Jewish community in Krakow sees no trend

Six people died and 15 others were wounded in a mass shooting on Saturday at Krakow’s Old Town Main Square. The incident has shocked Poland, but members of the local Jewish community say they do not view the violence as evidence of a growing antisemitic threat.

Polish authorities opened a terrorism investigation into the attack. Officials revealed that the suspect held extreme nationalist views. There was no indication on Sunday that the suspect belonged to an extremist group.

Lucy Les owns a Jewish bookstore in the Kazimierz Quarter. She opened the shop with her late husband in 1991 to provide information on Jewish heritage to visitors. Les said she was shocked by the shooting but did not believe it indicated a new trend.

"Poland is generally safe, and I was always grateful that I live in a very quiet and safe city," Les said. She noted that she was initially worried the shooter would be identified as Ukrainian, which might have suggested an ideological motive. "But he was just a crazy Polish person," she said.

Antisemitic incidents in Poland have increased since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The rise has been smaller in scale and scope than in many other Western European countries. Poland’s strict immigration policies have kept the growth of Muslim and pro-Palestinian populations low. Policymakers have also made Holocaust awareness a prominent issue in society.

About 10,000 Jews are believed to live in Poland today. That number is down from more than three million before the Holocaust. A growing number of Poles view Jewish heritage as a critical aspect of Polish culture that should be preserved.

On Sunday, the Kazimierz Quarter was bustling with tourists. The area contains some of Europe’s best-preserved historic Jewish neighborhoods, including the Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery. Some visitors speculated that the closure of the Main Square after the shooting pushed more tourists toward the Jewish Quarter, which occupies a central location in the city.

Yarin, an Israeli man in his mid-20s, moved to nearby Katowice two months ago for work. He was near the shooting location in the historic Old Town Main Square when the attack occurred. "We were on the other side of the street, about 300 or 400 meters away, when we heard the shooting," Yarin said. "We started to run, and we hid inside a nearby restaurant for more than two hours until after the situation was over."

The area where the suspect was apprehended was still blocked off on Sunday. Much of the main square was sealed off with police tape. Many cafes and shops remained closed, and police security was tight. Yarin said the attack was scary, although not as much for him as what he had seen in Israel. Most people he spoke with believed the shooting was a one-time event.

Oded, a Jerusalem resident, agreed with that assessment. His wife, Hanna, is studying in medical school in Katowice. "It’s something that happens once in 40 years," Oded said. "Every place has its crazy people." Hanna chose to study in Poland because the medical program she wanted was not available in Israel. She spends the school year in Poland while her husband and parents care for their four kids in Israel. "It’s been difficult, but it’s almost over," Hanna said. "The people here are nice, but I miss Israel."

Local guide Jakub Janeczko described the chaos to a tour group on Sunday. He had been describing life in the city during the Holocaust when he encountered some of the tourists he had guided the previous day. Those tourists had fled the shooting alongside him. "We were standing in that square together, and we heard the shots two minutes before the shooter got to where we were standing," Janeczko recalled. "We didn’t understand what was happening, but some American tourists near us started running, so we did, too. We all hid together in a nearby building. Thank God we were together." After recounting the events, Janeczko returned to his historical account. "Anyway, life goes on," he sighed.