Square to commemorate Ghetto Heroes
On Monday 13th we had a relaxing day as we had planned a busy day on the Tuesday.
14th April and we arrived in the market square at 9.45 to begin our walking tour of the Jewish District of Krakow. We met our guide and our companions on the tour, a couple from Austria. A small group which was very good. Our first stop was Kupa synagogue that is now disused as a prayer house. One of the walls of the building was originally the wall of the district. It was damaged in the war but has been renovated. It is now only used if there are a large number of visiting Jews, as the synagogue used for regular worship is very small and cannot accommodate large numbers. We walked to the market square where the butchers market still operates, and prepares kosher meat for local Jews. This area used to be quite dangerous for tourists, but since the filming of Schindler’s list, and Roman Polanski’s involvement the area has undergone a cultural revival, and is now the place to visit. We had a coffee in one of the local cafes and our guide pointed out the Isaac synagogue that had been built by a local Jew, apparently it is very beautiful inside, to rival the local catholic church. The Stara Boznica synagogue is the oldest synagogue in Poland, which we passed on our way to the square of the ghetto heroes. This is a large square where large chairs have been placed.
When the Jews were moved here during the war, they took all their furniture with them, as you would when you are moving house, of course there was no place for the furniture so it just got heaped up in piles in the street. These chairs are the memorial to the life that the Jews were forced to give up. Roman Polanski was instrumental in the organising of this memorial as he had been a child prisoner in Auschwitz and had survived. The ghetto scenes in Schindler’s list were filmed here. From this square we visited Schindler’s factory. It looks very modern as it is being renovated but is in fact much older than the surrounding buildings. Unfortunately we could not go inside.
To finish our tour we took a tram back into town and said goodbye to our guide and the Austrian couple.
At 4.00 p.m. we had planned a tour of the Salt mine which is about a 6km journey from Krakow. This was interesting as we had to descend 340 stairs. The caves are very large and we visited three chapels underground. One of them was enormous and the photographs do not do justice to the size. Unfortunately we had forgotten to change the battery in the camera so could not take any photos. We bought a DVD so we should have a good reminder of our visit. The whole time underground takes about 2 hours. The atmosphere is a pleasant 14’ Celsius.
On out return to Krakow and after a swift wash and brush up we went to visit the Methodist Pastor and his family. They made us very welcome and had prepared supper for us. Josef doesn’t speak much English and we don’t speak any Polish, but his daughter Alexandra is studying English and interpreted extremely well. Josef showed us a DVD about the history of Polish Methodism (in English) and then gave us a copy as a memento of our visit. We invited them to visit us in England and they may visit in August.
All in all a very good day which showed us very different aspects of life in Krakow in particular and Poland in general
