What Became of the Ghettos?

• Greatest Cities:Bialystok
• News on BialystokBialystok, the site of one of the greatest atrocities and massacres of Operation Reinhard during the Shoah, and the site of one of the Ghettos, survives as a prospering city of 291, 963. Over 20 educational institutes including four major Universities and a thriving arts community exist there today. A monument in memory of murdered Jews stands today, commemorating among other events, the burning of the Synagogue in which the Jews of Bialystok had been gathered. The majority of current representatives from Bialystok are from the Democratic -labor Party.

City of Kaunas Kovno, or 'Kaunas, in Lithuainia was the site of one of the greatest slaughters in the Soviet states during the Shoah: the 9th Fort, a concentrically built ancient fortress became the site of tortures, beatings and and killings, and one of the largest coverups of mass killings in the war, conducted under tarps. (See 9th Forth. This beautiful city of a long cultural heritage sits at the meeting of the Nemunas and Neris rivers. Cultural interests include the 9th Fort, the Devil's Museum (literally), and the 'Fluxus' Exhibition: an avant garde arts movement, along with musical exhibitions and performances from classical to jazz. Run by a 'Director of Administration', the city is governed by neighborhood district representatives. The ' move to liberation' in 1988 brought a revitalization in architecture and culture and other restorations: in 1991, they stood against the encroachment of the Soviet Union. Today, industry flourishes, in a city of 400,000, with 35,000 students attending 7 universities and colleges. A Museum stands on the site of the 9th fort in commemoration of the atrocities. (See City of Kaunas site, above).

• Krakow:Comprehensive Guide Krakow, located on the Vistula River in Southern Poland was a great center of Jewish Life, Culture and Religion for hundreds of years. Until WWII, the Jewish Population of Poland represented about 25% of the population, or about 68,500, although today less than 5000 remain after the Shoah and a 1968 aliyah following Dubcek's arrest in Poland and growing government anti-semitism. Krakow includes several major universities including Jagiellonian University, and a moat around the city is now a greens or commons area; the city is still reknown as a cultural center and many Jewish monuments, buildings and cemetaries have been restored, although anti-Semitism is still a problem there as in other parts of Europe. The Galicia Museum now recounts artifacts and history of the Shoah, operated by Jewish residents. The town square including a statue of King ... stands still where Kings of Krakow would come to greet their subjects in centuries past after a coronation: a story is told that during the shoah, when a resident was asked to take the statue down, the reply was, as soon as the Nazi asking could kiss a certain part of the anatomy of the statue. The current Mayor, Jacek Majchrowski, is a History professor and conservative-monarchist. Krakow Municipality

Throughout history, Lodz has had one of the largest populations of Jews, second only to Warsaw, although most were deported and killed in Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau. In 1939, up to 223,000 (34% of pop.) Jews lived in Lodz, an estimated 200,000 were ghettoized and later killed and today, after the 1968 aliyah, about 5 to 7000 Jews remain in Lodz. Called Litzmannstadt from 41 to 45, it was a target of severe 'germanization': it also has the distinction of having been one of the longest lasting ghettos before liquidation.

The current Mayor, jezy Kropinicki with the Ambassador from Israel, University presidents and others have made dramatic commemorative efforts including inviting survivors and others worldwide to commemorations from 2003-4 lasting almost a year. One synagogue remains, at Rewolucji Street. Among other memorials, a 15 acre park with a monument stands in the midst of what used to be the Jewish Ghetto of Lodz. Tributes have been made to 'righteous gentiles' or those who aided the Jews in the Shoah, the Roma Sinti Survivors, and those who perished . A Museum and a Project Of the Institute of Jews of Lodz has been established as well. Many ancient structures still stand unlike many cities in Poland which were devasted. Lodz should be credited more than most with restorative and restitutive gestures.

Today, the city is a rail center and highway confluence, sporting 3 major universities including the University of Lviv and Lviv Polytechnical Institute. During WWII, a massacre of 45 professors in July of 1941 took place as students betrayed their professors who were summarily shot. In 1998, an investigative committee was formed to look into that and other events. Parts of Schindler's Listwere filmed there. [¹Wikipedia.org; ²Answers.com;³About.com; ⁴Jewishgen.org-Shtetlinks ⁵Lviv Today

• Tarnow, named for the black thorn bushes in the area and established early by the 1030s, sits on the Dunajec and Biala Rivers. Entering the war early in August 1939 as a German terrorist bombed the train station killing 20 people, , the Jews of Tarnow did not fare well, being forced by November of 1939 to wear mogen David Armbands, and suffering under forced servitude until ghettoization and deportation. In 1939, approximately 25,000 Jews were in the city, although regionally, 40,000 Jews were interred in the ghetto there. Today there are no Jews in Tarnow: some sources give accounts of a few who after the war came back to Tarnow to reclaim property and were beaten and chased out of the city. The City today is a young city with a population of 121,439 and 66% of citizens between 18 and 44, over 80% under 44. It is known for chemical production , electomechanical and steel industries and glass production along with farming-related industries. There is also an emerging and booming 'IT' industry with business interests such as IBM, Sun Technology and Hewlitt Packard. In 1975 there was an administrative reform of government, and presently business consists of state-controlled, privately-owned and privately practiced businesses and skilled crafts. Four high schools and a Vatican Theological Academy are present; there is a 12.1% unemployment.

  Jewish buildings and the synagogue were burned by November '39, and not rebuilt. The Jewish cemetery, located in a forest, the "Martyr's" Cemetery has of late been recovered and a road paved to its location: research is currently underway cataloging cataloging statistics on deaths, relations and deportations in conjunction with work in Krakow. At the intersection of highways between Krakow and the Ukrainian border and between Warsaw and points south, Tarnow like Lodz and Lvov prospers from its hub location, while maintaining a focus on history: it's regional museum focuses on Roma Sinti or Gypsy history and its Dioceasan Museum contains Catholic artifacts. While Jews had once been as much as 50% of the city's population, there appear now to be none: most were killed or dispersed. Only 30,000 or so Jews returned to towns in Poland after the war in 1945, and by the end of 1968 after the second Aliyah, within 6 months only 4,000 were left. The population of Jews in some areas has again began to grow, although not in Tarnow. Tarnow: Comprehensive