Apteka Pod Orłem (Pharmacy under the Eagle) - Cracow, Poland

This pharmacy was established by Józef Pankiewicz on Zgody Square (now płac Bohaterów Getta) in 1909. Before the start of WW II his son Tadeusz took it over. In 1941 the pharmacy became enclosed in the ghetto. It continued to operate as a pharmacy for the residents of the ghetto. It was also a place where ghetto residents could meet and exchange information, could have illegal correspondence and money delivered, and served as a hiding place for people, Torah scrolls and family treasures. Since 2003 the pharmacy has been a part of the Historical Museums of the City of Cracow.

Here is a picture of the museum.

It is located on the corner of płac Bohaterów Getta in Podgorze.  The wall of the ghetto apparently was right outside the pharmacy. Mr. Tadeusz Pankiewicz had a hard time convincing the Nazis to let him keep his business open inside the ghetto. After all there were other pharmacies in the city of Cracow. He knew that if he was forced to close the pharmacy there that the Nazis would move him to a location in Kazimierz that had been forcibly evacuated by someone else. After the war he would get kicked out of the place in Kazimierz and return to his building in Podgorze that would be in ruins.  The residents of the ghetto needed their medicines.  A quote from Tadeusz Pankiewicz's memoir reads "I was the only Pole to live and work among them (the Jews) there (...in the ghetto), from its inception to its liquidation."  Having the pharmacy, run by a Pole inside the ghetto, was unusual.

As you walk through this museum you visit different rooms of the pharmacy, ie. the dispensing room (where medicines were requested), the prescription room (where medicines were made), the duty room (Pankiewicz's office) and the materials room (pharmacy storage room). Each room has exhibits and often multi-media displays (computer screens with details about individuals who came regularly to the pharmacy and interviews of ghetto survivors on videos). In many of the rooms there were cabinets with drawers that you could open and where you could read more about life in the ghetto. Stepping into the front room of the museum felt like stepping into the reception area of the pharmacy with the counter and medicines in glass cases behind the counter.

I learned about important places within the ghetto for children ie. orphanages, day care centers, a trade boarding school for older orphans. There would be some basic education provided at the orphanages and at the boarding school, but that was about it in terms of schooling. Young kids who still had parents were often left alone to wander the streets while their parents were working. Often addresses were given in the museum for the orphanages and day care centers. I wrote them down. I found several of those buildings.

Here is a sign on one of the former orphanages. It says that Amalja Wasserbergerowa offered her home to orphans in 1936.  It remained an orphanage during the war.

Some more details I learned at the museum included information about food ration coupons. Each coupon cost 2 zloty. Often the head of your household would buy all the coupons for the whole house.

Concerts were played in ghetto bars. The repertoire had to be pre-approved by the Germans. A famous family of musicians called "the Rosner Family" played at the Polonia Cafe in the ghetto and at the pharmacy. Later they were sent to the labor camp in Plaszow and forced to perform there. They were later rescued from the camp by Schindler. 

Also mentioned in the museum was Mordechaj Gebirtig, a poet who lived in the ghetto. I saw some books about him at the book store in the High Synagogue in Kazimierz. 

Kids in the ghetto were sometimes drugged with Luminal (a sleeping drug), supplied by the pharmacy, so their parents could transport them to another location more easily. This was useful if you were trying to hide from the authorities.

One of the frequent visitors to the pharmacy was Marceli Grunner, a commercial handler of goods. He was also a Gestapo informer. He visited the pharmacy until it was found out about his affiliation with the Germans. Later he was shot by an underground group.

In his memoir Tadeusz Pankiewicz wrote about several German officers who came often to the pharmacy and hung out. He made sure to give them plenty of vodka to consume so they would not look for trouble.

On Dluga Street in Cracow a hospital was set up for Jews returning from German camps after the war. 

A doctor Julian Aleksandrowicz founded the hospital. His nickname was Dr. Twardy. I believe there is well-known Polish film about Dr. Twardy and his efforts.

The square outside the pharmacy used to be called Plac Zgody. Later it was renamed płac Bohaterów Getta (Heroes of the Ghetto square). Many deportations to camps and executions took place in this square during the war. Empty chairs in the square now serve as a reminder of those gone missing from the ghetto.

Tadeusz Pankiewicz's memoir is called "The Krakow Ghetto Pharmacy" (English translation by Garry Malloy), published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in 2013. This was translated from the 2nd edition of the book (written in Polish). I bought the English version in the bookstore at the High Synagogue in Kazimierz, Józefa street #38 in Cracow. Of course there is the version in Polish that can be purchased in the bookstore.