Professor Paul Jaskot presented “Visualizing Krakow under Nazi Occupation: Exploring Digital and Analog Methods to Analyze the Built Environment” on February 7, 2019 at Columbia University, sponsored by the Society of Fellows in the Humanities.

Krakow became a key location within the National Socialist plan for military expansion and the implementation of genocide in Eastern Europe during World War II. Here Hans Frank and the General Government he led developed their policies of oppression and occupation by establishing a formidable military and SS presence as well as claiming Krakow as “Germanized” again. Part of these schemes included also the plans for rebuilding Krakow, led by architect Hubert Ritter, which followed the goals of rebuilding cities established by Hitler for Nuremberg, Berlin, and elsewhere. At the same time, of course, Frank also established a ghetto (opened March 1941) for the Jewish population as part of the radicalization of policies that led to the genocide. Urban and architectural visualizations then and now help us to conceptualize these disparate histories together, seeing how the ambitions for establishing Nazi presence complemented and contradicted spatial planning for the Jewish community.

On March 28, 2019 Jaskot discussed the topic as part of the 2019 Spring Lecture Series at Emory University.