Kazimierz

Kazimierz (Polish pronunciation: [kaˈʑimjɛʂ]; Latin: Casimiria; Yiddish: קוזמיר, romanized: Kuzimyr) is a former, from 1366 a independent town in 1800 incorporated into Kraków, Poland. Until 1954 the VIII quarter of the city, it is now part of the District I Old Town.

From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located south of the Old Town of Kraków, separated from it by a branch of the Vistula river. For many centuries, Kazimierz was a place where ethnic Polish and Jewish cultures coexisted and intermingled. The northeastern part of the district was historically Jewish. In 1941, the Jews of Kraków were forcibly relocated by the German occupying forces into the Kraków Ghetto just across the river in Podgórze, and most did not survive the war. Today, Kazimierz is one of the major tourist attractions of Kraków and an important center of cultural life of the city.

The border between Kazimierz and Kraków was the Old Vistula River, a branch of the Vistula. The riverbed was filled in at the end of the 19th century. and transformed into a green avenue – Józef Dietl Street.