Page 160 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Krakow

158  PODG Ó RZE

6 Podgórze

Immediately south of Kazimierz, on the opposite shore of
the Vistula river, the gritty post-industrial suburb of Podgórze
is a compelling destination for visitors. It was the site of a
Jewish ghetto during World War II, and Jews from all over
Krakow were crowded into its cramped streets before
being transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and elsewhere.
Several sites in Podgórze and neighbouring Plaszów recall
this period in Kraków’s history, most notably the celebrated
Schindler Factory (now a major museum), where Oskar Part of an exhibition of life in Krakow
Schindler saved over 1,000 Jews from inevitable death.
during World War II, at the Schindler Factory
E Schindler Factory
Fabryka Schindlera
ul. Lipowa 4. Map 4 F2. Tel 12 257 00
95. v 3, 19, 24. Open Apr–Oct:
10am–4pm Mon, 9am–8pm Tues–
Sun; Nov–Mar: 10am–2pm Mon,
10am–6pm Tue–Sun. & (free Mon)
8 - ∑ mhk.pl
The Schindler Factory, located in
the former industrial district of
Zabłocie, will forever be asso­
ciated with Oskar Schindler
(see p127). A German wartime
industrialist, he protected local
Jews by employing them in his
factory, arguing that they were
Oversized chair sculptures on plac Bohaterów Getta essential to his business. His
story was popularized by
P Plac Bohaterów Getta three assistants opted to stay Thomas Keneally’s Booker Prize­
Map 4 E2. v 3, 19, 24. behind; the pharmacy became winning novel Schindler’s Ark
This former market square was a social hub and source of aid and Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film
where Krakow’s Jews unloaded for the Jewish community. Schindler’s List.
their belongings and waited to Now a small but fascinating Part of the Historical Museum
be allocated accommodation in museum, the pharmacy has of Krakow, the factory hosts an
the Podgórze ghetto, which was been recreated to look as it did exhibition entitled “Krakow
established in March 1941. Two during the war. Multimedia Under Nazi Occupation 1939–45”.
years later, they assembled here displays, as well as photographs Everyday life for Krakow’s Jewish
again, prior to their deportation and personal effects hidden in and Polish inhabitants – from
to the camps. This history of drawers and cupboards, tell the the last pre­war summer of 1939
traumatic arrivals and depart­ devastating stories of those through the Nazi occupation
ures is marked in Piotr Lewicki forced to live in the ghetto. until the arrival of the Red Army
and Kazimierz Łatak’s installation in January 1945 – is illustrated
of oversized iron chairs scattered using original documents, radio
across the square. The chairs and film recordings, photographs
serve as a reminder that when and multimedia installations.
the ghetto was cleared in March The fate of the Jewish popu­
1943, bits of abandoned furni­ lation – incarcerated in the
ture were all that was left of ghetto, exploited as slave
Krakow’s Jewish community. labour, then transported to
the death camps – is a major
E Pharmacy Under the Eagle theme, though lives of other
Apteka pod Orłem citizens are also covered in
Plac Bohaterów Getta 18. Map 4 E3. detail, notably the arrest and
Tel 12 656 56 25. v 3, 19, 24. murder of prominent members
Open 10am–2pm Mon, 9am–5pm of the city’s intellectual and
Tues–Sun. & (free Mon) 8 ∑ mhk.pl political elite. Poignant exhibits
As the ghetto rose up around include Schindler’s desk and a
their pharmacy, gentiles Dr The façade of the Pharmacy Under the wall of photographs of those
Tadeusz Pankiewicz and his Eagle, on plac Bohaterów Getta that Schindler saved.