My review of Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter of Cracow, Poland (as a Polish Non-Jew)

Soo in late September I had been to Kazimierz with my dad, the Jewish Quarter in Poland. Basically it used to be a Jewish district before WW2, but then you know what happened.. And now it's basically kind of a Jewish theme park where Jewish history and Jewish life and fethishizm intertwine.

I arrived in the main part/the square. And it was basically like stepping into another century, like pre war poland almost. It really felt surreal as I've never seen something like that before and there is a huge difference between other parts of cracow and this. You step out and you're greeted by lots of synagogues, a klezmer band (I personally really like klezmer) Judaica shops and well, "Jewish" restaurants, or rather Jewish-themed restaurants. Because they're not kosher but only serve Jewish-inspired dishes and have a few menorahs and paintings inside.

So maybe I'll divide it into two parts.

First, in fact there was one kosher restaurant (exclusively for Orthodox Jews) and well, I forgot to mention that the second you step out of the car you see LOTS of Hasidim. I know it might sound silly, but as a person who deeply admires Hasidism, Hasidim and Hasidic culture, I couldn't hide my excitement as I've never seen them before and I was really suprised to find them in Poland. I was there on Friday so I got to see them in their beautiful shtreimels, bekishes, davening, walking with entire families. However, they were all tourists, but there was something moving about seeing Jewish life return to Poland.

There were lots of synagogues, most of them were inactive and just museums. I got to go into only one, since it was Friday and the others were closed. There were also hotels which were in Yiddish, afaik mainly for the Jewish tourists. I saw Yiddish and Hebrew graffiti on some signs, but the most memorable thing I got to see was 'vi zenen di yidden' (Yiddish for "Where are the Jews?") written on walls. I don't think I have to elaborate.

I also saw a huge 'Bring them Home" flag and posters with all the hostages. And Jewish cementaries.

Now let's dive into part two, the 'fethishizing/exploiting' side of it. So first off, in some places there were small stands in which there were "Jews' for sale. For example, figurines of Orthodox Jews with a coin for 'financial luck', paintings of Orthodox Jews counting money for 'good luck' and some judaica. And to be honest, it felt really wrong because first off, it was fethishizing, objectifying (just like the whole 'jew for good luck' tradition) and exploiting. Like imagine selling stereotype-filled gadgets in a place where Jews died. And I bet the person selling it probably didn't even care about the Jews and was just profiting off tourists.

Then there were the non-kosher Jewish themed restaurants. Jewish-themed dishes, a few menorahs inside, paintings of Jews on the walls, maybe some klezmer music in the background, but that was the only thing that was "Jewish". about it the workers don't know anything about Judaism or kashrus, neither the restaurant is kosher. In one place the restaurant was stationed inside what used to be a Jewish-owned shop, closed by the Nazis. There was a restaurant and a book shop inside what literally used to be shul. This feels disrespectful for me.

So overall I also got the vibe like they were exploiting and making money off the lives of the jews that lived there for the sake of tourists. Sadly Poland has a huge antisemitism problem, and if not outright antisemitism many people have a so-called 'philosemitic' attitude e.g believing in antisemitic stereotypes like "jews are so good with money, so cool!" or "jews are so smart and control the banks, so cool!" or fetishizing Poland's JEWISH past.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed and loved the trip and I want to go back there again. And hope to see other synagogues. I also think you will find it beautiful if you enjoy European architecture.

My next destination is Lizhensk.