Jewish Legends from Kraków Cover Image

Jewish Legends from Kraków
Jewish Legends from Kraków

Author(s): Karl E. Grözinger
Subject(s): Jewish studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Kraków; Jewish legends; local tales; Jewish community

Summary/Abstract: When I came to Kraków for the first time several years ago and tried to get some information about the Jewish Kraków, among the first-hand information I was offered in the bookshops were a few small booklets with legends about the Jews in this town. This is nothing special, for wherever one goes as a tourist one gets the same genre of literature: local legends and tales. It seems, therefore, that the popular legends indeed offer the first-hand information about the specific climate and the self-estimation of the inhabitants at a specific place. It is obviously the tales of a city that infuse life to its stones and places more than all exact historical data one can gather. The legend gives, so to speak, a short-hand résumé of the most typical and central features as well as the spirit of a place.

  • Issue Year: 2010
  • Issue No: 8
  • Page Range: 61-67
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: English