The collection of personal memorabilia held at the POLIN Museum includes numerous everyday items, which are sometimes the only memento left behind by specific people – victims of the Holocaust. In the case of some families, even their names have not survived, only personal belongings that were part of their daily lives. This is the case with the extensive cutlery set, which includes: spoons, forks, knives, teaspoons, dessert forks, servers, tongs, tin openers and a very interesting set of fish cutlery. The items collected in this set do not constitute a whole, as they were produced by two different manufacturers.
The cutlery belonged to a family of Kraków Jews who were acquaintances of the grandparents of the donor, Agnieszka Sułek. These families lived in the same building, in flats opposite each other. The donor writes the following in a letter to the Museum about the owners of the cutlery: "[...] A set of silver cutlery that was given to my grandparents for safekeeping [...] by a family acquaintance, probably in fear of the confiscation of valuables owned by Kraków Jews carried out in November 1939. Unfortunately, I do not know their name [...]".
We do not know whether the Jewish neighbours were in the Kraków ghetto, which was closed in March 1941. Unlike in the case of the Warsaw Ghetto, the offices of the Jewish community were located outside the ghetto. As a result of the sudden urge to move, many Jews had to enter into very unfavourable agreements with Poles, who were often the beneficiaries of such agreements. According to Alexander Bieberstein's calculations, there were 19,000 people in the Kraków ghetto at its peak. Despite this, Kraków managed to avoid epidemic outbreaks which happened in other ghettos (for more on the Kraków ghetto, see: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/miejscowosci/p/1585-podgorze-ob-dzielnica-krakowa/116-miejsca-martyrologii/49490-getto-w-krakowie; A. Bieberstein, "Zagłada Żydów w Krakowie", Kraków–Wrocław 1985). In 1942, the Germans carried out two deportation operations in the Kraków Ghetto (the first took place in June, the second in October) – its inhabitants were transported to the extermination camp in Belzec.
One of the donor's grandparents, Bolesław Baran, helped Jewish citizens of Kraków: as an employee of the 2nd Municipal District Office, he made false Kennkarten for Józefa Singer (who was the inspiration for the character of Rachela in Stanisław Wyspiański's "The Wedding") and Janina Wernicz, an actress at the Bagatela Theatre and the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków. In 1981, he was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal.
In a 2014 interview with the museum, the donor emphasises that the cutlery was not used in her family: "[...] Neither my grandmother ever took them out for any family celebrations, nor did we use them. As I say, they were there and waiting (...)". In a letter to his daughter, the donor's dad wrote about the Jewish neighbours and the cutlery they left for safekeeping: "[...] About this silver set of assorted cutlery which is still waiting today for any possible Jewish descendants of this couple. Our neighbours across the hall, flat number 16 (...)".
It is very likely that the cutlery collection left for safekeeping to the donor's family is the only trace left of this family of Kraków Jews.
Natalia Różańska
