Church. Most synagogues of Kraków were ruined
during World War II by the Nazis who despoiled them of all ceremonial objects,
and used them as storehouses for ammunition, firefighting equipment, as general
storage facilities and stables. The post-Holocaust Jewish population of the city
had dwindled to about 5,900 before the end of the 1940s. Poland was the only
Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah without visas or exit permits
upon the conclusion of World War II. By contrast, Stalin forcibly kept Soviet
Jews in the USSR, as agreed to in the Yalta Conference. In recent time, thanks
to efforts of the local Jewish and Polish organisations including foreign
financial aid from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, many
synagogues underwent major restorations and serve religious and tourist
purposes
