My Photos
Krakow & Schindlers Factory
The white-washed passage way between ul. Beera Meiselsa 17 and ul. Józefa 12 in Kraków's Kazimierz district famously provided some of the most memorable visuals in Steven Spielberg's cinematic masterpiece Schindler's List.
Today, this lane has maintained the same unique character that made it so appealing as a shooting location for Spielberg and is casually known as 'Schindler's Passage.'
In the scene Schindler list, when families are being cleared out of the tenement building and their possessions thrown over the balconies, these stirring visuals were filmed at Jozefa 12, in what is now known as 'Schindler's Passage'. Later, Mrs. Danka Drezner is told to hide under a staircase by a friend of her son Adam, who then tells the oncoming Nazis that there's no one left in the building. This is that staircase.
Located across the river Vistula from the Jewish quarter The Ghetto Heroes Square is the centre of what used to be the Krakow Ghetto during WWII, inhabited by 68,000 Jews. Formerly known as Plac Zgody (Concord Square), between 1941 and 1943 the square was the site of mass murders of Krakow’s Polish Jews by the German Nazis and the site where thousands were transported to the concentration camps. This building was for Ghetto and deportation registrations.
On 13th March 1943 the Nazis liquidated the ghetto with the entire population of section A being sent into forced labour at the Plaszow labour camps in addition to Oskar Schindler’s factory. The inhabitants of section B which was mostly women, children, the elderly and the ill were however either immediately murdered in the ghetto or were transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for mass execution.
Within the square there are 70 chairs made from cast iron and bronze. Each chair represents 1,000 people and the possessions that they took with them to the ghetto and had to leave behind. It was created as a permanent memorial to the tragedy of the Polish Jews who were imprisoned and died either here or at the concentration camps.
Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) safe house
Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) safe house overlooking the Camp deportations.
In 2005, it was decided to create a monument in the square to commemorate all the victims and the tragic events of WWII. The written memoirs of Tadeusz Pankiewicz (The Krakow Ghetto Pharmacy) had proved very inspiring, with one extract from his extraordinary book reading: "In Plac Zgody, an incalculable number of wardrobes, tables, sideboards and other furniture was rotting." These words were the reason behind the creation of a special and highly unusual monument made of oversized metal chairs, intended to symbolise the items left behind in the square before their owners, the Jewish victims, embarked on their final journey. The monument designers decided to place 33 large chairs in the square and 37 smaller ones that people could sit on. The majority of the chair-monuments were arranged in rows (reminiscent of the way that the permanent residents of the ghetto had to stand during the roll-calls) and faced the former Under The Eagle Pharmacy. Three of them faced Lwowska Street, where a fragment of the original ghetto wall has been preserved. As for the smaller chairs, the artists decided to place them facing the square, surrounding the larger chairs at the same time.
Within the Ghetto Heroes Square there is the Pharmacy Under the Eagle. This was controlled by Polish pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz during the city’s Nazi occupation. Tadeusz kept the pharmacy running despite it being located within the ghetto, repeatedly risking his own life to help save Jewish families by leading them out of the ghetto with false passports.
The pharmacy has been kept as close to its original state as possible and you are able to purchase tickets and look around. It’s small but tells more of the history of the ghetto and the story of this incredibly brave and selfless man.
There are few remaining identifiers that the ghetto once stood here as many of the buildings were destroyed and have been rebuilt. One section of the original ghetto wall does remain however and is located in the south corner of the Ghetto Heroes Square, on Lwowska Street. It has a regular supply of flowers, a commemorative plaque and is a stark reminder that the people who once stood in this square were fully imprisoned with very little chance of escape.
Walking around the Ghetto Heroes Square whilst knowing what happened here will bring about a lot of emotions. Sadness. Anger. Frustration. Even relief that for those poor souls their ordeal is over. One thing that cannot be escaped however is that sheer disbelief that what happened here in the centre of Krakow was able to take place.
There are two stretches of Ghetto Wall remaining: one 12m stretch backing onto an old ghetto house with a commemorative plaque in both Hebrew and Polish, this other one a much lower, less obvious fragment tucked away in a park behind a school.
Julius Madritsch clothing workshop and the Optima factory in the Krakow ghetto.
Judenrat (Jewish Ghetto council) Office building. Next to this building blocking the road was the main Ghetto gate.
The best looking bridge in Krakow, and the most historic, which isn't saying much since all of Krakow's bridges were built in the 20th century or later. This bridge's claim to fame is that it survived WW2 unscathed. It connects Podgorze with Kazimierz districts with a tram line running in the middle and two sidewalks for pedestrians on each side. This is the bridge used by the Jews to enter the Ghetto.
During Nazi occupation, Kraków's Jewish community, centered in the Kazimierz district, was forced to resettle in a ghetto in Podgórze on the other side of the Vistula River before the deadline of March 20, 1941. One of two bridges used in this mass exodus was Piłsudski Bridge, which was opened in 1933 and still stands today.
Father Bernatek’s Bridge or Lovers Bridge with lots of acrobatic sculptures that move in the wind.
The former Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory nowadays houses a permanent exhibition entitled Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945, which is one of the most interesting and important exhibitions to visit when in Krakow. It showcases both individual and collective dimensions of the monstrosities the war has brought upon Polish citizens.
The museum is built in a unique way: each room is meticulously arranged to resemble a very specific place – a street, a hairdresser’s salon, a labor camp, a railway station and many, many more (there is 45 of them in total). It is a very interesting mean to keep the visitors on their toes for the entire duration of the tour and makes everything much more interesting. It is a museum that just does not get boring! It is like a history lesson that you can simply walk into.
The villa of Oskar Schindler, where he lived and worked from october 1939 to 1944, is around the corner at the Schindler factory. The factory halls were situated behind the villa.
The phrase “he who saves one life saves the world entire” is a quote from the Talmud. It means that for anybody who preserves a single life, it is counted as if he preserved an entire world. The quote supports the theme that one man can make a difference. The phrase is also used in the film Schindler’s List, which is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, who saved 1,200 Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
"I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it. Really, nothing more". ~ Oskar Schindler
He reduced costs by replacing the original Polish staff with cheap labor from the Krakow Jewish ghetto the Nazis organized not far from Schindler’s factory. When Germans liquidated the ghetto in 1943 and moved the remaining Jews to the Plaszow concentration camp, Schindler opened its branch on the premises of his factory complete with barbed-wire fences and watchtower with the odd SS guard for company.
The swastika tiling allows us to show our disrespect by walking over the Nazi legacy.
The site of Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory, where he harboured Jews under the guise of essential workers, is located at Lipowa 4, and today, is home to the Schindler Factory Museum. Numerous shots of its facade and one of the interior staircases are featured in the film, such as the scene where Regina Perlman persistently tries to get an audience with Schindler, the charming ladies' man.
'Tin-ware Sarcophagus' - erected opposite Schindler's desk in his spacious private office - is one of several monuments commemorating Jewish workers. Originally various enamelware objects were produced in the Schindler's factory; later on Schindler decided to also produce mess kits and ammunition shells for the Germans as he wanted to make sure that the factory would be regarded as an essential part of the war effort.
Oskar Schindler's office with his desk, erotic art, and huge map he used to demonstrate Nazi conquests in Europe.
This room contains a dramatic photograph of Schindler with his employees and a “Survivors’ Ark”, which forms a symbolic, protective wall around the lives of the saved. The interior lists their names.
Much of the office is a recreation but elements like the map are original.
Pharmacy Under the Eagle in Krakówhe pharmacy was restored as it was during the war and houses a permanent exhibit that reflects the decimation of the Jewish people and how countless Jews were rescued by Pankiewicz. Less impressive than Schindler’s Factory, the Pharmacy Under the Eagle is still worth discovering.
Tadeusz Pankiewicz's Hat - When the Germans established Podgórze, the largest ghetto in Kraków, they advised the Poles to leave the district. Tadeusz Pankiewicz, a Polish pharmacist, owner of Under the Eagle pharmacy declined the offer to run another pharmacy on the non-Jewish side. Under the Eagle was the only pharmacy that remained open in the Ghetto. Under the Eagle became a strategic location for the imprisoned Jews that would be frequently given free medication by Pankiewicz and a safe meeting point for the Jewish leaders. The pharmacist saved numerous lives by providing the older generations with hair dye to disguise their identities and sedatives to the children to help them hide. The pharmacy survived the war and closed in 1967. Years later, it was transformed into a very poignant museum.
Gestapo Headquarters - The building located on 2 Ulica Pomorska (2 Pomorska Street) was built between 1931 and 1936 as a residence for students from the Silesian region. After the invasion of Poland, it became the Gestapo headquarters in Kraków.
Pomorska Museum features documents, archive material, photographs and various items that will introduce visitors to a recent past and learn how the German SS investigated and tormented its unfortunate victims. The main highlights are the old cells where the Gestapo would interrogate their prisoners. Visitors can still see the engravings made by the prisoners on the filthy walls that demonstrate the ordeal they suffered.
Cloth Hall (Sukiennice): Standing in the center of the square is one of Kraków’s most famous symbols, the Cloth Hall. Opened during the thirteenth century as a type of “shopping center”, it was packed with market stands. It was later rebuilt in a Renaissance style, and used as an important international trade center.
St. Mary’s Basilica: This fourteenth century temple has an imposing façade, flanked by two differently sized towers. It is one of Kraków’s most famous attractions.
Oskar Schindler's residence in the movie is accurate - He did indeed live at ul. Straszewskiego 7, in an apartment on the third floor. As it is in the movie, the Nussbaum family lived here before they were relocated to the Jewish Ghetto, and, sometime after, Schindler moved in. While the building itself is typical of early 20th-century apartment buildings around Kraków, it is located at the bottom of Wawel Castle! In the 'immolation', when the ashes from the mass cremation at Chujowa Górka descend from the sky like rain, we can see both the front of Straszewskiego 7 and the clock tower of Wawel Castle when Oskar Schindler leaves his apartment.
Wawel Castle -During World War II, when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany, the Wawel Castle was the residence of governor general Hans Frank, later to be executed as a German Nazi war criminal.