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
Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
Kraków