Before World War II 80 percent of the world’s Jews lived in Poland, but since that time a lot has changed. Our apartment in Krakow happens to be in the Jewish Quarter, which is called Kazimierz. The neighborhood is full of Jewish cemeteries, synagogues, and food; although today only a few hundred Polish Jews remain. In 1495 the king forced all of Krakow’s Jews to locate to this neighborhood. Located right next to Krakow’s Old Town, the Kazimierz was its own community with a Town Hall, market square and city wall. The cities merged again in the 19th century and the Jewish community flourished. At the start of World War II, the Jews made up a quarter of Krakow’s population, but when the Nazis arrived they were rounded up and forced to live in a walled ghetto called Podgorze. This scene was being repeated all over Europe and from these ghettos they boarded trains for the death camps or were worked to death before ever leaving. Schindler’s factory is one of the structures in this ghetto and is slated to open later this year as a museum. If you recall from the movie, Oscar Schindler rented this building during the war and employed Jews that otherwise faced the prospect of heading off to the death camps. In the center of the old ghetto is Heroes Square. Today it’s decorated with several empty metal chairs, remembering the many Jews waiting to head off to the concentration camps.
Cole and I at one of the nearby synagogues, wearing the required kippah.
Here's a playground we found near a small section of the ghetto wall that's still standing.
