The sections of the museum I visited this time were about train transportation in Cracow during WWII, the ghetto in Podgorze and Schindler's factory.
I will start off showing you some pictures from the museum.
Here is a picture of the ghetto in Podgorze. There were 4 entrance gates. The ghetto wall surrounded that whole area in white. In April 1941 the wall was started to be built. Gate #4 was on the corner of Kacik street and Plac Zgody (today Plac Bohaterow Getta). Gate #2 was near Limanowska street and Rekawka street. Gate #3 was between buildings on Lwowska street and Jozefinska street. Gate #1 was next to the Magistrate on the Rynek Podgorski.
Here is a picture of the Magistrate building and the wall and gate next to it (on the left). The top of the wall was meant to look like tombstones.
Here is the entrance to one of the other gates. I am not sure which one. The German officers are together with Jewish workers at an entrance.
Here is a picture of the ghetto wall being built.
The borders of the ghetto were guarded by Polish and German police officers on the outside of the wall. The Jewish police officers ( called "Judische Ordnungs Dienst" or OD for short) guarded the inside of the ghetto. This OD organization was formed in 1940 by the Jewish Council ("Judenrat"). The job of the OD officer was to maintain order in the ghetto. The officers often dragged Jews out of their ghetto apartments and brought them to the square from whence they were transported to camps or killed on the spot. The headquarters of the OD was on Jozefinska street #17. Ironically when the ghetto was being liquidated, the Jewish OD officers were the last Jews to be sent off to camps, "betrayed" by their German employers.
Here is a photo of Roman Polanski's writing as an 8 year old living in this ghetto in Podgorze. (Polanski later escaped from the ghetto. He is now a famous film director.)
"Suddenly I understood: we were to remain walled in. It frightened me so that I burst out crying." Roman Polanski, age 8.
Living in the ghetto was very hard. There were local food stores in the ghetto that sold "legal rations" ( those approved by the Germans). The Germans allotted for 250-300 calories per person daily. The Jewish social welfare organization "Zydowska Samopomoc Spoleczna" collected money from people in the streets for 4 hospitals, orphanages, day care centers and soup kitchens in the ghetto.
In 1941 anyone crossing into the ghetto without a pass was not allowed. Jews leaving the ghetto without a pass were punished by death. Some Jewish workers had work permits to exit and re-enter the ghetto if their work was outside the ghetto walls. Any Poles helping the Jews were punished by death. Work in the ghetto was assigned by the Arbeitsamt (employment service) at Jozefinska street #10. There were no work laws protecting the worker. You could not change jobs without permission. The workers were paid minimum wage at first, but later they received no wages.
Devout Jews met daily for prayers at 3 synagogues in the ghetto. I am not sure where they were all located. I remember seeing a Jewish House of Prayer at Wegierska street #5. That may have been one of the places. Larger services on holidays took place at the orphanage, probably the one on Krakusa street.
Here is a quote from one of the young ghetto inhabitants about living conditions there.
In 1941 Otto Von Wachter ordered all Poles in Pogorze to abandon their homes. At the same time he ordered all the Jews living in central Cracow and Kazimierz to abandon their homes. Essentially the Poles and Jews swapped living quarters. The Poles took over the Jews' apartments in Kazimierz. The Jews were crammed into the Poles' former dwellings in Podgorze. There were around 3,000 Poles living in Podgorze at the time. The Germans were trying to fit 17,000 Jews in the Poles' former dwellings. Apartments in the ghetto were assigned by the housing council located at the Magistrate (Judenrat). 2 square meters living space was allowed per person. Often strangers (several families) would be put in the same apartment.
In the ghetto there were only 3 Polish establishments left - the jail on Czarnieckiego street (still there as an active jail), a factory of optical glasses (deemed necessary by the Germans) and the Eagle Pharmacy on Plac Zgody (Plac Bohaterow Getta). All the other Polish businesses in Podgorze were abandoned.
The priest of St. Joseph's Church on the Rynek Podgorski protested to the German officers that he would lose most of his church members if the Poles were forced to leave Podgorze. I am sure the Polish businessmen were protesting as well. They would go out of business if all the Poles in Podgorze left.
One of the residents of the ghetto was Leopold Rosner, violinist. He and members of his family (father and brothers) would often played music together in a restaurant in the ghetto called "Polonia" on the Rynek Podgorski. A concert hall opened on Wegierska street #6 at the former Optima (optical glasses) factory. In Feb. 1941 Rosner played there. Here is his picture.
In 1939 Hans Frank established a "trust bureau". It was basically an excuse to plunder Poles and Jews. The bureau took possession of property belonging to the Polish State, social and political organizations and private citizens (both Poles and Jews). Historical monuments and works of art were taken. Also religious items of the Jews. There was a room showing many valuable pieces that the Germans stole.
Train stations and train travel were taken over by the Germans. Many Jews were forced to leave Cracow in 1940. These travelers had to possess a "displacement certificate" in order to travel by train.
There were travel restrictions on the train. Each person could carry no more than 3 kg of food. The smuggling of food on the train was widespread (often from villages into cities). In Sept. 1941 the Nazis busted illegal food traders at the main train station in Cracow. Detainees were sent to forced labor camps in the Reich (Germany).
The Germans wanted a train line from Berlin to Lvov through Breslau, Katowice, Cracow and Tarnow. They forced workers from labor camps to build the railway line. The Armia Krajowa and other underground groups committed sabotage on this rail line. This delayed German supplies getting to the Eastern front. There was an attack on a train to Lvov in 1944. Hans Frank was on board. The train derailed. As retaliation, the Nazis executed 100 Poles (whoever they could find).
The employment service (Arbeitsamt) for Poles was located at Lubelska street #25. Work was assigned and could not be changed without permission. Each worker had a work card (Arbeitskarte) with the place of employment on it. The Germans were eager to get Poles over to the Reich (Germany) to work. There was a lot of propaganda to encourage Poles to go. At first Poles volunteered to go. When word got out about how bad working conditions were in Germany, no one wanted to go there. Poles were then "assigned" to go. There was a scam going on where Poles got $ to voluntarily say they would work in Germany. They registered so with the employment service and were paid. As they were being transported to work in Germany, they escaped and went back home. Some people even tried to do this several times (probably under false names).
Here is a photo of this propaganda to work in Germany.
"Let's go to the Reich. Polish women and children on the way to work in the Reich. Their expectations will not be disappointed. "
In Cracow another employment service was called "Baudienst" (building service). It started in 1940. All men ages 18-23 from Poland, the Ukraine and the Highlanders from southern Poland were forced to register for such work as renovation, construction and drainage activities. If a person sabotaged work or tried to avoid work ( by escaping), he would be sent to the Liban quarry in Podgorze. It was a forced labor camp of 400 inmates. Executions happened there occasionally. The Baudienst ended in 1944 when the Germans had to focus their efforts elsewhere.
Part Three will cover Oskar Schindler and his activities.
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