Our last day in Krakow was spent exploring the old Jewish Quarter and the Ghetto, along with an experience at the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. The story of the Jewish people is nothing short of fascinating on any scale. For today, this will focus on one small city, Krakow, Poland. The smaller city of Kazimierz, directly adjacent to Krakow, was the site of the newly established Jewish settlement in the 14th century. Eventually assimilated into Krakow proper, it became the Jewish Quarter, and eventually part of the Old Town as the city grew.
Enter the Nazi’s with the invasion of Poland in 1939 (the beginning of WWII) and we find that the planned extermination of the Jews needed a little more ‘organization’. The residents of the Jewish Quarter were then moved to a ghetto on the other side of the Vistula River in the Podgorze district where they were quarantined or, in fact, ‘sealed’ in. They were told that they were to be transported to the East for relocation purposes. They were sent to the East, but we now know what was located there.
The term Ghetto has had several meanings since its genesis in the Venice in the 16th century. Back then, a “gheto” was a foundry and as such, not located in a desirable part of town. In 1516 the Venetian authorities decreed that all Jews must live in this rather confined area. Obviously, we now use the term ghetto to describe just about any segregated, impoverished area of a town where people are ‘confined’, and as a place where they in fact live. The Germans used these locations as a formal area of confinement before transporting the Jewish people to the camps.
Because Krakow was relatively undisturbed (artillery and bombing) during the war, all of the synagogues that were in the old Jewish Quarter were still there after the War and thus became usable again as the Jews started to move back into Poland. The oldest was built around 1494 and is still there, now serving as a museum. We saw several synagogues on our tour and as it was the Sabbath, there was activity surrounding them.
After our walk around the old Jewish Quarter, we went across the river to the Podgorze neighborhood where we visited two important places. One was the square in the middle of the ghetto where the Jews all gathered, waiting to be transported, they brought with them all things important, even furniture. This is symbolized by these random bronze chairs placed in various positions around the square, empty they are, further symbolizing the fact that no one would be home to use them anymore.
This one frames the apothecary on the corner operated by Tadeusz Pankowicz who helped the Jews in spite of the possibility that if he were found out he would have been killed himself.
We then worked our way out of the Ghetto to the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. This site is now being used as a full-on experience illustrating the path of what was to happen to Poland after the German invasion of 1939. It was a kind of multi-media production, very well done, that would be hard to show any kind of pieces of as they would need to be taken out of context and thus rendered ineffective, so for that reason you will see only one photo from this experience.
Mr. Schindler’s office had been sealed up and forgotten. That is, until the workers tore down an old wall and found this behind it. They knew exactly what they had found as the big wall map had been talked about by old employees for years.
The more time we spend here the more we realize just how resilient these folks are. Tomorrow we will be in Warsaw, a city that was leveled during WWII and while almost everything there is post WWII, it promises to be quite an experience. Report to follow!
The Commerce and Science Building erected by the Soviets in the late 40’s. The locals hate it for many reasons, but mostly because the Soviets built it!
The only one left unscathed by WWII. It has quite a story to tell!
2 replies on “A Ghetto and Synagogues”
We visited the Holocaust museum in Israel. It was a very moving and sad experience. I think these last two parts of your trip (concentration camp and ghetto) must have been even more heartbreaking. I have never seen “Schindler’s List.” I think I must before going there.
The movie is important, stands on its own as it does not really deal with Auschwitz, but watch it anyway. The Pianist is anther good one.