Poland and Palestine – Two Lands and Two Skies

Images of Jews who lived in pre-Second World War Kraków, as well as those who left for Palestine at the time, displayed at an exhibition of photographs by Ze’ev Aleksandrowicz, opened in late November at the Galicia Jewish Museum.

In the late 1930s, the Jewish population of Kraków was around 60 thousand – a quarter of the city’s inhabitants. Many of them settled here after fleeing from repression in Germany and countries occupied by the Nazis. Although traditionally the main occupation of the Jewish population had been trade, in the days of the Second Polish Republic there were growing educated and generally fully assimilated elites, who actively participated in city life. Aleksandrowicz himself is a perfect example of the changes occurring since the late 19th century in Kraków’s Jewish circles.




Travels with a Leica
Ze’ev Aleksandrowicz was born in 1905. His father owned a famous Cracovian paper wholesaler’s and was a member of the city council, as well as one of the leaders of the Jewish community. Aleksandrowicz attended a Hebrew primary school and a Polish high school, and later studied at trade schools in Vienna and Basel while preparing for working at the family firm. And yet he was more attracted to photography than to business. During the 1920s he took hundreds of photos in Poland and other European countries. In the early 1930s, equipped with the latest photo kit, he travelled far and wide – to Japan, the US, Egypt, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Yemen. He was an active and enthusiastic supporter of Zionism, and created numerous portraits of the leaders of the movement. Between 1932-35, he visited Palestine several times, where he took thousands of photos documenting the determination of Jewish settlers in building the foundations of the future state of Israel.



Recovered collections
The valuable collections of the passionate photographer’s works were found in Tel Aviv in the early 21st century, 11 years after Aleksandrowicz’s death. An old suitcase discovered by the family contained over 15 thousand negatives, most of which had never been developed. The 50 images selected for the Kraków exhibition show time standing still in the moments preceding the Holocaust – just before the start of the first official chapter of the difficult history of the Jewish state, formed by settlers from Kraków and other places. The author, sensitive, empathetic and with an excellent sense of composition, immortalised the stories of people from various social groups and holding different views, at the same time documenting the colour and diversity of life in pre-war Kraków. The exhibition will remain on display until the next Jewish Culture Festival (June/July 2012). (Dorota Dziunikowska, "Karnet" monthly)