Alicja Jarkowska's article, "Blackmailers and Shmaltzovniks under the Law in Occupied Cracow," provides a scholarly analysis of blackmail and szmalcownictwo in occupied Kraków between 1939 and 1946.
The study is based on criminal case files, police documents, and postwar witness testimonies. The author examines the specific nature of crime in Kraków at the time, analyzing individual cases of blackmailers—including Maria Jawułowa, Helena Loho, and Tadeusz Pawlus—who were prosecuted for their actions. The article discusses the extortion of money from Jews in hiding and from Poles who assisted them.
The study categorizes the methods employed by the perpetrators, considering whether they operated alone or in groups, as well as whether their actions were planned or spontaneous. An important aspect of the publication is its identification of the distinctive characteristics of szmalcownictwo in Kraków in comparison with Warsaw. The author argues that these differences stemmed from the city's Galician heritage and the more widespread knowledge of German, which enabled Kraków's inhabitants to adapt more quickly to the realities of wartime. Kraków's status as the capital of the General Government was also of crucial importance, resulting in an influx of German officials and an exceptionally high concentration of police and military forces. The article also distinguishes between the legal aspects of the phenomena discussed.
The author points out that while blackmail itself was a criminal offense defined in the prewar 1932 Penal Code and punishable by up to two years' imprisonment, szmalcownictwo targeting Jews who had been deprived of any legal protection was not considered a crime by the occupation authorities.
