Today is our last full day in Krakow. Faye and I got up slightly later than the others as they were heading off to have breakfast in a cafe in a tower and then on to the castle, which we had already seen.
We had booked a tour at Schindlers factory, and on the way, we stopped off at a little bespoke cafe called Emigrant Cafe. The coffee was really lovely.
To get to the factory, we had to cross one of the three bridges crossing the Vistula River. The bridge we used was the third of the 3 to be built. It was approved for railway traffic in May 2023 and also has a bicycle path and a pedestrian walkway. The first bridge is a single track bridge, and the second bridge is a 2 track bridge for long distance trains. The bridges enable trains to cross at 100km/hr.
We arrived at the factory a little bit early and it started to rain, so we just sheltered around the corner.
Once the guide arrived, we were all issued with headphones so we would be able to hear his narrative. He explained that as well as talking about Schindler himself, he would also be talking about what it was like for the Jews in Krakow over this time.
Poland regained their independence from Austria/Hungary in 1918, and Krakow continued as the cultural capital of Poland. Krakow used to be a lot smaller, with around 240,000 inhabitants. There are now 800,000 inhabitants. Polish Jews made up around 25% of the population, which was very multicultural.
One of the first exhibits is an old stereoscope, which allows images to be viewed in 3d. The pictures we could see were the originals and showed life before WWII.
Oscar Schindler was born in Austria – Hungary (later known as Czechoslovakia). He was expelled from school for fabricating a diploma. He started working for his father, selling farming equipment, and fell in love with Emilie Pelzl, one of his clients’ daughters. He and Emilie moved to Prague as there were better opportunities for work. Schindler worked for a bank in insurance and became acquainted with the political party, the SdP.
Schindler was a Czech citizen and not a member of the Third Reich. He joined the counterintelligence of the third reich around 1936-37 and collected and shared information on the movement of the army with the German government. He was arrested by the Czech government in 1938 for espionage but released shortly afterwards as when Czechoslovakia was occupied, all political prisoners were released. Schindler was accepted into the Naxi Party early in 1939.
Schindler often travelled to Poland and collected information on polish military activities before the planned invasion by Germany.
The Germans invaded Poland in the early hours of 1 September 1939, and this was the start of the Second World War. The first bombs were launched at 430 am and destroyed the railways.
The reason behind the invasion was that 10 german soldiers, dressed as Polish guards, took over the radio stations, and the germans then blamed the poles which led to the invasion of poland and started a full-scale war. It is thought that Schindler, as a spy, had a part in sourcing the uniforms.
Germany occupied Poland in a very short space of time. On 6 September 1939, the army invaded Krakow, and Schindler also came at this time as part of the intelligence unit. Krakow had a German city governor by 27 September. Poland was also invaded by Russia on 17 September 1939. They didn’t stand much of a chance as Germany had 2,600 tanks, Russia had 4-5000, and poland only had around 450 tanks.
Poland had small reconnaissance tanks called tankettes. These held 2 people, were armoured, and had a machine gun. These tankettes took part in the fight against Germany but sustained severe damage.
There was a huge amount of information to take in as you walked through the factory. The Polish people were used to being occupied and thought that the German occupation would be similar to that of the Austria-Hungary occupation, where they could still carry out all their traditions. This was not to be the case.
Across 3 phases of segregation, concentration camps, and extermination, around 68,500 Jews were removed and eliminated from Krakow. In October 1939, when Krakow was the capital of southern Poland, all Jews had to wear an armband and were not allowed to use public transport. Jews also were made to shave their beards, and sometimes the barber cut off a bit of an ear, too. A curfew was also imposed, and the Germans comandeered Jewish apartments and offices. The death penalty was the sentence for being in possession of a gun.
In November 1939, a Jewish lecture was arranged at the university, and professors and others were invited to attend. At this lecture, 184 Jews were arrested and taken to labour camps.
Lots of places, such as buildings, became restricted for German use only, even park benches.
Schindler arrived in krakow in 1939 and was looking for business opportunities. The enamel factory was first built in 1935 and was taken over by three Jewish men in 1937. They announced bankruptcy in the summer of 1939. When Schindler arrived, he contacted his nephew Abraham, who had shares in the factory. Abraham put him in touch with Itzhk Stern, an accountant, who advised Schindler to buy or lease the business. Schindler signed a formal lease agreement in January 1940 and changed the name of the factory to Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik. The factory produced enamel cookware for the military. The workers in the factory had to stand for hours on end and worked with harsh chemicals.
Hans Frank became the leader in Krakow, and he moved into the castle on Wawel Hill on 7 November 1939. The urban spaces in krakow became germanised, including the demolition of many polish monuments. Polish street names were also changed.
In October of 1939, all Poles between the ages of 18-60 had to undertake obligatory work, and the wages were poor. For Jews, this was applied between the ages of 12-60 and included Saturdays and other Jewish festivals. Speaking Yiddish or Hebrew in public was prohibited.
From November 1939, coupons were introduced for all basic foodstuff, and you could only get coupons if you had proof of employment. The calorific food value of the rations for Poles and Jews was too low to maintain normal health. All Polish secondary schools were closed, and textbooks were replaced with german controlled literature.
Schindler eventually moved to a residence close to the castle. He hired a Jewish lady to do his interior decorating. Her son became one of Schindler’s contacts for Black Market trading.
Hans was also friends with Joseph Gobel, who led on the german propoganda. By 1943, every fifth resident of Krakow was a german.
Despite everything that was going on, some normal activities still took place, like trips to the theatre.
Parts of the factory floor were swastika tiles. The swastika originally symbolised well-being, good luck, and peace in various religions. The German Nazi Party adopted the swastika as their official symbol in 1920.
We saw some photos of young boys who joined the Hitler Youth and also a photo of 3 women who were getting married to men who were away, fighting at the front.
In April 1940, Hans Frank ordered the displacement of Jews from Krakow. This was followed in May by an order from Otto Waechter, the governor of Krakow, that only 15,000 Jews could remain. This was from around 70,000 Jews that were present at the time. The remaining 55,000 had to be gone by August of the same year. They were told they could take their belongings with them, but as they couldn’t use transportation, this wasn’t very practical. The Jews had to be issued with a special displacement certificate to allow them to travel on the trains and get out of the city
Helping Jews was punishable by death, and those awaiting execution were posted on a public ‘death list’. This introduced terror and intimidation.
At one point, there was an execution of 10 Jewish men. A german police officer had been found dead, and the jews were blamed. Ten men were selected at random and publicly hung. Jewish men alo had to do the hanging. It later transpired that the police officer had been killed by another German due to the fact he was having an affair with that man’s wife.
Oscar Schindler was arrested on 2 occasions for suspicion of black market activity and once for his interactions with jews, which was banned during the German occupation. He kissed a Jewish girl on the cheek at his birthday party in April 1942. His influential Bazi contacts helped obtain his release on all occasions, although he had to wait around 5 days before he was released.
In March 1941, Otto Waechter ordered all jews living legally in the city to move to the ‘Jewish Residential Quarter’ in Podgorze – this was the Jewish Ghetto. They were given 17 days to move, and they had to leave most of their belongings behind. Whatever was left behind became the property of the Third Reich. The marches to the Ghetto were known as the ‘silent marches’ as nobody spoke to each other.
The original residents of the Jewish Quarter were Christians, and they had to leave their businesses and houses behind – many of them moved into the apartments vacated by the Jews. The original number of inhabitants in the Podgorze area was around 3,000 people, and now around 17,000 Jews were being forced into this area. It was calculated that each jew only required 2m² of living space in the Ghetto. Three Polish establishments remained in the Ghetto, one of them being the Eagle Pharmacy. There were several local Jewish stores in the Ghetto selling the legal rations of food. For Jews this was calculated at around 250-300 calories a day.
In order to be classified as a jew, just one of your grandparents had to be Jewish.
After 21 March 1941, crossing the Ghetto border without a special pass resulted in severe punishment.
In April 1941, bricklayers began to build a wall around the Ghetto. Any windows facing the Aryan side were blocked in.
And from October 1941, any Jews leaving the Ghetto without a pass were killed, and the same fate awaited any Poles who helped them.
In May to June of 1942, an ID check took place in the Ghetto. Anyone who had proof of employment, plus their relatives, had a new stamp put in their pass. The others had to leave the Ghetto. From this time, only those with Blauschein (blue card) could stay in the Ghetto. At this point, around 7,000 Jews were removed from the camp and killed in the gas chambers at Belzec. Only 3,000 Jews from Krakow survived the war.
Another displacement was held in October of 1942. Those who qualified as unfit for work had to gather in the main square. Hospital patients who were unable to walk were shot on the spot. The children from the orphanage were bought to the square by their teachers. The teachers voluntarily stayed with the children, even though they knew they were going to their death. Around 4,500 Jews were transported and killed at Belzec, and around 600 were killed in the square.
Oscar Schindler initially only employed 7 jews. However, Abraham asked him to employ more. Schindler saw this as a way of saving money as hired jews were cheaper than Poles, 5zl compared to 25zl per day. The wages were set by the Nazi regime. Eventually, Schindler employed around 1,000 jews.
The staircase in the photo below was used in the film when a woman comes to ask Schindler for help. Schindler was known to be a drunkard and a womaniser and often drank with the members of the SS. Although Schindler was married, he had affairs and even had 2 children with an old schoolfriend. His son, Oscar Schleger, is still alive today. Schabandoned his wife in 1956.
We also saw the office that was set up for the film – this was not Schindlers actual office, as we visited that too.
Schindler did look after his jewish employees. He fed them 3 meals a day and looked the other way when they snuck food back to their families in the Ghetto. He also had to bribe Nazi officials to keep his workers safe. He often socialised with his employees, too.
Schindler’s employees had to walk to and from the factory every day, which wasn’t too bad. However, in 1943, the Ghetto was liquidated, and those who were still fit for work were sent to the concentration camp at Plaszow. Schindler knew what was going to happen and had his workers stay at the factory overnight so they wouldn’t come to any harm.
The Plaszow concentration camp was built on the site of 2 former Jewish cemeteries.
Amon Goth was the camp commandant. He was a psychopath and took pleasure in randomly shooting inmates, driving into inmates or setting his dogs on them, who had been trained to rip out people’s throats. It is estimated he killed around 400 people himself and was also responsible for another 7,000 deaths. He was known to drink with Schindler. In 1944, Goth was himself arrested for appropriating post-jewish property and violating regulations regarding the treatment of inmates in a concentration camp.
In the summer of 1944, the Germans started to liquidate the camp. The initial aim of the Nazi regime had been to gain land, but as this was slowly being taken away from them, they focused on their second aim of eliminating jews. Around 6-700 inmates were kept at the camp to cover up any traces of crime. Corpses were dug up from mass graves and burnt, their ashes then scattered on nearby fields. In January 1945, the last inmates left the camp and were marched to Auschwitz. Only 440 were left at the end of the march. Three days later, the Red Army reached the camp.
When Plaszow was set up, Goth wanted all factories to relocate inside the camp. However, Schindler managed to bribe the right people and was allowed to build a subcamp at his factory to house his employees, plus another 450 Jews from other nearby factories. These Jews were safe from the threat of random execution, well fed and housed, and were allowed to practice religious rituals.
As Germany started to be defeated and the Red Army drew closer, Germany started to close down its factories, especially those not directly involved in the war effort. Schindler switched his production from enamelware to grenades and ammunition. He persuaded the high-ranking officials to allow him to move his camp to Bruennlitz. He also said that he needed his skilled workers to move with the factory,saving them from certain death in the concentration camps. A list of 1,200 Jews was complied, 1000 of Schindlers employees and 200 employees of a textile factory. They were bound for Bruennlitz, the youngest of these was a 5 year old boy.
The men and women were separated. The men went via a concentration camp Gross-Rosen and arrived within a week. The women went via Auschwitz and spent several harrowing weeks there before they too arrived safely in Bruennlitz.
After the war, Schindler was wanted by the Czech government, but he escaped to Argentina and then later moved to Germany. He died in 1974.
The last room you come to is the room of choices. Good decisions are written on the walls and bad decisions on the pillars.
You come out of the factory still not really understanding Schindler. He was a complex person, originally motivated to employ Jews due to monetary gain, but he then went to great lengths to save their lives.
After the factory, we decided to walk to Zgody Square, now known as Ghetto Hero’s Square. It is here that the Nazis gathered Jewish people before sending them to their deaths in concentration camps. Many people were killed here, too. The lives of all the people whose fate was sealed at this Square is commented by an art instillation of empty chairs.
We also wanted to visit the Eagle Pharmacy at the Square, but it was shut. This was the only pharmacy in the Ghetto and was run by Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who was not a jew. He decided to stay in the Ghetto and help the Jewish people. He would frequently supply free medicines to the Jews and also let them use the pharmacy as a meeting place. He provided old people with hair dye to make them look younger and avoid selection for transportation to the camps. He also provided sedatives for the children to keep them quiet when they were hiding.
We were both ow pretty hungry, so we found a cafe – Green Up – and had a healthy lunch.
We then walked to where the remains of the Ghetto walls can be seen. On the way, we passed a memorial to the children in the Ghetto. This was close to where the original orphanage had been sited and where, in 1942, the children were taken away and sent to Belzec concentration camp to die.
The walls of the old Ghetto look like tombstones.
From here, we decided to head back over the bridge and explore a bit more of the Jewish Quarter.
On the way we passed a funny and strange statue.
We passed by the Old Synagogue again.
And we walked on to the ‘High’ synagouge or Wysoka. This synagogue was built in the 26th century, and its prayer Hall is unusually on the first floor as there used to be shops on the ground floor. Today, it is a bookshop.
Our next stop was Tempel Synagouge. This was built in the 1860s as a progressive synagogue. It is very colourful inside. During the Nazi occupation, the synagouge was used as a horse stable. Unfortunately, when we visited their was significant restoration work going on.
We then passed another synagogue, Kupa Synagogue, but it was shut too. This was the last synagogue built in this area and is now mainly used as a space for conferences, concerts, and exhibits.
We were in touch with the rest of the girls, and they were also in the Jewish Quarter, so we met up with them. They also wanted to see a synagogue, so we made our way to Remuh Synagouge. This is the only synagogue in Krakow where religious services are still held regularly.
On the walls walking down to the synagogue are many plaques commemorating the anniversaries of the death of members of the congregation. There is a light bulb attached to each inscription, and these are lit on the anniversary of the persons death.
The inside of the synagogue was beautiful, very colourful, and ornate.
Outside the synagogue is a graveyard that contains some of the oldest tombs in Poland. It was closed to burials in 1800. After WWII, a row of shallowly buried tombstones were discovered and were then erected to separate the cemetery from the surrounding area and are now known as the ‘Wailing Wall’.
Just close to the graveyard is a statue of Jan Karski. He was a Polish soldier and part of the underground as a resistance fighter. He acted as a courier during WWII and risked his lie to expose the horrors of the Holocaust to the rest of the world.
We walked back through the Jewish Quarter to the Singer cafe/pub.
This time, I tried a hot honey vodka. It was quite tasty, but I preferred the mulled wine. Louise and Gemma joined us too and had a hot chocolate.
And then we decided to head home. On the way, we passed one of the kiosks with geese. These have absolutely no association with krakow or poland, and nobody really knows why they are here.
On the way back to the apartment, we passed a waxwork museum – I met Mr Bean! He didn’t look that good.
In the evening, we headed back to the cocktail bar for a pre-dinner drink. Paul,Louise’s fiance, kindly paid for a round of cocktails for us all. I had a zombie. We played Mr and Mrs with Louise. She did really well as most of her answers were the same as Paul’s
And for dinner, we went back to Morskie Oko. This time, I had the beef goulash with potato cakes, and it was delicious.
We had live entertainment with a traditional band, which created a nice atmosphere.
On the way home, we stopped off at Magnateria again. This time, I had a smoked dictator old fashioned, which was a 12 year rum, and it was served in its own little box, and the waiter set it alight and created smoke. It tasted really good.
And then it was back home to bed.
In the morning, Faye and I got up fairly early, finished packing, and headed off to the airport. I bought some chocolate vodka at the duty free, and it wasn’t long before we arrived back at Heathrow.