The Jewish Quarter
The Old Town, including the Jewish Quarter, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Oh yes, we are adding them to our list on this trip.
The Krakow Ghetto
Approximately 65,000 Jews lived in Krakow before World War II. The traditional Jewish section of Krakow was Kazimierz. The Germans made thousands of families move out of Kazimierz, with all their belongings, to a southern suburb of Krakow. By March of 1943, the prisoners had to again move their possessions to the town square. Then they were sent to a death camp or shot there in the Krakow ghetto. No manner of cruelty was spared for these people.
This is part of the old ghetto wall that the Nazis built during the war. The wall is ominous and terrifying. It is made to look like tombstones to further terrorize the people imprisoned there. Also, all windows facing the town were boarded up to increase feelings of isolation.
The plaque on the wall reads:
Heroes’ Ghetto
“Here they lived, suffered, and perished at the hands of Hitler’s henchmen. From here they made their last journey: the extermination camps. Fragment of the wall from the Jewish ghetto. 1941-1943.”
Translation by Alex.
As I stood there, I began to notice that there was a person standing at a window looking at us. Now when I think about it, I realize that they were watching me. They were watching my reaction to the wall; my feelings of horror.
Heroes’ Ghetto Square
This is the Umschlagplatz in Krakow, Poland. Jews had to congregate here for deportation.
These chairs all face in the direction of Auschwitz. The chairs symbolize all of the furniture that the Jews left behind when sent off to the death camps. This furniture rotted in the center of the square.
A chair is an inanimate object. The people and the furniture were all “thrown away” as if they were both things; a person and a piece of furniture.
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