Kraków is a city of cobblestones, music, history, and life. But beneath all that beauty lies something much deeper—a layer of memory that never fades. This Polish city witnessed some of the worst horrors of the Holocaust during World War II. Today, it stands as a living reminder of resilience, suffering, and the urgent need to remember.
I came here hoping to connect with all those stories I had read in books or seen in films. But nothing prepared me for what it meant to walk through Kazimierz and the Kraków Ghetto. There is a before and after to experiencing this place. And this is my story.
Kazimierz: Where Jews and Catholics Lived Together
My journey began in Kazimierz, the old Jewish district of Kraków. Historically, it was home to Jewish communities who had been invited by King Casimir III. For centuries, Jews and Catholics coexisted here in relative peace.
That all changed when the Nazis arrived.
In Plac Nowy, I visited memorials and monuments. One of the most powerful stories I heard was about Dean Karov, a non-Jewish Pole who infiltrated Nazi camps and ghettos, documented atrocities, and helped many Jews. He survived the war and left behind a legacy of bravery—yet remains largely unknown to the public.
Walking these streets with that history in mind felt surreal. I couldn’t stop imagining the lives that once filled this neighborhood.
Crossing Into the Kraków Ghetto
Crossing the Vistula River into Podgórze, the district where the Kraków Ghetto was established in 1941, something shifted in the atmosphere. During my guided tour the night before, I had heard many chilling details. Now, they were all around me.
The Nazis chose Podgórze for its strategic location: isolated by the river, economically poor, and easy to cut off from the rest of the city.
Jewish residents were forced to build the ghetto wall themselves. The tops of the wall were shaped like tombstones, a cruel and symbolic warning of what was coming.
What impacted me most: many buildings in the ghetto remain exactly as they were 80 years ago. Kraków was not bombed like Warsaw, so what you see is real—not reconstructed, not imagined.
The Chairs of Ghetto Heroes Square
One of the most emotional sites was Plac Bohaterów Getta—the Ghetto Heroes Square—filled with 70 empty bronze chairs, each representing 1,000 Jews murdered.
Each chair faces a different direction:
- Some face toward Auschwitz, symbolizing deportation and death.
- Others face Schindler’s Factory, representing those who were saved.
- Smaller chairs represent the children who survived.
Standing in the middle of the square, I began to connect everything:
- One building had been the Gestapo headquarters, where decisions about life and death were made.
- Across the plaza was the headquarters of the Jewish resistance, hiding in the last place the Nazis would look—right in front of them.
- And just steps away, a pharmacy turned museum, where two Polish pharmacists hid and saved Jewish lives, risking everything—true local heroes, just like Oskar Schindler.
The Cold, the Hunger, the Cruelty
Our guide explained how cold was used as a weapon. Temperatures dropped to -30°C. Many Jews died from freezing.
They were given only 25 grams of food per day—sometimes covered in pork fat, knowing it violated their faith. This wasn’t just hunger. It was calculated psychological torture.
I passed by a house left exactly as it was the day the Nazis evicted its Jewish owners. Doors sealed, windows shattered. It looked frozen in time. I stood there imagining what they felt—and it broke me.
Why Kraków’s Ghetto Feels So Raw
Unlike Warsaw, Kraków’s ghetto was never rebuilt. It survived intact because the Nazis abandoned it before the war ended—so the original buildings, walls, and streets remain.
You can still see where the ghetto wall stood. Its tombstone-shaped edges weren’t accidental. This was psychological warfare.
Even today, Podgórze is a modest, quiet neighborhood—few cafés, no tourist buzz. It carries the weight of what happened, still.
Final Reflection: History You Can Feel
Visiting Kraków’s ghetto is not like reading about it in a book. It’s not like a museum—it’s real.
You walk the same streets. See the same walls. Stand in the same squares.
Even while editing my video later, I found myself overwhelmed.
This wasn’t just a day in Poland.
It was a moment of truth. A confrontation with humanity’s darkest side—and its bravest too.
Historical Context & Visitor Info
What was the Kraków Ghetto?
- Created in 1941 in Podgórze, south of the Vistula River.
- Over 15,000 Jews were confined in an area meant for 3,000.
- In 1943, the ghetto was liquidated. Most were sent to Auschwitz or Płaszów camps.
- Today, you can still see:
- Fragments of the original wall
- Ghetto Heroes Square (Plac Bohaterów Getta)
- Schindler’s Factory Museum
- Pharmacy Under the Eagle (Apteka Pod Orłem)
How to visit:
- Start in Kazimierz, then cross the Pilsudski Bridge to Podgórze.
- Join a guided walking tour to understand what you’re seeing.
- In winter, wear warm clothes: the cold is part of the story—and the experience.
One Last Wish
I truly hope that all the good left in this world can someday bury all the evil that remains.
Even if the bad makes more noise, I believe that memory, empathy, and education are stronger.
May Kraków keep teaching us.
And may we keep walking—carrying the stories of those who can no longer walk with us.