Krakow Directories: 1907, 1929 & 1935
The 1907 Krakow Directory comprised a listing of about 25,000 individuals (Jews and non-Jews). Krakow researchers have extracted all those entries known to be Jewish or those with 'Jewish-sounding' surnames. The extracted data comprises 6,660 names. This corresponds to 26% of all directory entries and is probably an accurate indication of the percentage Jewish population of Krakow at that time. As with most directories, the data contained in the 1907 Krakow Directory is sparse with many abbreviations. The following fields have been extracted:
Last name:
First name:
Occupation*:
Street and street number:
(Thanks to all those members of the Krakow Research Group who participated in the data extraction.)
The 1929 directory listed businesses in numerous cities of Poland. Almost 10,000 names - essentially Jewish - from the section dealing with Krakow have been extracted from the directory. As with most directories, the data contained in the Krakow Business Directory is sparse and usually abbreviated. Apart from block adverts - which are scattered throughout the Directory - the data has been extracted exactly as it appears in the Directory. The following fields have been extracted:
Last name: The surname of the business owner. Occasionally, two names are present in this field, indicating a business partnership e.g., Hornstein i Goldschmied.
First Name: The first name of owner(s) or partner. This is often only an initial, although abbreviated or complete first names are sometimes present. Occasionally, titles such as 'Dr.' or 'Prof.' are included.
Occupation*: The nature of occupation or business. This is written in Polish, but without Polish diacritics. Translation into English is not provided.
Registered: The original directory indicated whether the business was private or registered. The letter 'x' indicates a registered business and the letter '-' indicates a non-registered business.
Street & Street No:
Notes: Additional notes, such as whether a block advert is present. Some notes are in Polish ...again without diacritics. The '-' sign indicates no notes present.
(Directory procurement: Judie Goldstein. Data entry: Julian Schamroth.)
The 1935 Directory has an extensive listing of house occupants - both Jewish and non-Jewish - for most of the city of Krakow. Its importance lies in the fact that this was one of the last Directories issued prior to the Holocaust, and that the names of all family members are usually listed. It can be assumed that the vast majority of Jewish individuals listed in this Directory perished during the Holocaust. Over 2,300 surnames and about 4,000 first names have been extracted from the directory and are presented here. Unfortunately, this Directory was compiled alphabetically according to street name, making it particularly difficult to find a specific surname. The data has now been placed into a database in which one can search the surname (see Search Engine below). The data available to Shoreshim members includes the following:
Last Name:
First Name:
Occupation*:
Street & Street Number:
District & House Number: This is the 'old' house numbering system.
Notes:
1) An attempt has been made to extract only Jewish names. Thus many names were extracted
purely on the 'Jewishness' of the first name e.g., "Dawid", even though such names may
also be found amongst non-Jews. Secondly, many last names which may appear to be
Jewish may, in fact, be non-Jewish e.g., surname "HOFFMAN". Therefore bear in mind
that some of the extracted names may not be Jewish.
2) All surnames are capitalized. Where 2 surnames appear separated by a slash
e.g., "BECKMANN / FLEISCHER", the second name is an alias.
3) Several maiden surnames may be found in the column titled "First Names". These are
all capitalized and bracketed e.g., "(KATZ)". The Search Engine will automatically
look for these names.
4) First names together with their nicknames or aliases are separated by a slash
e.g., "Ruchel/Roza".
5) Double names are not separated by commas. Thus "Sara Lea" is a single individual
whereas "Sara, Lea" are two separate individuals.
6) The 5th and 6th columns represent the old 'District and House' numbering system. Until
the latter part of the 19th century, Krakow was divided into districts, and houses
were numbered according to district, rather than a street address. For example,
House VII 28 would be the 28th house in District VII. It is not known when the
change-over to a 'street address' system occurred, but we know that documents began
to show the new address system in the 1880s.
* Shoreshim paid-up members only
