Jewish Ghetto in the Podgórze District

It is an area in the Podgórze District, where the Kraków Ghetto to which all of the Cracow's Jews (nearly 46.000 people) were moved during World War II was created. The district was surrounded with the barbed wire fence, which was to be later replaced by a high wall in the shape of Jewish tombstones to symbolize the life the people within that wall were doomed to live: the life of slaves. Parts of that wall have lasted until today, e.g. on Lwowska Street, where a commemorative plaque was placed. There were four entrances to the ghetto: on Zgody Square (today it is Bohaterów Getta Square), on Lwowska Street, on Limanowskiego Street, and on the border between Limanowskiego Street and Podgórski Square (Rynek Podgórski). The Ghetto gates were heavily guarded and the windows overlooking the "Aryan" side were bricked up. On October 15, 1941, the district was officially made a closed one. Entering it without a special pass was punished by death.

Oscar Schindler's Factory

In the same district Oskar Schindler's Factory was located. Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist, who saved about 1100 people from Holocaust during World War II. Today the former factory is a museum, which is to present the history of the Factory of Lipowa Street in a wider historical context and to allow the visitors to learn about Cracow's past. The exposition is divided into segments devoted to different themes: Cracow and its inhabitants between the Wars, the War of 1939, the role of Cracow in the General Government, everyday and family life, the lot of Cracow's Jews - the creation of the Ghetto in Podgórze, Polish Underground State (Polskie Państwo Podziemne) and resistance, the history of the Factory, its workers and its owner - Oskar Schindler.