Day 4 - The Jewish Quarter and Schindler's Factory

I woke up to a cold and rainy day. The temperature had really dropped. This was the forecast, so I have been incredibly lucky to have had blue skies.

After breakfast, I left the hotel to meet my guide for today, Tomasz. I found Tomasz on AirBnB - which is an excellent place to find local people offering all manner of experiences - bike rides, running groups, photo shoots, local food - you name it! Tomasz was offering a 3 hour tour of the Jewish area of Krakow and a guided tour of the Schindler Factory Museum. We met at an agreed spot at 10am. I was the only one on the tour, which was amazing.

We started with a coffee and Tomasz showing me a map of the area and giving me a brief history of the Polish Jews. Poland was ‘removed’ from Europe at the end of the 18th century. It was divided into Russia to the east, Prussia to the west and Austria to the south. Actually, it was more like a Mercedes sign with Austria being the bottom segment of the three. Lots of Jewish communities ended up under Russian rule, where they were not treated well and often lived very poor lives. They started to leave those areas and head for more urban centres like Krakow, and they settled in an area called Kazimierz (where my tour was). It was a separate town from Krakow for a long time.

The Austrians were open-minded about the Jewish communities and allowed them to freely choose where they lived. At the time a wall was built around the Jewish area, but the Jews quickly built synagogues on land that was outside of those walls and co-existed peacefully with the catholic population.

We walked around the area, with Tomasz pointing out the various synagogues and buildings and talking about how Jewish culture is now being retaught to Polish children. When the Jews were moved into the ghetto during WW2, those that escaped were often small children (smuggled out by helpful non-Jews) and were given new names and baptism certificates so many of those children would not even be aware that they were Jewish. To be considered Jewish, one has to have a Jewish mother. When the Jewish communities started to mix with the other cultures, they married outside of the faith and so fewer practising Jews live in the area now. Kazimierz fell into disrepair after the Second World War and was a slum for many years. However, it is now enjoying a period of regeneration, and there are lots of new bars and restaurants popping up.

It is estimated that there are now only 120 practising Jews in Krakow.

We walked past the older and newer synagogues and onto a small cobbled street with some beautiful houses. One of them, now a restaurant downstairs, was the birthplace of Helena (Elena) Rubenstein - of cosmetics fame.

The chairs are the an art installation that commemorate the site of the original Jewish quarter where all that was left of the Jews was their furniture

Our tour of the area ended with a tour to Schindler’s Factory - made famous by the Steven Spielberg film ‘Schindler’s List’. I have only seen part of the film once - it is a very disturbing film - but I will try again now! Tomasz showed me some of the locations where filming took place, which you might recognise.

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories in occupied Poland. He was sent to Poland by the Nazis to run a factory as he was very well connected and a good businessman. Actually, he had a change of heart (even he knows not why) and told the Nazis that he needed to employ the Jews for work.

Plaszow was a Nazi concentration camp operated by the Nazi Party in the south of Krakow, where most of the prisoners were Polish Jews. This is rather unheard of camp because it no longer survives and was not set up as an extermination camp primarily. It was constructed on the site of a former Jewish cemetery. The function of the camp was forced labour. Schindler somehow convinced the Nazi leaders that he should relocate his factory near to the camp for better labour selection. He had a list of 1,200 Jewish prisoners that he selected to work in the new factory. Schindler literally made up figures to justify the size of the factory. In fact, he only had jobs for around 400 members of staff, but he managed to somehow get away with employing far more. This meant that those on the list were saved when the camp was liberated. Worker accounts say he was a kind ‘boss’ and did not treat any of the prisoners badly.

It was great having my own guide in the museum because there was a lot of material, so Tomasz picked out the more pertinent parts to give me a whistle-stop tour of WW2 and beyond. They had a lot of Nazi propaganda films that still survive and they showed how the Germans convinced the Polish that they would be far better off under German occupation. I could not help but draw parallels with the Russian army tactics that are happening right now. There were posters showing how the Jewish people would attack their daughters and so should be destroyed at all costs. We saw Schindler’s original office. The museum was very well thought out with attention to how one feels, smells and walks through it. I loved it. The poster below was often placed in the square and on trams. It would name and shame those that went against German laws and why they were executed. This was a deterrent to any Poles thinking about revolt.

The former Hollywood movie studios are still on the site at the back of the original factory and now house a modern art collection, meaning that younger people are on-site and are drawn into the history of the war and pre-war. When I left the Auschwitz tour, the story of Poland kind of ended as you are told, and ‘then the camp was liberated. The End’ Actually, that was by far the end for the Polish as they were then subjected to communism and had a ruler in the form of Stalin. This did not end until 1989 (which sounds very recent to me) with the first free elections since the 1920s. I know we moan about politics in the UK - but imagine having no choice at all? I have to say, I am a bit lost with the political history now and I wish I had recorded some of it, but Tomasz did well to make me understand how much Poland has been through.

We had a nice walk back to the starting point of the tour, where we talked about our families and COVID and the war in Ukraine. He has two families living with him at a time that are refugees. They are usually short term whilst they get on their feet and just need help to relocate to other areas. He said that they get no financial support for this, but he says that the Polish people understand struggle and that makes them compassionate to the Ukrainians and what they are going through. He also said that he has some families coming to them that are on their way back to Ukraine as they do not want to be refugees. That’s scary isn’t it?

I found Tomasz to be very interesting and passionate about his subject. He gave me some ideas of places to eat too!

Whilst walking back to the hotel I remembered that I should really visit St Mary’s Tower. The Tower has been my landmark since Wednesday - it is at the top of the road where my hotel is, and given it’s height I have been able to navigate myself using it. So I went to the ticket office and bought a ticket to the basilica and the tower. It was beautiful inside - in that OTT church kind of way. I didn’t spend long there, and when I came out I got ready for the bugle call.

The bugle call is played every hour, on the hour, from the north, east, west and south high up in the tower. It was originally at the start and end of the day to signal the opening and closing of the city gates. It was also used to signal danger. Apparently, one fateful time that this was used, the poor bulge player was shot in the neck meaning he didn’t get to the end of the melody. So now it breaks mid-note to commemorate this. Having watched and heard the bugle call, I started my ascent to the top of the tower. It was a fair old climb, but I had some wonderful views of the square from the top, and the road that I have walked down and up many times this week.

‘My Street’ - the square to Florian Gate

After a nice long rest, I went back to the Jewish Quarter for dinner. Tomasz had spoken to me about zapiekanka, essentially Polish pizza which you can buy from Plac Nowy - you can only buy it at night, when the square comes alive! So I went back. The square is quite small, and has a round building in the middle which was an abattoir when the Jews lived here, it then became a butchers and now is the place to get that Polish Pizza. It didn’t disappoint! Delicious.

I took a nice walk back on the more major streets, the place is alive with groups of friends and families just walking around.

It is my last night tonight - I have really loved it here. So so much. What a special place.