Krakow's Jewish Quarter and Ghetto

On our last day in Krakow, we went to the main square and found a tour guide to take us in a large, golf cart around the city to see sites related to WWII and Wawel Castle. Our guide's name was Paul. He was born and raised in Krakow and was an engineering student at the university in Krakow. Giving tours was his summer job. He was the sweetest thing and was so knowledgeable about Krakow. It was wonderful because he spoke perfect English and also had a grandfather who survived Auschwitz. His grandfather was about 85 years old, still alive and rode his bike everyday. If we would have had more time, I would have loved to have met him. Paul's grandfather was not Jewish. He was sent to Auschwitz because his grandfather's father was caught helping and hiding Jews. Paul told us the Nazis did not send his great-grandfather to Auschwitz for hiding Jews, but his entire family instead. Just one more way to emotionally terrorize and control people. He said his grandfather was a survivor because he was sent so close to the end of the war. It was such an interesting story! We were hoping to find stories like that one.
Paul took us to see the synagogues and told us the Jewish Quarter was the center of culture for Krakow. He said it was the best place to eat and enjoy an evening in Krakow because the prices were so reasonable and all the young people in the city come during the evenings to enjoy music, food, and drink. He showed us where the gate was erected at one time to control Jews going in and out of the Ghetto. He took us deep into the Ghetto and showed us where Schindler's Jews would travel back and forth through a tunnel to work in the factory that saved their lives. I will post more about Schindler's Factory in my next post. It is time for me to head off to bed because we have to catch an EARLY bus to Munich in the morning!

Jewish synagogue gate

Famous car in Poland. They have a contest every year to see how many adults they can stuff into it. 16 is the record.

Interesting...Paul told us the bottom floor is a bank and the second floor is a house of prostitution.

Jewish restaurant that practices Kosher

Beauty and make-up heiress Helena Rubinstein was born in this building

Jewish synagogue

St. Joseph's Church was used by the Nazis to store ammunition and weapons during the war

Memorial to Krakow Jews. The chairs symbolize and the belongings left behind when Jews boarded the trains. This was a gestapo headquarter and processing station when the Jews boarded the train.

Memorial and train station where the Krakow Jews boarded the train to go to Auschwitz. Paul told us many public executions were held here.

These small chairs represent the children

Deep into the Jewish Ghetto. Katie and I saw bullet holes in the walls.

Ghetto wall erected by the Nazis to separate the Jews from the Poles. If the Poles were caught throwing food over the wall, the sentence was death right on the spot. Notice the top of the wall. The Nazis purposefully made it look like headstones to remind the Jews of what would happen to them if they did not cooperate.

The streets have been black topped in the Ghetto, but every now and then, you can see the original street peeking through.

This is the pharmacy of Tadeusz Pankiewicz. He was a Polish Catholic pharmacist and refused the Nazis offer to relocate out of the ghetto. He was a hero. This pharmacy is directly across from the "chairs memorial." This pharmacist risked his life to save many Jews in the Ghetto by hiding them from deportation and giving them life-saving medicines to keep them alive because disease was rampant within the ghetto. He would also give mother's tranquilizer to give to their children so their children would sleep during Nazis raids and not be scared.

Jewish Ghetto

Ghetto building