Schindler's List Sites Krakow Poland

 

This post lists some sites in Krakow Poland associated with Oskar Schindler and the film, Schindler's List. 

The links take you to posts about the different sites.

Krakow Ghetto

Scenes from the Ghetto including the pharmacy

Krakow Ghetto

Oskar Schindler Factory Museum

The site of the factory and Oskar's desk

Oskar Schindler

Plaszow Concentration Camp

The remains of the camp, the commander's office, and his house

Plaszow Camp Model

RELATED POSTS

Schindler's List -  About The film

A review of the film

Street Scene site from 
Schindler's List

Nazi Trail of Terror

An extensive index of many sites with text and photos

Auschwitz II-Birkenau

Plaszow Concentration Camp, Poland

The Plaszow concentration camp was a Nazi concentration camp located in the southern suburb of Kraków, Poland.

The camp was established in October 1942 on the grounds of two former Jewish cemeteries.

Initially intended as a forced labor camp, it later became a concentration camp.

Most of the prisoners were Polish Jews, but it also held prisoners from other ghettos and camps. The camp was notorious for its harsh conditions, forced labor, and executions. Mass murder was carried out by shootings, as there were no gas chambers or crematoria.

The camp had two main commanders. Amon Götth was the first commandant, known for his sadistic treatment of prisoners. He was executed by hanging in September 1946. The second commandant, Arnold Büscher, took over in September 1944.

Grey House, Camp Office

Amon Götth Villa near the camp

The Plaszow concentration camp was progressively dismantled starting in the fall of 1944. The Nazis began deporting many prisoners to Auschwitz and other concentration camps, burning exhumed bodies, and destroying installations to erase evidence of the camp's existence. The final group of prisoners left on January 14, 1945, and the Red Army liberated the area on January 20, 1945. After the war, the site was further devastated by the Soviet Army and became publicly accessible, leading to continued destruction.

Today, the site of the former Plaszow concentration camp is a memorial and museum dedicated to the memory of the victims. The KL Plaszow Museum includes an open-air exhibition called "KL Plaszow. A Site After, A Site Without," which features 14 media installations with materials in Polish, English, and Hebrew. The exhibition is accessible 24 hours a day and is free of charge.

The museum also includes the Grey House, which served as the administration building of the cemetery used by the Jewish religious community in Kraków. Additionally, there is a new memorial building under construction on Kamieńskiego Street, which will host a permanent exhibition and serve as a central point for commemoration.


Schindler Connection

Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party, initially employed Jewish workers from the Kraków Ghetto in his enamelware factory. When the ghetto was liquidated in March 1943, many of these workers were sent to the Plaszow camp, which was under the command of the brutal Amon Göth.

Schindler managed to establish a subcamp of Plaszow at his factory, providing better conditions for his workers. He used his connections and bribes to protect them from deportation to extermination camps. Eventually, Schindler relocated his factory to Brněnec (Brünnlitz) in Czechoslovakia, saving around 1,200 Jews from certain death.

Related sites

Oskar Schindler Factory Krakow

Krakow Ghetto

Index to Nazi Trail of Terror in Europe

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Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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'Euthanasia' Murders Memorial in Berlin Germany

 

The Nazi euthanasia program, known as Aktion T4, was a campaign of mass murder targeting individuals deemed "unworthy of life" due to physical or mental disabilities. Initiated by Adolf Hitler in 1939, the program aimed to eliminate those considered a burden on society and the economy.

The program involved the systematic killing of patients in psychiatric hospitals, care homes, and other institutions across Germany and occupied territories. Physicians were authorized to select patients for "mercy deaths" based on their medical conditions. The methods used included lethal injections, gas chambers disguised as showers, and starvation.

Although officially discontinued in 1941 due to public protests, the killings continued covertly until the end of World War II in 1945. It is estimated that between 275,000 and 300,000 people were murdered under this program.

For more information about the Nazi genocide, see the additional sites at the link below.

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

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Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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Google Map to the Memorial

Gleis 17 Memorial Berlin Germany

 

The Gleis 17 Memorial in Berlin is a poignant tribute to the Jews deported from Berlin during the Holocaust. Located at the Grunewald train station, it marks the spot where 186 deportation trains departed between 1941 and 1945, transporting over 50,000 Jewish Berliners to ghettos and extermination camps like Auschwitz and Theresienstadt.

Along the tracks are plaques documenting the deportations.

The trees at the ends of the railway remind us that deportations won't happen again.

The Gleis 17 Memorial was officially opened on January 27, 1998.

For more information, see the additional sites at the link below.

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

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Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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Google Map to the Gleis 17 Memorial in Berlin

Roma & Sinti Memorial Berlin

 

Roma Sinti Memorial, Berlin Germany

A series of storyboards form a wall on the outside of the memorial. The panels are organised by year. I have cropped the images to reveal only the English text.

1933

1935

1936

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944 & 1945

For more information, see the additional sites at the link below.

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

---

Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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The names of the Nazi camps where the Roma and Sinti were sent are etched in stones surrounding the memorial pond. Two examples below.

Google Map to the Memorial

Oskar Schindler Factory Museum Krakow Poland

 

The Oskar Schindler Factory in Kraków, Poland, now hosts two museums: the Museum of Contemporary Art and a branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków. The museum offers a permanent exhibition titled "Kraków under Nazi Occupation 1939–1945," which provides a detailed account of the city's history during World War II1. The factory is also known for its role in the film Schindler's List.

Oskar Schindler's factory was originally called Oskar Schindler's Deutsche Email-warenfabrik (DEF). It was later known as Fabryka Emalia Oskara Schindlera in Polish.

The museum at Oskar Schindler's Factory houses a variety of items from the original factory, including:

• Enamelware items made by the factory's workers
• Personal items such as Oskar Schindler's typewriter, furniture, and desk
• Portraits of Schindler factory employees
• Memorial displays with the names of the people saved by Schindler

Oskar Schindler's factory had a significant connection to the nearby Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. Schindler used his factory to shelter around 1,000 Jews in relatively better conditions compared to the camp. He also convinced the camp's commandant, Amon Göth, to allow him to move his factory in October 1944 to Brněnec/Brünnlitz in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, thus saving his workers from almost certain death in the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

[Link to Schindler's List Film Summary]

The Nazis entered Kraków on September 6, 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland began on September 1, 1939. Kraków was one of the first major cities to fall under Nazi control during World War II. The factory is now a museum, which tells the story of Poland under Nazi occupation.

We begin the tour with a variety of stereoscopic images. Arrows point the way through various exhibits displaying photographs, narratives on story boards, as well as small and large objects from the occupation.

The images related to Schindler (e.g., desk) are found along the tour.

LINK TO -->> THE NAZI TRAIL OF TERROR

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Geoffrey W. Sutton has a PhD in psychology and writes about psychology and culture.

Website: https://www.suttong.com/

Amazon Author: https://author.amazon.com/home

ResearchGate page: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Geoffrey-Sutton-2

Academia Page: https://evangel.academia.edu/GeoffSutton

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Books

Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind The List by David M. Crowe provides a comprehensive and thoroughly researched account of Schindler's life and actions during the Holocaust. ON AMAZON

Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally inspired the film Schindler's List. ON AMAZON

Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally - This novel, based on true events, tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved over 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust by employing them in his factory  ON AMAZON

The Film

Schindler's List   on AMAZON