Polish-Jewish relationships in the Eastern part of the Kraków district in the years 1942–1944/1945. Some remarks on the state of research and its causes

Abstract

This article concerns the Eastern part of the Kraków district, that is, seven administrative units of what is currently the Podkarpackie Province. It focuses on the advancement of research on Polish-Jewish relationships in the years 1942–1944/1945 and the political and social reasons for this advancement, which are discussed in more detail. After World War II, it became priority number one for the state authorities to document the Nazi crimes and make the perpetrators of these crimes account for what had been done, since this was what society expected. Polish-Jewish relationships were almost non-existent in historians’ research until the turn of the 1970s. It was only at that time that the issue of aid provided to Jews by Poles and, most importantly, the consequential repressions from the Germans, were first tackled by historians. This was due to the outcome of the March 1968 unrest. Until the end of the previous century, historians analysing Polish-Jewish relationships focused mainly on the aid Poles had provided to Jews. It was not until the publication of “Neighbours: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland” by J.T. Gross, 2001, and, as a consequence, the beginning of a debate this publication ignited, that the research on Polish-Jewish relationships intensified. This intensification also initiated research on Poles’ hostility to ghetto runaways in, among other areas, the Eastern part of Kraków district. However, not much progress was made here in comparison with the research on Polish aid provided to Jews. In addition to academic and popular science articles, four monographs on rescuing Jews in this region have so far been published, while there have been no publications strictly concerning Poles’ hostile attitudes towards runaway Jews.