Krakow

Yesterday’s trip to Auschwitz highlighted the atrocities within the concentration camps, but what about those that happened right in the heart of the city? Evil wasn’t always hidden in secluded places. We took a walking tour from Krakow Old Town to the nearby Jewish district of Kazimierz. This district was used to film scenes in Steven Spielberg’s movie Schindler’s List. The Jews were later exiled to a nearby district, Podgórze, which became known as the Krakow Ghetto.

The Krakow Ghetto was fortified by walls to keep its tens of thousands inhabitants trapped, and out of sight from the rest of the city. There was notably a Polish Roman Catholic pharmacist, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who insisted on running his pharmacy within the ghetto walls. He would go on to help countless Jews up until the ghetto liquidation.

There is a section of the ghetto wall that still stands today. It now has a plaque on it in memory of those that perished within those walls. Did you know that Roman Polanski lived in and luckily escaped the Jewish Ghetto when he was a little boy? He got away by jumping into the Vistula River. His mother was unfortunately killed at Auschwitz. He turned down the offer to direct Schindler’s List as it was too painful for him.

At the end of the walking tour, we visited the Schindler’s Museum which is located at Schindler’s old factory. Whilst it didn’t have a lot of information on Oskar Schindler, it was overflowing with information on how the Holocaust came to Krakow. Well worth a visit if you’re in Krakow.Read more