The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects of Jewish origin in the face of World War II. Possibilities of applying the micro-historical method in research on architecture and urban planning

Maciej Motak

doi:10.37190/arc240302

Abstract

This article is about the fate of a group of architects and builders in Krakow during World War II. After the outbreak of the war and the start of the German occupation in September 1939, they found themselves in a very difficult position. As the persecution intensified, so did the opportunities for their professional activities strongly diminish, although they did not disappear. The article outlines in more detail two individual situations - those of Samuel Mehl and Jakub Stendig - one related to the creation of a building, the other to, among other issues, the loss of a building. The research used methods often applied in the studies in architecture and urbanism: literature analysis, search in archives, field research. The micro-historical method, which is rather rarely used in such research, was also applied. This method, which has been used for nearly 50 years in scientific, mainly historical research, is based on studying and preserving the individual element of the narrative while aiming to generalise the result. In spite of the extremely cruel persecution of the Jewish population in Krakow during World War II, some architects and builders of Jewish origin continued their professional activity under various and difficult conditions. Its forms varied from design work and construction of residential buildings, to care for historical monuments, to construction activity in a concentration camp. Professional activity and specific skills may have contributed to the fact that proportionally more Jewish architects and builders survived the Holocaust than the Jewish community in Krakow as a whole. The consequences of the Holocaust for the architecture and space of Krakow were serious and varied: the loss of an important professional group, the loss of valuable architectural and artistic works, the change of features in newly designed buildings. The legacy of the work of architects and builders of Jewish origin in Krakow is very significant. It has been commemorated in a variety of tangible and intangible forms, although insufficiently in proportion to its scale.

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3(79)

Maciej Motak*

The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects

of Jewish origin in the face of World War II.

Possibilities of applying the micro-historical method

in research on architecture and urban planning

DOI: 10.37190/arc240302

Published in open access. CC BY NC ND license

Abstract

This article is about the fate of a group of architects and builders in Krakow during World War II. After the outbreak of the war and the start of the

German occupation in September 1939, they found themselves in a very dicult position. As the persecution intensied, so did the opportunities for

their professional activities strongly diminish, although they did not disappear.

The article outlines in more detail two individual situations – those of Samuel Mehl and Jakub Stendig – one related to the creation of a building,

the other to, among other issues, the loss of a building. The research used methods often applied in the studies in architecture and urbanism: literature

analysis, search in archives, eld research. The micro-historical method, which is rather rarely used in such research, was also applied. This method,

which has been used for nearly 50 years in scientic, mainly historical research, is based on studying and preserving the individual element of the

narrative while aiming to generalise the result.

In spite of the extremely cruel persecution of the Jewish population in Krakow during World War II, some architects and builders of Jewish origin

continued their professional activity under various and dicult conditions. Its forms varied from design work and construction of residential build-

ings, to care for historical monuments, to construction activity in a concentration camp. Professional activity and specic skills may have contributed

to the fact that proportionally more Jewish architects and builders survived the Holocaust than the Jewish community in Krakow as a whole. The

consequences of the Holocaust for the architecture and space of Krakow were serious and varied: the loss of an important professional group, the

loss of valuable architectural and artistic works, the change of features in newly designed buildings. The legacy of the work of architects and builders

of Jewish origin in Krakow is very signicant. It has been commemorated in a variety of tangible and intangible forms, although insuciently in

proportion to its scale.

Key words: World War II, Jews, micro-history, architects and builders, Krakow

* ORCID: 0000-0002-5223-9895. Faculty of Architecture, Cra-

cow University of Technology, Poland, e-mail: maciej.motak@pk.edu.pl

Introduction

The rst part of the article presents the origins, main

assumptions and characteristics of the micro-historical

method – not generally used in the study of architecture

and urban planning – and identies an example of scien-

tic research in the discipline of history carried out using

this method. This example is thematically linked to the

subject matter of the article. In the following section, us-

ing, among other things, this very method, the article dis-

cusses the conditions and fate of architects and builders

of Jewish origin in Krakow during World War II and the

impact of this tragic period on the history of the city and its

space. The subject falls within the temporal scope of World

War II (1939–1945), although with specic references to

the inter-war period (1918–1939) and the post-war period

(after 1945). It falls within the territorial scope of the city

of Krakow during this period (enlarged in 1941). It deals

with the situation of a specic group of artists.

The author sought answers to several research ques-

tions. Were there any opportunities for professional activ-

ity for the artists belonging to this group? Were there any

opportunities for architects and builders to survive, dier-

14 Maciej Motak

ently from the situation of the Jewish community in gen-

eral? What consequences did the Holocaust have for the

shaping and transformation of the architecture and space

of Krakow?

The state of research

The subject of the persecution and extermination of the

Jewish population during World War II has been present-

ed in many publications. With regard to the Krakow area,

the most important studies include publications by Dora

Agat

stein-Dormontowa (Agatstein-Dormontowa 1957) and

Alek sander Bieberstein (Bieberstein 1985), which cover

the whole range of issues, as well as by Roman Kieł kow ski

(Kieł kowski

1981) and Ryszard Kotarba (Kotarba 2022),

which are mostly concerned with the history of the Pła-

szów concentration camp (KL Plaszow

Among the numerous studies on the architecture of

Kra kow of the interwar period and its builders, the subject

of the conditions and activities of individual builders of

Jewish origin is addressed in publications by Barbara Zbro-

ja (Zbroja 2005), which extensively present the built heri-

tage of architects and builders, and Maciej Motak (Mo tak

2022), who, among other things, presents the education of

builders at the Krakow State Industrial School (Państwowa

Szkoła Przemysłowa – PSP) and outlines their professional

activity. On an individual level, the sub ject is discussed in

biographies of individual builders, e.g. Fryderyk Tadanier

(Twardowska 2016) and Edward Kreis ler (Zbroja 2006),

and in monographs of selected buildings, e.g. the Funeral

Home designed by Adolf Siódmak (Zbroja 2003).

The most recent and currently most important study on

the activities of architects and builders of Jewish origin in

Krakow is Barbara Zbroja’s book (Zbroja 2023). It also

presents, although outside the declared temporal scope of

the study, a great deal of information on their fate after

September 1939.

Particularly important, also from the point of view of

the present research, are the published memoirs, with ac-

companying study, of engineer Jakub Stendig (Stendig

2020), a prisoner of the Krakow Ghetto and then of the

KL Plaszow.

Research description, methods

The research was conducted in 2022–2023 and was ex-

tended and supplemented in 2024, taking into account and

using the micro-historical method and the latest literature

on the subject. Other methods included: literature analysis,

archive analysis, and eld research. The aim of the research

was to attempt to gather the current state of knowledge on

the subject under study and to determine the consequenc-

es of the losses incurred some 80 years ago by the archi-

tecture, space and community of Krakow. Moreover, the

author’s intention was to verify the hypothesis on the pos-

KL Plaszow was located in the southern part of Krakow: partly on

the territory of the Podgórze and Płaszów districts (including the area of

the two Jewish cemeteries that were destroyed) and partly on the territory

of Wola Duchacka (a pre-war suburb, a district of Krakow since 1941).

sibility of applying the micro-historical method in research

on architecture and urban planning.

Numerous and diverse research methods are used in sci-

entic research conducted in the discipline of architecture

and urban planning. Some of them are used so frequently

that they are considered characteristic of scientic research

in this discipline. In particular, the following methods be-

long to this group: logical argumentation, historical-inter-

pretative, experimental, quantitative (including statistical),

simulation and modelling, qualitative and case study meth-

ods; for research with a strong practical demand, interven-

tionist (action research) and heuristic methods are applied;

in addition, mixed methods are used (Niezabitowska

2014,

12). Authors of studies on research methodology and meth-

odology in general distinguish a number of research meth-

ods (Pieter 1975; Apanowicz 2002; Zieliński 2012), among

which comparative analysis, for example, is often mentioned.

Other research methods are used less frequently, excep-

tionally, or not at all in the discipline of architecture and

urban planning. They also include, however, methods used

in research carried out within other disciplines and consid-

ered to be characteristic of them. One of these is micro-his-

tory, i.e. the micro-historical method.

The micro-historical method is characteristic of the eld

of humanities, especially the discipline of history itself. It

represents a type of historical writing based on properly

conducted research. It was developed in the 1970s, pri-

marily in the Italian scientic community and later also

in the German and American communities. Italian schol-

ars Giovanni Levi and Carlo Ginzburg, both born in 1939,

are considered its main founders and leading representa-

tives. Together with other scholars sharing their approach

and views, they […] approached the analysis of ocial

documents and records with scepticism, placing great em-

phasis on the internal criticism of the source. They also

sought new typologies of historical sources, placing great

importance on oral accounts and on the role of tradition

(Gregorowicz 2014).

The main premise of the micro-historical method is

to preserve the individual element of the narrative while

striving for generalisation. It assumes that individual cas-

es, experiences and situations can enable the understand-

ing and presentation of specic phenomena in a more

general way, and at the same time they can individually

contain valuable data and observations. Sometimes the use

of the method results in a far-reaching involvement of the

researcher and, in individual situations, may even cause

his or her comments and opinions to become subjective

(Domańska 1999, 232–233).

An example of a recent publication in Polish which

programmatically employs the micro-historical method is

a comprehensive two-volume study devoted to the fate of

Jews in selected areas of occupied Poland during World

War II (Engelking, Grabowski 2018). Justifying the choice

of the method, the editors and authors emphasised that […]

micro-history, manifesting, as it were, its frag men tary or

incomplete nature, nevertheless leads, in the in tention of

its theorists and practitioners, to statements of a general

nature, to outlining the broader historical context, to grasp-

ing and interpreting the relations between the local and the

The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects of Jewish origin in the face of World War II 15

global. Research conducted on the micro scale opens up the

perspective for understanding phenomena and mechanisms

beyond the local and leads to conclusions on the macro

scale (Engelking, Grabowski 2018, 17).

As mentioned, the micro-historical method does not be-

long to the group of research methods frequently used in

research in the discipline of architecture and urban plan-

ning. In particular, it is not presented among the accepted

methods. On the basis of the analysis of relevant excerpts

(including introductory parts) of more than one hundred

doctoral theses, book chapters and books devoted to archi-

tecture and urban planning, the author found that in none

of the analysed positions was micro-history declared or

even mentioned as a leading or auxiliary research meth-

od. Nevertheless, the analysis made it possible to establish

that in some of the studies certain elements of the scientic

workshop and the way of conducting research work, char-

acteristic of micro-history, were used.

It can therefore be assumed that there are certain pos-

sibilities and advantages of applying the micro-historical

method to the study of architecture and urban planning.

Elements of micro-history can be applied in them, even if

their presence is not explicit.

Krakow architects and builders of Jewish origin

in the face of World War II

In the inter-war period, several hundred professionals

in the elds of architecture and construction were profes-

sionally active in Krakow, either making designs or imple-

menting them, often combining these two types of work.

This number uctuated due to the new entrants to the pro-

fession and due to the economic situation, in the construc-

tion industry in particular. The prosperity was signicant-

ly aected by, among other things, the Great Depression

of the early 1930s, though its impact on the construction

business (and thus on work opportunities for designers and

contractors) was quite complex

. Nevertheless, throughout

the inter-war period, a steady general upward trend in the

number of people active on the Krakow design and con-

struction market should be noted. Five censuses, preserved

in the National Archives in Kraków (Archiwum Narodowe

w Krakowie – ANK) resources

, contain the names of a to-

tal of 228 such persons, while the last complete census of

1934 contains 188 names (Motak 2022, 31–37). The ac-

tual number was probably somewhat higher, taking into

account persons omitted from the censuses due to short

term residence, changing places of residence and work, as

well as the sometimes dierent and changing criteria and

scopes of registration of professional groups over time.

According to the author of this article, the number reached

a total of about 300 people, while in 1939, before the out-

break of the war, it was just over 200 people.

With the general economic collapse, the crisis period proved fa-

vourable for some investments and investors, due to decreases in materi-

al and labour prices; moreover, the construction industry was among the

branches of the economy in which the crisis began to be overcome earliest.

The above-mentioned inventories kept in the National Archives

in Krakow date from 1922, 1925, 1928, 1931, 1934.

In the interwar years, architects and builders of Jewish

origin formed a signicant part of Krakow’s creative cir-

cle. This group was also characterised by a steady growth

during this period, also in relation to the size of the entire

Krakow professional community. Some researchers esti-

mate the share of specialists of Jewish origin at the end of

the interwar period at over 30% (Zbroja 2023, 7).

It should be stressed that in the interwar period, the

importance of belonging to this group, was only one of

many determinants of work and life. In the rst, 1921 Con-

stitution of the Second Polish Republic, it was stated that

the Republic […] shall ensure within its territory complete

protection of life, liberty and property to all without dis-

tinction of origin, nationality, language, race or religion

(Ustawa 1921, art. 95), and […] all citizens shall be equal

before the law (Ustawa 1921, art. 96). The provisions of

the new constitution, enacted in 1935, put more emphasis

on the duties than on the rights of citizens, but also stated

that […] neither origin, nor religion, nor sex, nor national-

ity shall be a reason for limiting these [to inuence public

aairs – MM] rights (Ustawa 1935, art. 7). Yet the factual

situation partly deviated from the declaration, e.g. archi-

tects of Jewish origin were rarely entrusted with the de-

sign of public buildings (Zbroja 2024). The situation wors-

ened after the death of Marshal Józef Piłsudski in 1935.

Nationalist circles enforced the segregation of students at

some universities (also at the two Polish Polytechnics in

Warsaw and Lviv), and at the end of the 1930s, some Polish

representatives of various professional circles, like some

lawyers, took measures to limit the activity of members of

the Jewish community by, for example, exclusion from pro-

fessional associations. Such measures were also taken in

the architectural community. On 29 May 1937, the general

assembly of the Association of Architects of the Republic

of Poland (Stowarzyszenie Architektów Rzeczypospolitej

Polskiej – SARP) passed the “Aryan paragraph” – so de-

ned in the original (SARP 1937, 12–13)

. After the revised

statute of the organisation was approved, deletions began:

on 1 July, 1939, 56 members were removed from the mem-

bership list of the Warsaw Branch of SARP, the largest of

the 13 branches (SARP 1939, 5). In the last years of the in-

dependence of the Second Polish Republic, nationalist and

anti-Semitic sentiments and activities became more and

more intense; they found increasing acceptance and sup-

port, among others from parts of the academic community

of the Warsaw Polytechnic (Popiołek-Roßkamp 2023).

It is worth adding that all of Krakow’s architects and

builders of Jewish origin, with probably only one excep-

tion, declared Polish nationality (Zbroja 2023, 83). Among

them were many people known not only for their profes-

sional – design and construction – activities, but also for

their merits in the social eld (Henryk Ritterman was an

activist of the Humanitarian Association Solidarity “B’nei

B’rith”), patriotic eld (Alfred Düntuch was the author of

the design of the monument to the Jewish soldiers killed in

Many delegates spoke in favour of the “Aryan paragraph”. The

majority did not speak. Only one person spoke against it: architect Ro-

man Piotrowski.

16 Maciej Motak

the ght for Poland’s independence), sporting eld (Lud-

wik Gintel was an outstanding footballer of the sports

clubs Jutrzenka and Cracovia and a multiple representa-

tive of Poland in international matches; Fig. 1). They were

active for the benet of their community as well as the

whole of Krakow. It should be noted that from school year

1933/1934 onwards, all pupils of Jewish origin (of Mosaic

faith) in the PSP school gave, or at least had their Jewish

nationality recorded, whereas previously their Polish na-

tionality had been recorded (Motak 2022, 27).

The situation of Krakow’s architects and builders of

Jewish origin changed profoundly and deteriorated rapid-

ly with the outbreak of World War II and the subsequent

placing of Krakow and the rest of Poland under the admin-

istration of the German Nazi state, which occurred partly

in the autumn of 1939 and partly, in the lands occupied in

1939–1941 by the Soviet Union, in the summer of 1941.

Belonging to the Jewish community had an enormous im-

pact on the fate of individuals from then on, who experi-

enced persecution and suering, which in the vast majority

of cases ended in death by 1945, mainly in 1942–1943.

By subsequent orders of the German occupation author-

ities, Jews in Krakow were obliged to wear marking arm-

bands and were gradually deprived of their rights: to their

property, to travelling, to education (for example, on 20

De cember 1939, Jews studying to become builders at the

PSP were removed from school) and to many other basic

human rights. They were then physically removed from al-

most all of Krakow. In the second half of 1940 and the be-

ginning of 1941, most of them had to leave the city, while

Fig. 1. Ludwik Gintel (the first standing player from the right),

a student of the State Industrial School and future builder,

as a representative of Poland in the first inter-state football match

of the Polish national team, in Budapest, 1921

(source: Dąbrowski 1928–1929, 853)

Il. 1. Ludwik Gintel (pierwszy stojący zawodnik od prawej),

uczeń Państwowej Szkoły Przemysłowej i przyszły budowniczy,

jako reprezentant Polski w pierwszym międzypaństwowym meczu

piłkarskim polskiej drużyny narodowej, w Budapeszcie, 1921

(źródło: Dąbrowski 1928–1929, 853)

Fig. 2. Plan of the Krakow Ghetto, drawing by Jakub Stendig, 1941 (source: ANK, sign. 29/33/SMKr/774, p. 45)

Il. 2. Plan Getta w Krakowie, rysunek Jakuba Stendiga, 1941 (źródło: ANK, sygn. 29/33/SMKr/774, s. 45)

The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects of Jewish origin in the face of World War II 17

the remaining ones were forced to live in a small ghetto

established in the Podgórze district in March 1941 (Fig. 2).

The area of the Krakow Ghetto was reduced several times,

while some of its inhabitants were murdered in the process;

it was nally liquidated in March 1943, with the remaining

inhabitants being deported to KL Plaszow or transported

to extermination camps. KL Plaszow functioned as a large

forced labour camp and concentration camp from 1942 to

early January 1945.

1939–1940. Stanisław Mehl

On 31 August 1939, engineer Stanisław Mehl (Fig. 3)

collect ed his identity card, issued by the Municipal Autho-

rity (magistrate) in Krakow. He usually used the rst name

Stanisław, less frequently Szulem. However, according to

the documentation and the will of the petitioner, the name

on the issued document was Schulem (Mehl’s application

1939). This was, as it soon turned out, the last day of peace

in Krakow and Poland.

It is likely that Mehl reported to the magistrate in the ear-

ly afternoon. Probably both on 31 August and 1 September

he appeared for work in the morning at the construction

site at 16 Spokojna Street. The opening information of the

construction log book issued in 1938 records that the tech-

nical construction manager eng. Stanisław Mehl, resident

at 10 Smoleńsk Street, was present at the site “every day,

in the mornings” (Construction log book 1938–1940, 6).

The construction of the house at 16 Spokojna Street

was one of several (and one of at least three at this street)

commissions Mehl carried out in the rst three quarters of

1939. At the time, the street’s name had only been in use

for a short time (since 1938) and in some documents (in-

cluding… magistrate documents) it was still referred to as

Boczna [Side] Czarnowiejskiej Street or Czarnowiejska

Boczna Street. The project was approved on 21 December

1938, and the additional plans (i.e. the replacement project)

were approved on 14 June 1939 (Design 1939). The entire

documentation was drawn up by Mehl (Fig. 4). The very

next day after the rst approval, excavation began, and in

the next days the concreting of the “banquettes” (founda-

tions) and cellar walls followed. However, the intense work

lasted only a few days: from 22 to 24 December and from

27 to 29 December. On 30 December, engineer Mehl noted

“foundations ready, cellar walls partly [completed]”. On that

day, work stopped for nearly six months, the reason prob-

ably being a change of ownership of the plot and the con-

structed house. Work resumed on the day the supplementary

plans were approved (14 June 1939) with “the assembly of

the barrack and preparatory work for further construction”.

In the following days, the next storeys were built, the ceil-

ings were form-worked and concreted. It is noteworthy that

for several days “no work was done”, which was probably

connected with the heavy summer rains. In the last ten days

of August, nishing work on the interiors of the building

began. The recently installed electricity and gas installations

were also formally approved at this time. In his last entry in

the building diary before the outbreak of the war, Stanisław

Mehl noted “internal plasters”. The following day, 1 Sep -

tember, he wrote: Due to war actions, the works have been

Fig. 3. Schulem (Szulem, Stanisław) Mehl,

a photograph from the application for an identity card, 1939

(source: ANK, sign. 29/218/940, p. 211)

Il. 3. Schulem (Szulem, Stanisław) Mehl, fotografia z wniosku

o wydanie dowodu osobistego, 1939 (źródło: ANK, sygn. 29/218/940, s. 211)

interrupted (Construction log book 1938–1940, 22). This

may have been due to workers being called up to the

army

(gene ral mobilisation was not announced in Poland until

30 August) as well as to general unrest and the new situa-

tion. The course of events in the rst days of the war was

similar in almost all Polish cities. From the rst days of the

invasion, all architectural activity in both design studios

and construction companies ceased (Litwin 2017, 40); re-

sumed after some time, took place on a limited scale and

under very changed conditions (Popiołek-Roßkamp 2021).

On 6 September the German army occupied Krakow.

In 1940, after six months, construction work resumed.

The work, now mainly nishing, progressed somewhat

more slowly than it had until the end of August 1939. The

entries to the construction log book continued to be made

by Mehl. Paradoxically, however, he was no longer the o-

cial site manager (although he did in fact perform this role),

as evidenced by the visiting inspector’s remark

on 8 May

about “no marking of a site manager”

. Mehl’s hand written

The inspector’s remark could be interpreted in two ways. It could

mean the lack of formal appointment of the site manager or the absence of

the obligatory armband on his arm. As an analogous remark also applies to

the masonry contractor (before the outbreak of the war it was Jan Dukat,

while after the resumption of works it was Franciszek Cieszyński), the

rst version seems more likely. The inspector’s signature is insuciently

legible. All the entries in the construction log book were made in Polish.

18 Maciej Motak

reply on 15 May stated that The inspector’s instructions

about the marking of the site manager should be complied

with

(Construction log book 1938–1940, 24–25). For three

months, from 11 April to 13 July 1940, Mehl ran the con-

struction site and made daily entries in the log book. These

included nishing work, such as “putting up cookers” and

“tiling of the bathrooms”. The nal entries are laconic: “in-

terior plasters”, followed by “as above”, “as above”, etc.

On 13 July the construction was completed (Construction

log book 1938–1940, 28). The building still exists today

and has been continuously inhabited

(Fig. 5).

In 1940 Stanisław Mehl was still living in Krakow, but

at the beginning of the following year he had to leave the

city, which resulted from the displacement of the most of

Jewish population ordered by the German authorities. His

further fate during the war is not known; nevertheless, it

is known that he survived the war, lived in Krakow for

a short time afterwards, and emigrated to the United States

in 1946 (Zbroja 2023, 156).

1942–1944. Jakub Stendig

In 1941, engineer Jakub Stendig (Fig. 6), a graduate

of the PSP school in Krakow, an experienced designer

(Fig. 7) and respected building advisor to the Jewish com-

munity in Krakow, and a veteran of Poland’s defensive

Fig. 4. Project of a residential

building at 16 Spokojna Street

(originally: Czarnowiejska

Boczna St.), designed by

Stanisław Mehl, 1938–1939.

Front elevation (unchanged

in both versions of the project)

(source: ANK, sign. ABM,

ul. Spokojna 16, f. 851, plate 1)

Il. 4. Projekt budynku

mieszkalnego przy

ulicy Spokojnej 16

(pierwotnie: ul. Czarnowiejska

Boczna), wykonany przez

Stanisława Mehla, 1938–1939.

Elewacja frontowa (niezmieniona

w obu wersjach projektu)

(źródło: ANK, sygn. ABM,

ul. Spokojna 16, f. 851, pl. 1)

war in 1939, was forced to live in the Ghetto. Until the

last moment before the displacement of the Jewish popu-

lation from Kazimierz (and other districts of Krakow), he

made an inventory of the furnishings and works of art of

Krakow’s synagogues (Fig. 8). He made eorts to protect

them even after the Ghetto was closed (Stendig 2020, 255–

269). The most valuable objects of worship were moved

to the Funeral Home (Fig. 9) and hidden in its dome; they

were later discovered by the Germans and looted.

In 1942, Stendig was relocated to KL Plaszow, em-

ployed by the German authorities in its construction and

expansion. He survived his stay in the camp and its evacua-

tion. Shortly after the war, he testied before commissions

investigating Nazi crimes and also wrote down his mem-

oirs, an invaluable source of reliable knowledge about the

camp, characterised also by great sensitivity. These mem-

oirs are arranged thematically: the individual buildings of

the camp are described, their design, erection, conversion,

use and liquidation. As a professional, Stendig was in-

volved in most of the construction activities in the camp,

carrying out the orders of the German authorities and, at

the same time, constantly mindful of his duty of care for

the people, both his family and the entire community of

the imprisoned. Stendig was given the duty of preparing

for destruction of the main hall of the Funeral Home, […]

a monumental Jewish building which the Jewish commu-

The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects of Jewish origin in the face of World War II 19

nity of Krakow had proudly built for several years (Stendig

2020, 110), and which, after the founding of KL Plaszow,

found itself in the camp and, on the orders of the German

commandant, was used to house livestock. I was also as-

signed by the Bauleiter […] the task of demolishing the

cemetery hall. I don’t know what judgement history will

make about our technical role when it comes. […] For us

the day was similar to Tisha B’av, when we remember with

sadness the demolition of the temple (Stendig 2020, 115).

Stendig described the circumstances of the torment

and in many cases death of Krakow architects and build-

ers employed at KL Plaszow, personally well-known and

close to him: Diana Reiter (Stendig 2020, 181), Emanuel

Morgenbesser (Stendig 2020, 134, 135), Zygmunt Grün-

berg (Stendig 2020, 124–130, 144) and many others among

the thousands of prisoners and victims of this camp. There

were so many people in the camp that some of the pris-

oners he certainly knew, such as Henryk Jakubowicz, one

of Krakow’s most outstanding pre-war construction entre-

preneurs (murdered in KL Plaszow in 1943), are not men-

tioned by Stendig and he may not even have known about

their stay and death in the camp. Shortly after the war and

his return to Krakow, Stendig left for Sweden and then for

Israel, where he worked as an architect and died in 1952

at the age of 60.

Micro-histories

Two of the dozens of stories of Krakow’s architects and

builders of Jewish origin have been outlined above. All

the stories, known to varying degrees, contain information

about their fates, allowing to assemble a picture of the fate

of a particular community. In September 1939, Ludwik

Gintel managed to make his way to Lviv and later reached

Palestine; after the war, he worked in Israel as an architect.

In the autumn of 1939, Diana Reiter was employed in the

design oce of Kazimierz Kulczyński, which provided

her with a livelihood and a job in her profession until she

was deported to the Ghetto. She was killed in KL Plaszow.

Like Gintel, Edward Kreisler made it to Lviv, where he

worked in architectural oces, rst Soviet, then German,

and went into hiding from 1942. After the war he worked

on his pre-war project, the edice of the National Museum

in Krakow, and died in 1946. Henryk Ritterman died in his

own at in Krakow in 1940, while Samuel Baum a year

later as a POW in a German camp. Adolf Siódmak was

arrested on a street in Krakow in 1940; he was deported

and died later in a concentration camp. Zygmunt Grünberg

went through the torment of the Plaszow, Auschwitz and

Flossenbürg concentration camps, where he was probably

killed in March 1945. Ignacy Bierer was arrested by the

Soviet occupiers and murdered in 1940 in Katyń.

At the outbreak of World War II, at least 76 architects and

builders of Jewish origin were actively involved in design

or construction in Krakow (Zbroja 2023)

(Motak 2022).

Of the 91 Krakow builders and architects of Jewish origin whose

activities and fates are presented in the publication by Zbroja, 15 people

died before 1939 (Zbroja 2023).

Fig. 5. Spokojna Street with, among others,

tenement house No. 16 on the left, designed by Stanisław Mehl

(with the superstructure added) (photo by M. Motak, 2024)

Il. 5. Ulica Spokojna, po lewej widoczna m.in. kamienica nr 16,

zaprojektowana przez Stanisława Mehla (z późniejszą nadbudową)

(fot. M. Motak, 2024)

Fig. 6. Jakub Stendig with his wife Felicja née Infeld, photo ca. 1915

(source: Eva Ariela Lindberg family archive

– Polish Roots in Israel project /

Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN)

Il. 6. Jakub Stendig wraz z żoną Felicją z domu Infeld, fot. ok. 1915

(źródło: archiwum rodzinne Evy Arieli Lindberg

– projekt Polskie korzenie w Izraelu /

Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN)

20 Maciej Motak

Two of them died after its outbreak and most probably in

connection with it, even before the Holocaust which lasted

in its greatest intensity from the spring of 1942. At least

37 people were killed in the Holocaust conducted by Nazi

Germany, the vast majority in 1942 and 1943, including at

least 8 people who were murdered in the Plaszow concen-

tration camp and at least four people in the Belzec (Bełżec)

extermination camp. Four people died or were murdered

after deportation into the Soviet Union. At least 26 people

survived the Holocaust in occupied Poland or elsewhere,

at least a few of whom died shortly after the war result-

ing from their wartime experiences (this number may be

higher). The fate of several people, including the places and

circumstances of their deaths, is still unknown.

Conclusions

Thus, in the Holocaust – over a period of about three

years – at least half, and probably slightly more, of the rep-

resentatives of the community of Krakow’s Jewish build-

ers and architects perished. According to most researchers,

only slightly more than 10% of Polish citizens of Jewish

origin, who in 1939 comprised over 3 million people, sur-

vived the Holocaust. Probably this percentage was not

higher in Krakow: out of 64,000 people, […] fewer than

1,000 survived the war in camps or in hiding […] and […]

a certain number, dicult to determine but not very high,

survived in Western European countries and in the Soviet

Union (Kiełkowski 1981, 95). The latter group also in-

cluded a larger, over-1000 group of people saved through

Oskar Schindler’s eorts, as well as those scattered in

many countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. In total,

there were probably about just over 5% of the pre-war in-

habitants of Krakow who were saved, whom the German

authorities recognised as Jews according to their “law” and

subjected to the strongest persecution and ultimately exter-

mination. In the 2

half of the 1940s there were about ve

to fteen thousand surviving Jews living in Krakow, most

of whom had not lived in Krakow before the war, and for

many a short stay in the city only preceded their eventual

departure from the country.

The higher percentage of Survivors in the group of Kra-

kow builders and architects may have been related to one

of several reasons: on average greater nancial resources

(which created greater opportunities for departure at the be-

Fig. 7. On the left side of Hieronima Wietora Street

(originally: Skawińska Boczna St.): the buildings of the former

Jewish Gymnastic House (No. 13–15, designed by Adolf Siódmak,

built in 1926–1930, since 1991 the seat of Old Town Youth

Cultural Centre) and former Jewish School “Work Centre”

(No. 7, designed by Jakub Stendig, built in 1935–1937,

since 1978 the seat of Special Educational Centre)

(photo by M. Motak, 2022)

Il. 7. Po lewej stronie ulicy Hieronima Wietora

(pierwotnie: ul. Skawińska Boczna): dawny Żydowski Dom

Gimnastyczny (nr 13–15, zaprojektowany przez Adolfa Siódmaka,

wzniesiony w latach 1926–1930, od 1991 siedziba Staromiejskiego

Centrum Kultury) i dawna Szkoła Żydowska „Ognisko Pracy”

(nr 7, zaprojektowana przez Jakuba Stendiga,

wzniesiona w latach 1935–1937, od 1978 siedziba

Specjalnego Ośrodka Szkolno-Wychowawczego)

(fot. M. Motak, 2022)

Fig. 8. Altar cabinet in the Isaac Synagogue

[original signature on the reverse].

Photo Żyd. Akad. Koło Mił. Kraj. w Krakowie

[Żydowskie Akademickie Koło Miłośników Krajoznawstwa

w Krakowie, i.e., Jewish Academic Society

of Country Lovers in Krakow], ca. 1930

(source: postcard published by Stow. Bnej B’rith w Krakowie

[B’nei Brith Assoc. in Krakow], from the M. Motak archive)

Il. 8. Szafa ołtarzowa w bóżnicy Izaka

[oryginalny podpis na odwrocie].

Fot. Żyd. Akad. Koło Mił. Kraj. w Krakowie

[Żydowskie Akademickie Koło Miłośników Krajoznawstwa

w Krakowie], ok. 1930

(źródło: widokówka wydana nakładem Stow. Bnej B’rith w Krakowie,

z archiwum M. Motaka)

The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects of Jewish origin in the face of World War II 21

ginning of the war, or greater opportunities for later hiding),

a high degree of assimilation and closer contacts with the

non-Jewish population (which made it easier to nd shel-

ter and, in the rst period of the war, also employment in

Polish companies), and the periodic use of professionals by

the German occupiers as slave labour (which in some cas-

es postponed physical death). In the face of the cruel and

ruthless Holocaust machine that lasted several years, none

of these factors, or even all of them together, could ensure

survival, but they did somewhat increase its chances.

As a result of World War II and the Holocaust, the pro-

fessional community of architects and builders of Jewish

origin in Krakow was annihilated and its participation in

the general professional community almost completely

disappeared. Holocaust survivors mostly left Krakow and

Poland within a few years after the end of the war. Some

of the few who remained in Poland left Krakow for other

places, and some also changed their names and surnames

(Litwin 2017; Zbroja 2023)..

Original, valuable buildings were lost from the city

space.

The monumental Funeral Home, a beautiful work

of inter-war Krakow architecture selected in a design com-

petition, was not rebuilt, and even its still salvageable re-

mains were demolished at the end of the 1940s (Fig. 10).

The interiors of the synagogues were devastated and most

of their priceless furnishings and works of religious art

were irretrievably lost.

The loss of community of Jewish architects and builders,

combined with other social and economic changes occur-

ring in Poland after World War II, meant certain new fea-

tures in the architecture of Krakow. After the war, private

tenements, many of which before the war had been built

for Jewish investors and designed by Jewish architects and

builders (although this was by no means the rule and there

were many situations to the contrary), were no longer built.

Individualised emblems (“godła”) above the front entranc-

es ceased to be used on residential (and non-residential)

buildings. In the inter-war period, especially in the 1930s,

builders and architects were keen to use emblems with im-

ages of animals (Fig. 11), plants and various symbols. In

the case of Christian investors and designers, these em-

blems much more often contained Christian religious sym-

bolism, which was not the case among Jewish investors

and designers (nor was Jewish symbolism used), although

even in this case it was not the rule or the eect of any

order, but rather cultural habits and aesthetic preferences.

Fig. 9. Project of the Funeral Home in Jerozolimska Street in Krakow, designed by Adolf Siódmak, 1922.

The building had served the 1932-opened cemetery, but by 1939 its interiors were not yet fully completed

(source: ANK, sign. ABM, 29/1410, ul. Jerozolimska 14, f. 330b, plan 1)

Il. 9. Projekt Domu przedpogrzebowego przy ulicy Jerozolimskiej w Krakowie, wykonany przez Adolfa Siódmaka, 1922.

Budynek służył cmentarzowi otwartemu w 1932 roku, ale do 1939 roku jego wnętrza nie były jeszcze w pełni ukończone

(źródło: ANK, sygn. ABM, 29/1410, ul. Jerozolimska 14, f. 330b, plan 1)

Fig. 10. Remains of the Funeral Home in Jerozolimska Street in Krakow

(photo by M. Motak, 2024)

Il. 10. Pozostałości Domu przedpogrzebowego przy ulicy Jerozolimskiej

w Krakowie (fot. M. Motak, 2024)

22 Maciej Motak

Fig. 12. One of the hundreds of inscriptions commemorating

the communities murdered in the Bełżec death camp.

A fragment of the memorial site at the former German Nazi

extermination camp in Bełżec (designed by A. Sołyga, Z. Pidek,

M. Roszczyk, built in 2004) (photo by M. Motak, 2014)

Il. 12. Jeden z setek napisów upamiętniających społeczności

zamordowanych w obozie zagłady w Bełżcu.

Fragment założenia miejsca pamięci w byłym niemieckim obozie

zagłady w Bełżcu (proj. A. Sołyga, T. Pidek, Z. Roszczyk, real. 2004)

(fot. M. Motak, 2014)

Summary

In the rst post-war years, many important activities were

carried out in Poland for the documentation and commem-

oration of the Holocaust. In the following years, however,

the emigration of Jews from Poland intensied, in the face

of the trauma caused by being near the places of death of

loved ones and anti-Semitic incidents. Subsequent policies

of the Polish authorities, particularly after 1968, were not

suciently conducive to adequate research and commemo-

ration, including various grassroots and foreign initiatives.

The situation has gradually improved since the 1980s.

The most important legacy of the work of Jewish archi-

tects and builders in Krakow is the hundreds of buildings

that still exist today, which were designed by them and

constructed under their direction. The most recognisable

are buildings from much earlier eras, including the 15

–

-centuries synagogues in the Kazimierz district; how-

ever, most of them are residential buildings (see Fig. 5)

and, to a lesser extent, public utility (see Fig. 7) and in-

dustrial buildings constructed in the interwar period, by

D. Reiter, L. Gintel, Z. Grünberg, H. Jakubowicz, S. Mehl,

H. Ritterman, A. Siódmak, J. Stendig and many other de-

signers. Together with almost the entire built heritage of

this period, they are highly appreciated today.

Important commemorations of the activities of archi-

tects and builders are publications dedicated to the whole

group or to individuals (indicated in the state of research).

There are also mostly modest commemorations in urban

space, such as the “signatures” of the architects, not uncom-

Fig. 11. Two emblems placed over the entrances

to tenement houses designed by Ludwik Gintel:

a) at 5 Sereno Fenna Street (house completed in 1939),

b) at 13 Kornela Ujejskiego Street (house completed in 1937)

(photos by M. Motak, 2015 and 2019)

Il. 11. Dwa godła umieszczone nad wejściami do kamienic

zaprojektowanych przez Ludwika Gintla:

a) przy ulicy Sereno Fenna 5 (dom ukończony 1939),

b) przy ulicy Kornela Ujejskiego 13 (dom ukończony 1937)

(fot. M. Motak, 2015 i 2019)

The fate of Krakow’s builders and architects of Jewish origin in the face of World War II 23

mon in the interwar period, in the form of small plaques on

the front façades of buildings designed by, among others,

Z. Grünberg, H. Gutman, J. Oberleder, B. Bir ken feld and

J. Sil berstein. In addition, architects and builders of Jewish

origin are commemorated, together with the entire Jewish

community of Krakow, with monuments, plaques, in par-

ticular in the former Ghetto area, at the Jewish Cemetery

in Miodowa Street, in the area of the former KL Plaszow

camp, where an open-air exhibition opened as part of the

KL Plaszow Museum in 2024

(see Fig. 10), and at other

places of martyrdom, including in Bełżec, far from Krakow

(Fig. 12). To a small extent they have been commemorat-

ed abroad, above all in Israel, where artists from Central

Europe, including Polish lands, have played an important

role in shaping its architecture (Świątkowska 2016).

Paths have been marked out, the boundaries of the former cem-

eteries have been marked, and numerous information boards and other

commemorative elements have been placed including a model of the

Funeral Home near its remains. The site plan of the open-air museum

was made by Borysław Czarakcziew and Sławomir Kogut.

In the author’s opinion, the micro-historical method can

prove useful in the studies of some issues of architecture

and urban planning. This applies to both historical and con-

temporary issues, and was used in the former. However,

micro-history cannot be used, except for a few narrow

and very specialised research works, as the only method

of conducting research. Statistical methods, interviewing,

and all other methods predisposed to research in the dis-

cipline of architecture and urban planning, already men-

tioned above, seem particularly suitable to accompany it.

The father of the author of this article was a student at

the Krakow State Industrial School from 1948 to 1952, and

later was a structural engineer. He recalled a few times sev-

eral of his school friends. One of them was a later architect,

the son of a well-known pre-war Krakow architect who

died shortly after the war. My Dad’s words from 40 years

ago, describing the drama of circa 80 years ago, stuck in

my memory: “They tormented his father”.

Translated by

Maciej Motak

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24 Maciej Motak

Streszczenie

Losy krakowskich budowniczych i architektów pochodzenia żydowskiego w obliczu II wojny światowej.

Możliwości stosowania metody mikrohistorycznej w badaniach dotyczących architektury i urbanistyki

Artykuł dotyczy losów grupy architektów i budowniczych w Krakowie w czasie II wojny światowej. Po wybuchu wojny oraz rozpoczęciu okupacji

niemieckiej we wrześniu 1939 r. znaleźli się oni w bardzo trudnym położeniu. Wraz z nasileniem prześladowań również możliwości ich działalności

zawodowej silnie zmniejszały się, aczkolwiek nie zanikły.

W artykule zarysowano bliżej dwie indywidualne sytuacje – Samuela Mehla i Jakuba Stendiga – jedna związana z powstaniem budynku, druga

m.in. z utratą budynku. W badaniach korzystano z metod często stosowanych w badaniach nad architekturą i urbanistyką, takich jak analiza literatury

przedmiotu, analiza archiwaliów, badania terenowe. Zastosowano również metodę mikrohistoryczną, która w takich badaniach nie jest stosowana bądź

stosowana bardzo rzadko. Metoda ta, używana od blisko 50 lat w badaniach naukowych, głównie historycznych, opiera się na badaniu i zachowaniu

elementu indywidualnego narracji przy jednoczesnym dążeniu do generalizacji wyniku.

Mimo niezwykle okrutnych prześladowań ludności żydowskiej w Krakowie w czasie II wojny światowej niektórzy architekci i budowniczowie

pochodzenia żydowskiego przejawiali w rozmaitych i trudnych uwarunkowaniach aktywność zawodową. Jej formy były zróżnicowane: od pracy pro-

jektowej i prowadzenia budów kamienic mieszkalnych, przez opiekę nad zabytkami, po działalność budowlaną w obozie koncentracyjnym. Aktywność

zawodowa oraz określone umiejętności mogły przyczynić się do ocalenia proporcjonalnie większej liczby architektów i budowniczych żydowskich

aniżeli ogółu społeczności żydowskiej w Krakowie. Konsekwencje Zagłady dla architektury i przestrzeni Krakowa były poważne i zróżnicowane:

utrata ważnego środowiska zawodowego, utrata cennych dzieł architektury i sztuki, zmiana cech w nowo projektowanych budynkach. Dziedzictwo

działalności architektów i budowniczych pochodzenia żydowskiego w Krakowie jest bardzo znaczne. Zostało ono upamiętnione w rozmaitych for-

mach materialnych i niematerialnych, aczkolwiek w stopniu niewystarczającym w proporcji do jego skali.

Słowa kluczowe: II wojna światowa, Żydzi, mikrohistoria, architekci i budowniczowie, Kraków