As Jewish people were forced out of land in the West, Poland and particularly Krakow became a place of refuge. The king of Poland realized that Jewish citizens were valuable because they paid taxes but were refused government assistance, such as healthcare or police protection.
After a fire burnt down the largest market in Krakow, which was also the largest market in Europe at the time, Christians started rumors that their Jewish neighbors were at fault. This is primarily because the Jewish businesses in the market sold higher quality goods at a lower cost, and their differences in language and religion made them an easy target.
After massive problems with discrimination and violence against the Jewish people, the Polish king decided not to fight the Christian majority and the Catholic Church and move the Jewish people into a separate neighborhood, called Kazimierz. This is the neighborhood I had the privilege to tour this summer. Here are some of the highlights:
Gravesites
During WWII, the Nazis made this graveyard into a dumpsite. When the waste was cleared away after the war, it was discovered that this graveyard has three levels of graves due to how limited space was in Kazimierz.
The stones marking gravesites located here were destroyed by the Nazis, so it is still unknown who is buried here.
Scenes from Schindler‘s List
These are the locations from two scenes in the movie Schindler’s List. Schindler was a high ranking Nazi who spent his fortune to save the lives of over 1,000 Jewish people. His factory only produced malfunctioning weapons for the army, and he is regarded as a hero by our tour guide. It is possible to visit Shindler’s factory nearby, which has been converted to a Krakow history museum.
Synagogues
The oldest synagogue in the ghetto was reconstructed five times. It was spared by Nazis in WWII to build a museum about Jewish people after they won the war. They intended to write their own history after the genocide.
Of the original synagogues that operated in Krakow, this is the only one still active. 6 other synagogues in the city serve as museums.
Memorial
This area is where selected rounds of Jewish people would stand all day, waiting for a “physical examination” by a Nazi before being sent to Auschwitz or medical experimentation. Community members would bring wooden chairs with them so they would be able to sit while waiting from 5am until late in the evening. When everyone was loaded on trains to death camps, their light luggage was abandoned alongside the chairs, never to be seen again.
This tour was heartbreaking, but also eye opening. Poland had a larger role in the horrors of the holocaust than I had realized, and this city is rich with stories and evidence of the injustices that took place during WWII.
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