Kazimierz, and the courtyard on Józefa 12 (D-6) should be the start of any Schindler/Keneally/Spielberg inspired tour, and this is where numerous scenes in Spielberg’s film were shot.
On March 21, 1941, the entire Jewish population residing in Kazimierz was marched across the Powstanców Śląskich bridge and crammed into what was to become known as the Podgórze Ghetto. Traces of the Ghetto still exist, including a stretch of the wall built by the Nazis and ironically resembling Jewish gravestones on ul. Lwowska (K-4). At the end of the street, head up the path on the corner of ulica Limanowskiego and ulica Rekawka to reach the Austro-Hungarian fort, around the back of which is the plaque in memory of the little girl who inspired Oskar Schindler to acts of altruistic courage.
When the ghetto was liquidated on March 14, 1943, most of the Jewish residents faced death either in the gas chambers of Birkenau, or in the nearby work quarries in Płaszów and Liban (J/K-5); now abandoned, both sites can be visited by the curious and intrepid. Few traces remain of the Płaszów camp, aside from some rusting fences and mineshafts nowadays filled with litter and the occasional rambling vagrant. The lonely dipping grass plains are well worth a visit and dominated by a huge monument raised in 1964.
Today the Pharmacy Under the Eagle (J-4, Pl. Bohaterów Getta 18) pays testament to the victims of the Holocaust in a small museum, but the Schindler’s Factory Museum (K-4, Lipowa 4) is the first to properly confront and explore Kraków's World War II history.
On March 21, 1941, the entire Jewish population residing in Kazimierz was marched across the Powstanców Śląskich bridge and crammed into what was to become known as the Podgórze Ghetto. Traces of the Ghetto still exist, including a stretch of the wall built by the Nazis and ironically resembling Jewish gravestones on ul. Lwowska (K-4). At the end of the street, head up the path on the corner of ulica Limanowskiego and ulica Rekawka to reach the Austro-Hungarian fort, around the back of which is the plaque in memory of the little girl who inspired Oskar Schindler to acts of altruistic courage.
When the ghetto was liquidated on March 14, 1943, most of the Jewish residents faced death either in the gas chambers of Birkenau, or in the nearby work quarries in Płaszów and Liban (J/K-5); now abandoned, both sites can be visited by the curious and intrepid. Few traces remain of the Płaszów camp, aside from some rusting fences and mineshafts nowadays filled with litter and the occasional rambling vagrant. The lonely dipping grass plains are well worth a visit and dominated by a huge monument raised in 1964.
Today the Pharmacy Under the Eagle (J-4, Pl. Bohaterów Getta 18) pays testament to the victims of the Holocaust in a small museum, but the Schindler’s Factory Museum (K-4, Lipowa 4) is the first to properly confront and explore Kraków's World War II history.
