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This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from the town of Krakovets, also known as Krakowiec, Krakovits, Krakowitz, Krakovec, Krakowice, Krakowicz, Cracavic, Краковец (Львовская область, Украина) -- which has at various times been part of Galicia (Galitzia), Austria, Austria-Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, the Soviet Union, and Ukraine.
From the 19th century under Austrian rule, until just prior to World War Two under Polish rule, it is estimated that between one-third and one-half of the population of Krakovets was Jewish. (Estimates range from 1,000 Jews in 1880 to about 2,000 Jews in the 1930s.) The rest of the populace consisted of ethnic Poles and ethnic Ukrainians. Estimates for the total town population range from 3,000 to 4,000 during this time period.
Due to a campaign of Ukrainian-led nationalism and genocide, coupled with the Nazi invasion of Poland and its accompanying antisemitism, the Poles of Krakovets were either killed outright or deported and the Jews were massacred both in the town and by transportation to Nazi ghettos, labour camps, and death camps. After these twin campaigns of ethnic cleansing during the late 1930s and early 1940s, Krakovets became, and remains, a monocultural Ukrainian town, with a greatly reduced population.
This project seeks to bring together the profiles and supporting documentary records of the Jews of Krakovets, including both those who emigrated to the USA during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and those whose lives were disrupted or ended during the Holocaust. In studying the tragedy of Krakovets during the Shoah, it is apparent that many Jews were transported to other locations in Poland shortly before being murdered, so a death record outside of Krakovets during that era does not indicate that the person left Krakovets voluntarily