It was established on October 12, 1939 by Adolf Hitler, with the capital in occupied Kraków – the historic residence of Polish royalty.

The 12 Kreise that made up the district included Dębica, Jarosław, Jasło, Krakauland, Krosno, Miechów, Neumarkt, Neu- Sandez, Przemyśl, Reichshof, Sanok, and Tarnow.

The first governor was SS Major General Otto Wächter, who would be succeeded in the following order: Richard Wendler, Ludwig Losacker, and finally Kurt von Burgsdorff.

The Commander of local Order Police battalions and SD for District Kraków was SS-Lieutenant Colonel Max Grosskopf.

[1] Once the military gave control over to the German civil administration, various antisemitic laws were passed to strip Jews of their rights and began forced labor for those that were able.

Jewish councils (Judenräte) were created by the civil administration to enforce Jewish-related policies that were signed into law.

On the roads the German soldiers were closing in on and quickly occupying the small towns and villages, and those that fled thought it would be safer to go back to Krakow.

Kraków became the headquarters of Security Police (SIPO) and the SD intelligence agency for Operation Reinhard which marked the most deadly phase of the "Final Solution".

Many pre-war youth groups remained in contact and began to train with weapons, implemented assistance programs, and other various underground activities.

[10] The resistance conducted raids in which they killed Gestapo informants, stole uniforms that were produced in factories in the ghetto, and other activities.

[12] Aktion Krakau (Operation Reinhard in Kraków), led by Amon Göth, carried out the final liquidation in mid-March 1943.

Two German companies notably utilized Jewish forced labor, Organisation Todt (OT) and Kirchhof, both of which were known to provide inadequate food supplies and wages.

It was not capable of preventing the citizens of the Republic of Poland – Jews and Poles alike – from a slave-like ordeal in the German death factories and Soviet labor camps.

[13] The Jewish management and police kept their significance and hierarchy within the camp, maintaining ghetto systems and power structures.

[11] Similar to many other camps, laborers are Biesiadka received modest meals before and after their work and were treated as prisoners under the supervision of guards.

[11] Jews in the Pustków camp originated from both small and large towns and villages in Poland, notably Dębica, Brzesko, Brozstek, Kolbuszowa, Ropczyce, and Wieliczka.

[11] The amount of young, capable, Jewish men who were captured by Germans and sent to Pustków or neighboring Dulcza Mała continued to increase in 1940 despite these efforts.

[11] During March 1942, similar to the fate of other Jewish communities in the Kraków District, all Jews were completely expelled from Mielec.