Jewish Krakow

The purpose of this article is to present the activities of the Jewish Ghetto Police (Jüdische Ordnungsdienst) in Nazi-occupied Kraków between 1940 and 1945. This period covers the organization of the Jewish Ghetto Police in Kraków's Jewish district of Kazimierz in 1940, in the Kraków Ghetto from 1941 to 1943, and in the German concentration camp at Płaszów from 1942 to 1945. These topics are supplemented by a section discussing the postwar fate of Jewish Ghetto Police officers under Polish law. Trials of members of the Jewish Ghetto Police were held before the Special Criminal Court in Kraków between 1945 and 1947. In addressing this issue, the author seeks to explain the reasons why Jews joined the Jewish Ghetto Police in light of the moral dilemmas faced by its members. The issues discussed in the article also constitute an attempt to understand the role of the Jewish Ghetto Police in implementing the German government's policy toward Jews during the years 1940–1945.