Kazmierz
Kazimierz is a district of Cracow, the place where Jews have lived for five hundred years. We would start our walking tour from Szeroka Street, the former cultural, religious and trading centre. This is the broadest street of the Jewish quarter. Here are four synagogues, one called the Alte Schule, the oldest synagogue in Poland, another one, the Remuh,  working for the evening Friday and Saturday morning services. We pay a visit to this renaissance synagogue. Adjacent to it, contrary to the Jewish tradition, why, I will explain, there is the 16th c, cemetery, like no other in Europe. Famous Cracow rabbis are buried there. There many intricate facts and legends connected with the lives of these people, like the story about Rabbi Heller andcadaka. There is a big old house known as the Landau family house, where there are three small shops reflecting the occupation and social status of the former owners. But what a surprise, when we enter one of these, there occurs to be one place furnished like a grocer's, tailor's and a drug store. A it is a goody restaurant teasing our nostrils with the smell ofpierogi,kugel,kreple, and what not. But that's for later, there are more small restaurants like that and we have only 3 hours for our sightseeing tour. Next to the Poper's synagogue, which we pass by, there is a house, where Helena Rubinstein , the oldest of eight, was born. We pop in to the "Alef" Restaurant, the favorite one of Steven Spielberg. There is his autograph behind the glass hanging on the wall like a picture. Two big lazy cats lying on two armchairs add to the family atmosphere of the house. We will have time to get inside the Alte Schule, which is now a museum, showing customs, traditions, religious objects of Jews living here before the war.
Duration  up to 4 hours

Schindler's List
Oscar Schindler arrived in Cracow in September 1939. He soon established a factory producing enamelware for the Wehrmaht soldiers. It was named "Emalia". In the factory he employed mainly Jews, who at first constituted a group of 700 people. They lived in the ghetto, and each day walked under the escort from the ghetto to the factory. In 1944 Schindler sold the factory and bought another one, in Brunlitz, a sub-camp of the Gross-Rosen camp. He planned to staff it with Jews from "Emalia". He needed about 1000 people, which led to making a famous Schindler's List. He managed to withdraw from Płaszów concentration camp 300 more Jewish prisoners, so on his list he had now one thousand Jews, whose lives he saved.   
We start our walk in Kazimierz, the former Jewish quarter, at Szeroka street. Here lived the people, who in 1941 were forced to move in to the ghetto. Spielberg showed this street in his film as the ghetto area. We walk round Szeroka Street, the cradle of Jewish culture, religion, tradition. In the Remuh Synagogue we may meet Mr. Jan Liban, an eldery person selling now entrance tickets to the synagogue. He is one of the few survivors from "Schindler's List". In the book, "Ich, Oscar", which he shows to the visitors, where there is a full list of names, his name as well. He also played in Spielberg's film. Then we walk through Plac Nowy, reach 12 Józefa Street, there is a yard, which played the scene of expulsion of Kazimierz Jews to the ghetto. Not far away form here, we cross the bridge over the Vistula River. In 1941 Kazimierz Jews were moving that way to the ghetto. We pass by the former factory "Madrisch and Tisch", whose workers were on the "List". Then we reach Plac Bohaterów Getta, the former Plac Zgody, the centre of the ghetto area, where there is a pharmacy "Under the Eagle". The pharmacy is now a museum. During the war it was run by the Polish pharmacist, Mr. Pankiewicz, who helped many Jewish people survive. He was awarded the title "Righteous Among the Nations". We pass by a fragment of the wall, which surrounded the ghetto, on to the factory at 4 Lipowa Street, " Schindler's Factory". There is a room on the first floor, where there is a short film shown. The film shows life in Kazimierz before the war, the expulsion of Jews to the ghetto, the expulsion to the nearby Płaszów concentration camp, and Steven Spielberg at work, with the actors, his family. If we have a transportation, our last destination is Płaszów, the site of the non-existent concentration camp. From here three hundred Jewish prisoners, among them Mr. Jan Liban, got on the "Schindler's List".  
Duration: up to 3 hours.

Jewish Folk dinner
Szeroka Street is one of the places that don't sleep too much. Around the street, there are many restaurants, which invite its guests not only to taste fantastic Jewish meals, but also, they offer entertainment. Klezmer music, that is played in Kazimierz, is of highest standards. Such bands as "Quartet Trio", "Karoke", have participated in many musical competitions around the world, winning first awards. During the summer, one should book a table ahead, for the dinners accompanied by Klezmer concerts have become a legend.
The restaurants are: Ariel, Klezmer Hois, Alef, Arka Noego. All at Szeroka Street.
Dinners start at 8 p.m. and last 1,5 hours. 

 
   
   

Oświęcim ( Auschwitz ) Concentration Camp

Cemetery and place of the biggest genocide in the world. From 1940 to 1945 the Nazis killed about 1.500.000 people here. The camp was meant at first for the Polish political prisoners, later Russian POWs, Gypsies, and people of other nations. In 1942 the camp became the extermination camp of the Jewish population. The museum shows two places: Auschwitz, where there are exhibitions in the former prison blocks, the gas chamber, and the crematorium, and Birkenau, the other camp, only 2 miles away, which is the largest death camp in Europe . We climb the watchtower over the main gate, where we can see the vastness of the area of the camp, with the remains of the wooden barracks, and the ruins of the four crematoria.

This place can never be forgotten. This is a warning sing for us, what can be done if we stay indifferent for evil.

 
         
         
         






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