Kraków Part 1 - Jewish history

28 - 31 July

After a very sombre day of visiting the concentration and extermination camps of Auschwitz, I had a further five days to explore some of the rest of the south of Poland.

I was still in Katowice, which is not a tourist destination for the average traveller. Waking up on the 28th it was suffocatingly hot outside - pushing into the high thirties and melting the pavement asphalt. I stayed inside catching up on some emails and the like, and had lunch with the American girl (Melody) I'd met before, discussing our experiences at Auschwitz - she had a different perspective on it, being Jewish herself. When she left for Wrocław (pronounced something like "Vroswav"), I reluctantly went for an explore in the heat. There wasn't much to see and before long I was back sheltering inside.

The next morning I took a short bus ride (less than €3 for a 1.5 hour trip!) to Kraków, Poland's second biggest city after Warszawa (Warsaw). Kraków is a lovely old heritage city, and in late July was hot and popular with tourists. In the afternoon I took a free (well, tip-based) walking tour of the Kazimierz district, which is the Jewish quarter of the city and steeped in history.

Jewish monument near the Remuh Synagogue

Tempel Synagogue

Kazimierz was originally a separate city, founded by the Polish King Casimir III in the 13th century. Over the years it became a popular location for Jewish residents of Kraków, and was eventually made part of the larger Kraków city. Over 120 synagogues were in Kraków by the 1930s, and the city had some of the richest Jewish culture around.

Interestingly, for many years, the Jewish and Christian parts of Kazimierz were clearly defined as separate, with a wall between the two parts until 1822. Perhaps this was a precursor to the event of World War II - when the invading German army occupied Kraków, the Jewish residents were expelled to the area of Podgórze, south over the river. This became the Podgórze ghetto, and when I walked around there several days later, I found some remnants of the walls that surrounded the ghetto when in use (March 1941 - March 1943). Some 15,000 Jews were squeezed into the small area - 4 Jewish families per apartment. The other 50,000 or so Jews who had previously lived in Kraków had already been resettled out of the city.

The tombstone-like walls of the Podgórze ghetto - beside what is now a children's playground

Plaque on the old ghetto walls

The liquidation of the ghetto between May 1942 and March 1943 resulted in "fit-for-work" Jews being sent to the Plaszow labour camp, the others being sent to Auschwitz - or simply murdered on the streets.

If any of this sounds familiar, then you've probably watched Spielberg's Schindler's List movie, which is (mainly) set in Kraków. If you haven't, I recommend watching it. Although based on a true story, the movie does contain many historical inaccuracies - but it does paint a very vivid picture on the harsh realities of Jewish ghetto & labour camp life during World War II.

A filming site in Kazimierz from the movie Schindler's List (used during the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto).
Although set in Podgórze, the movie was mostly filmed in Kazimierz since the buildings are much better preserved.

The story of Oskar Schindler - a member of the Nazi party - is very two-sided, and an interesting one to investigate. The movie paints him in a very good light, but many stories of his womanising and alcoholic tendencies also exist. He bought a factory in Kraków that initially employed Jews because they were cheaper - but over time he used the factory to help keep Jews out of labour or concentration camps by giving them jobs there, and did save the lives of some 1,100 Jews by transporting them to a new factory in the Czech Republic when they were destined for the gassing chambers.

I also visited an excellent museum at the site of Schindler's actual factory. While not directly related to the story of the factory, the museum displayed the history of Kraków during World War II in a very informative and interesting way.

Plaque commemorating Oskar Schindler at the site of his factory - "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire"

The last place of interest was Plac Bohaterów Getta (the Ghetto Heroes' Square) in Podgórze. This was where Jews were sent with all their possessions before being herded to the trains when the ghetto was liquidated. They were all told to leave their possessions behind - never to be seen again, of course. A photo of an empty chair in the square, taken after liquidation, inspired a memorial that is now located there - a square full of empty chairs, representing the loss when the Jews were expelled from the city.

Plac Bohaterów Getta

An empty chair representing the emptiness after the Jews were expelled from Kraków

After years of neglect during Communist rule, the Kazimierz district is now undergoing a new lease of life as a hub of activity in Kraków. It's now a popular nightlife and restaurant destination, but it's true Jewish culture will probably never be comparable to what it once was.

Of course, there is a lot more to Kraków than the Jewish history - so, read on to Part 2.