Today started with a walking tour around Krakow. From our hotel, we walked to Schindler’s Factory. We spoke about the Jews he saved as well as his questionable motivations. We spoke about what it took to become a Righteous Among the Nations and its benefits. We also discussed the difference between Schindler in real life, and in the movie “Schindler’s List.”
From there, we walked to the main market square within the ghetto which was connected to the train station. On the square, there was a memorial made up of empty chairs. These were meant to represent all of the Jews of Krakow who died as a result of the war. On the corner of the square is a pharmacy. This pharmacy was run by Tadeusz Pankiewicz, a gentile. After the neighborhood was turned into a ghetto, he chose to stay and help the Jews. He often gave medicine away for free, his pharmacy was used as a base for resistance, and he helped smuggle people out of the ghetto. He was honored by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.
Then, we walked to the old Jewish quarter of Krakow. It’s called Kazimierz after the Polish king who allowed them to live there. We saw one of the oldest synagogues in Europe, which was built into the ground because synagogues weren’t allowed to be taller than churches. We saw another synagogue that was beautiful inside, and that had some stained glass windows donated by the ancestors of some people on the trip with us. When we had walked into the synagogue, there were people singing Adon Olam. It was really cool to walk into a synagogue in a foreign country and understand what they were doing.
Next, we headed to Krakow’s JCC. We had lunch there and several people spoke. First, the Chief Rabbi of Poland spoke about people discovering they were Jewish. Then, we got the chance to hear from another survivor about her experiences and why she never left Poland. Lastly, a teacher spoke about teaching the Holocaust in Poland. As you may have heard, the Polish government recently to try to make it illegal to acknowledge the role of Poles as perpetrators. It was interesting to hear about how a teacher taught the Holocaust despite this.
After lunch, there was an optional walking tour. We climbed the hill to Wawel complex, which consists of a castle, cathedral, and several other buildings. We walked through the Wawel cathedral (Basilica of St Stanisław and St Wacław) which had gifts from several popes, as well as sarcophagi for the kings of Poland. From there, we went to see the castle. We could not go inside because of how long it would take, but we went into the courtyard and talked about the castle’s restoration. We then walked to one of the oldest colleges in Poland and walked through it. Then we walked to the main square and got a chance to shop before the bus picked us up.
For dinner, we went into the Jewish quarter, where we had ‘Jewish style’ food.
Emma Stewart is a student at Winchester Thurston School.