frame the his-

tory below which focuses on two pogroms in the city of

Krak

ow on April 16, 1918, and August 11, 1945. This

article argues that in both cases perpetrators perceived

the state as failing to meet their basic economic,

national, and moral expectations after the wars which

left political and social chaos, economic ruin, and dis-

mal law and order. To address the state's failings and

restore the “moral balance,”the perpetrators targeted

the Jews whom they perceived as the state's beneficia-

ries. After the Second World War, the violence only

intensified when the medieval myth of ritual murder

reemerged, and Jewish women and children became

the targets of aggression. This change can only be

explained by the specific context of WWII when

redemptive antisemitism of Nazi propaganda and the

daily practice of genocide stripped Jews of the remains

of their humanity thus marking them as the ultimate

threat to Polish survival.

KEYWORDS

antisemitism, first world war, holocaust, pogrom, Polish-Jewish

relations, second world war

Received: 3 May 2022 Revised: 7 September 2022 Accepted: 18 November 2022

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21368

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2024;41:253–267. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 253