During World War II Krakow was the headquarters of the Nazi General Government. The Nazis decided that they would not live side by side with Jews, let alone share streets or whole apartments with them. For this reason the Krakow ghetto was established by hitlerite occupational authorities in the district of Podgórze in 1941. It was created for the Jewish population and it was one of the 5 biggest ghettos established in the territory of the General Government during World War II. The pre-war Jewish population in Krakow counted from 60 to 80 thousand people. 17 thousand of them were supposed to move to the ghetto. Its area was relatively small, around 20 hectares. It enclosed 15 streets (or parts of them) with 320 houses. The district was initially fenced off with barbed wire. Later a high wall was erected around the area. The top of the wall was ornamented with semicircles resembling matzevas, Jewish tombstones. Nowadays a fragment of the wall remains extant in ul. Lwowska (Lwowska St.). A commemorative plaque is attached to the wall.

 

There were 4 gates leading to the ghetto. All were guarded by the Nazi military police and Polish Navy-Blue Police. Windows looking out to the "arian" part of the city were walled up. Jews living in the ghetto had to cope with severe overcrowding. 17 thousand people were squashed in the area where 3,5 thousand people had lived.

 

Crossing the ghetto boundaries without a permit was punished by death. Both, Jews who tried to escape from the ghetto and Poles who helped them risked their lives. Tadeusz Pankiewicz was one of those who helped the Jewish population. He was a pharmacist and the only Pole who didn't leave the district when the ghetto was established. He ran a pharmacy there before the war and during the years of the ghetto’s existence. The pharmacy was called "Apteka Pod Orłem" (Pharmacy Under the Eagle). Jews who were in danger could always find a rescue there. During the Second World War, Tadeusz Pankiewicz was the only non-Jew who voluntarily stayed in the ghetto. In recognition for his actions, Jad Vashem awarded the pharmacist the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations". Nowadays there is an exhibition in the pharmacy that presents the person of Tadeusz Pankiewicz and history of the ghetto.

 

The ghetto existed 2 years, until 1943. During that time massive resettlement actions were carried out with the purpose of removing those unfit for work and deporting them to concentration camps. The ghetto was liquidated on 13 and 14 March 1943. Only the fittest among those deported to the Płaszów labour camp survived. The camp was created by German authorities 3 kilometres south of the ghetto. Two Jewish cemeteries were destroyed for that purpose. Part of the camp was situated in that area and matzevas coming from the ruined tombs were used to build roads and served as wall bases for the barracks. It is estimated that around 150 thousand people worked in the camp, and they were later deported to concentration camps. Around 10 thousand inmates were killed in the Płaszów camp. Virtually nothing remained from the camp. All documents and evidence of crime were destroyed by the Nazis before the end of the war. Very few buildings remain extant. Amon Goeth's, the camp commandant's house is one of them. He and the history of the Płaszów camp, as well as the Krakow ghetto are featured in a well-known film by Steven Spielberg, "The Schindler's List" that was made in Krakow. When visiting the Jewish district, the ghetto, or the former labour camp, one can recognize places and particular scenes that were shot in those locations.