‘We got to know each other through our eyes…’ Research on Strategies for the Survival of Jewish Women Functioning ‘above Ground’ on the Aryan Side in Occupied Krakow and its Surroundings Cover Image

„Myśmy się nawzajem poznawały po oczach”… Z badań nad strategiami przetrwania kobiet żydowskich funkcjonujących „na powierzchni” po tzw. aryjskiej stronie w okupowanym Krakowie i okolicach
‘We got to know each other through our eyes…’ Research on Strategies for the Survival of Jewish Women Functioning ‘above Ground’ on the Aryan Side in Occupied Krakow and its Surroundings

Author(s): Martyna Grądzka-Rejak
Subject(s): History, Jewish studies, Recent History (1900 till today), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), History of Antisemitism
Published by: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej
Keywords: Aryan side; baptism; everyday life; denunciation; Kraków ghetto; Catholic Church; Kraków; neophyte; occupation; diaries; help; rescue; GG ‘capital’; survival strategy; hiding; Jewish women

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is to show the survival strategies and the everyday life of Jewish women living on the so-called Aryan side in occupied Krakow and its surroundings. Ego-documents are the core source: relations and diaries collected in the Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, the Archives of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the Archives of the Metropolitan Curia in Kraków. A thorough analysis of the phenomenon is very complex, therefore this article only discusses the fate of the Jewish women who co-existed amongst Polish society rather than those who did not have ‘Aryan documents’ or could be betrayed by their appearance, and were thus forced to remain in hiding the whole time. The article not only pays attention to the survival strategies and ways in which they disguised their origins and identities, but it also explores the everyday life, family relationships, work and religious life of these women. The author’ s aim was not to analyse aid provided to Jewish women by non-Jews, or symmetrically, to synthesise problems regarding the selling out of Jews in occupied Krakow. Both issues do appear in the article, but rather as background to the individual cases, since they were, in fact, inseparable elements of any survival strategy on the Aryan side in the GG ‘capital’. The article also notes the absence of certain topics in the interviews, related to the daily life of Jewish women in hiding, which makes a more comprehensive analysis difficult.

  • Issue Year: 26/2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 51-74
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish