Karolina's Kraków: Podgórze

Across the Father Bernatek Footbridge that spans the Vistula River is Podgórze, the part of the city where the Kraków Ghetto was located. All Jewish people in Kraków and the surrounding countryside had to move to the Ghetto in March 1941.

 This is the only remaining section of the wall that surrounded the Ghetto. As you can see, the wall is very tall and would have been difficult to climb. It was almost impossible for a Jewish person to leave the Ghetto, and if they were caught on the "Aryan" side without permission, they would be killed. Life inside the Ghetto was extremely difficult. Only 3,000 people had lived in the area prior to the Nazi occupation. Suddenly, 20,000 had to. There was not enough food, clothing or medicine. Children were especially vulnerable to the harsh conditions. 

This is how the main entrance to the Ghetto looked in 1941. The Jewish men surrounding the police officers in the photo traveled outside the walls in order to do manual labor for the Germans. They were not paid and subject to brutal treatment.

 In March 1943, all Jewish residents of Kraków who had not already been deported to the Bełżec death camp were enslaved at the Płaszów labor camp or sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau to be murdered. They are memorized here at the Ghetto Heroes Square, which was once the very heart of the Ghetto.