Jewish Inhabitants of Kraków, 1940

This database is an index to over 19,000 registration forms for the Jewish inhabitants of Kraków (Cracow, Krakau), Poland, created in the summer of 1940.

Introduction

According to the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, there were 60,000 Jews in Kraków in 1939, prior to the German occupation in September of that year.  Many Kraków Jews fled, but other Jews, particularly from neighboring towns of Skawina, Wieliczka, and Rabka, as well as some non-Polish Jews, came to Kraków.

The Data

The database is an index to registration forms for the Jewish inhabitants of Kraków, Poland, which were created under the direction of the Jüdische Gemeinde in Krakau (Jewish community in Kraków), in response to a Nazi order, mostly during July and August 1940.  The registration forms, in German, are arranged alphabetically.  No forms were made for children under the age of 15.

The Jewish Historical Institute (Żydowski Instytut Historyczny = ŻIH) in Warsaw acquired the registration forms after World War II, and placed them in their Record Group 206.  The Jewish Historical Institute microfilmed these files for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Archives in 1995.

These 20 reels of microfilm can be found in the Document Archives of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Record Group 15.058M, Accession Number 1995.A.0983.  [Catalog Entry].

Index sheets:

This database is a finding aid to the registration forms.  There are 19,291 records.  Data entry for the database was done from typed alphabetical index sheets, which had the following information:

• Last name
• First name
• Middle name
• Year of birth
• Page # of index sheet
• Line # on index sheet

Database fields:

The fields in the database are:

• Surname
• Given Name (Forename and middle names)
• Born - Year of birth
• Notes
• Reel / List / Line
  • Microfilm Reel number
  • List number (corresponding to page # on the index sheets)
  • Line number (corresponding to the line # on each page the record appears)

Data entry:

Gesher Galicia and the USHMM worked cooperatively on the project to input the names on the index sheets into a spreadsheet format.  Volunteers at USHMM had input about half of the names when Gesher Galicia was approached by USHMM to assist in completing the data entry.  The following volunteers worked on this task for Gesher Galicia: Dan Aronson, Reinhold Beuer-Tajovsky, Phyllis Dahl, Carole Feinberg, Melody Katz, Shmuel Kehati, Judie Ostroff-Goldstein, Edward Rosenbaum, Julian Schamroth, Alan Steinfeld, and Margo Stark Ivary, who proofread the results.

Any illegible data on the index sheets or other problems were referred to USHMM for resolution during the time of data entry.  When the Excel spreadsheets were completed by the Gesher Galicia team, they were sent to USHMM, which had its own team of volunteers proofread the material again and then combine all data into one Excel spreadsheet.

Registration Forms

The handwritten registration forms on microfilm contain the following information:

• Family and personal name
• Place of birth
• Marital status
• Town of origin
• Address in Kraków
• Occupation
• Up to two names of witnesses: the Nazis required two witnesses (often other family members) whose names, addresses, and occupations are listed with an explanation of how they know the registrant.
• Thumbnail photograph of the registrant

Copies of individual registration forms will be provided in response to requests sent to registry@ushmm.org.  With your inquiry, please send your full name and postal mailing address.  It is important to note that the registration forms do not contain information on the ultimate fate of the Kraków residents.

Postscript:

In addition to the registration forms, the Museum also has an uncatalogued collection of files on Kraków ghetto residents.  While this collection is extensive, it does not appear to contain information on all residents, and it includes only family names starting with the letters from A-N.  The contents of these files vary considerably, but often include information on children.  These files will also be searched in response to requests.

Searching the Database

This database is searchable via both JewishGen's Holocaust Database and All Poland Database.