Born in Krakow on 20th November 1927, Miriam Akavia (formerly known as Matylda Weinfeld) was a writer, translator and President of the Polish-Israeli Friendship Society in Israel. She grew up in an assimilated Jewish family. Both of her parents died during WWII, while she spent this period in the Krakow ghetto, KL Plaszow, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps. A strong supporter of the Polish-Jewish reconciliation and the owner of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. ”Right after WWII, I thought that I would never put my foot here ever again. Today I know that I cannot erase Poland, especially Krakow, from my life”, said Miriam Akavii during one meeting with the youth in Poland. She died on 16th January 2015 in Tel-Aviv. Her most notable works include:Jesień młodości (Autumn of…

Born on 16th November 1919 in Krakow, Natan Gross, son of Jakub, was a director, screenwriter, film producer and film critic, poet, writer, editor and a publisher in both Polish and Hebrew. A Krakow’s Hebrew Gymnasium graduate who took his maturity exams in 1938 and who studied at the Faculty of Law at the Jagiellonian University as well as at the Academy of Fine Arts. War, however, ceased his education. Right after WWII broke out, he tried to get to Lviv but when he was just about to enter the city, he learned that Lviv had been occupied by the Soviets and decided to return to Krakow where he stayed until the beginning of 1941. Since that moment, his family’s ordeal began. In the search for shelter, they moved to the…

Born on 14th November 1876 in Krakow, Chaim Hilfstein, son of Jakub and Zofia, née Rosner, was a social and political activist, a Zionist and a consultant in internal medicine who worked at the St.Lazarus hospital in Krakow.He graduated from St.Ann’s gymnasium in Krakow in 1897, followed by Medicine at the Jagiellonian University. Hilfstein obtained his PhD title in 1904. A member of the National Jewish Council for Western Galicia in November 1918. In 1897, Hilfstein co-founded the ”Przed-świt-Haszahar” Jewish Youth Association which was the first Zionist organisation in Krakow. Throughout the interwar period, together with Ozjasz Thon, Hilfstein was one of the leaders of the Zionist Organisation of the Lesser Poland and Silesia region. He was a delegate at Zionist congresses in Karlsbad (1921), Vienna (1925) and Basel (1927).…

Born on 13th November 1888 in Chrzanow, Ignacy Izaak Schwarzbart, son of Markus Saul and Chana, née Michalik, was a lawyer, politician and a publicist. A deputy to the Sejm of the 6th term (1938-1939), member of the National Council of the Polish authorities in exile, board member of the Jewish Religious Community in Krakow (1924-1936) as well as a city council member (1933-1939). A 1908 graduate of a gymnasium in Podgorze who studied Law at the Jagiellonian University and obtained his PhD title in1913. After finishing university, he ran his own law firm. During WWI, he served in the Austro-Hungarian Army and later on in the Polish Army. Between 1921–1925, Schwarzbart was the editor-in-chief of Nowy Dziennik, a local Zionist newspaper in Krakow. A member of the Administrative Committee of the…