Cyganeria Operation - Krakow - December 1942

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WernerVonEbrennac
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Cyganeria Operation - Krakow - December 1942

#1

Post by WernerVonEbrennac » 19 Mar 2019, 18:48

Hello!

I’ve been doing a research on the events known as Operation Cyganeria - the German coffee shop bomb attack by the ZOB members and communist partisans in Krakow carry out on December 1942.
The data is not accurate. I also could not find precise information on the number of deaths and injured.
I wonder if anyone has more accurate information about this event, more precisely about the victims identity.

Thank you very much!

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wm
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Re: Cyganeria Operation - Krakow - December 1942

#2

Post by wm » 20 Mar 2019, 12:04

I would be cautious about anything with "communist" attached, some Polish historians say about 90 percent history of ww2 communist resistance in Poland is faked or severely overhyped.
Additionally, the wartime history of Kraków is poorly researched, mainly because it was the most anti-Soviet, anti-communist Polish city, so the communists weren't interested.

It's said it happened on 22 or 24/25 October, the news reached Warsaw on 28 October so the latter is more probable.
Some say "Bisanz" and "Cyganeria" were attacked on 22 October by the communists, "Cyganeria" on 24 October by the ŻOB.

As to the casualties, it seems nothing certain is known, identical (a bunch of hand grenades and coffee shops) three communist actions in Warsaw resulted just in a few wounded.
For every German killed several Poles were usually executed in reprisals, there it seems it didn't happen.

Strangely, the two main sources about Kraków; published in communist Poland Hitlerowskie plakaty śmierci and Zagłada Żydów w Krakowie by Aleksander Bieberstein (the chairman of the Judenrat of the Kraków Ghetto) don't mention it at all, as if it was of no importance (Bieberstein mentions it in the summary at the end).


GregSingh
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Re: Cyganeria Operation - Krakow - December 1942

#3

Post by GregSingh » 21 Mar 2019, 00:32

Polish "underground" bulletin issued in Krakow on 24th of December (Thursday) mentioned incident in Cyganeria as happened on 22nd (Tuesday) evening. Most probably it had a date right, but it lacked any credible details.
For every German killed several Poles were usually executed in reprisals, there it seems it didn't happen.
According to the same bulletin, "reprisals" (in my opinion - not necessarily in response to Cyganeria incident) announced on Wednesday through streets megaphones, were extension of curfew by 1 hour and request to close shops and businesses by 5pm.

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wm
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Re: Cyganeria Operation - Krakow - December 1942

#4

Post by wm » 21 Mar 2019, 10:43

I've read a story, on some old forgotten forum, it looks somewhat legitimate, who would have spun a yarn about a totally obscure event the Cyganeria Operation is.

It was about a German who served in Poland, probably one of those German bureaucrats/officials. He said he generally liked Poland but disliked Kraków.
The reason was, he once sat in Cyganeria minding his own business, someone threw a bomb inside, and it tore off his entire arm.

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