Tour of Kazimierz, The Ghetto, and Schindler's Factory

Day 4 – Kazimierz, the former Jewish quarter and Schindler’s factory

Today, I woke up as early as ever with the sun shining at 4:30 AM. I finished writing today's blog of yesterday’s journey. Did you get that? I am a day late on the blog.
I will be touring the Kazimierz and The Ghetto today. I have been to both of these places on the little golf cart on Monday. I know three hours of walking our guide will provide more historical details and enlighten me even further.

I want to see the Remuh Synagogue it contains the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe. This is a photo of the carving over the synagogue door.

I left the hotel at 8:30 this morning. I had to buy a ticket for the tour and I wanted to sit on the Main Square, drink coffee, and relax. I had about 45 minutes to sit and watch people and the busyness of the morning preparing for another day.

I strolled along to our meeting place. I took a few photos of the Square and the small church; waiting for the guide to arrive. Jacek was the same guide as my Tuesday trip: ‘The Royal Route Tour’. He is interesting and extremely knowledgeable. Rebecca was on the tour to Auschwitz yesterday with me. She is a nice young lady from Australia who is traveling throughout Europe on her summer break. There were two mature women from Sweden, it was great fun to listen to them speak Swedish, at one time in my life, I knew a little bit of the language. The married couple was a Jewish couple from New York! He is a Kohen*. This tour turned out to be surprisingly interesting. I talked to everyone and of course, I had tons of questions.

*Today one is considered a Kohen if he is a direct descendant of Aaron, the
brother of Moses! God blessed me once again with a new friendship.

Once again, we had a small and comfortable group. It was another hot day, with a breeze. We walked for three and a half hours, learning about the Jewish district and The Ghetto. There were so many facts, one I found particularly interesting was the small Jewish trading square had two roads leading through it. These roads connected the market square internationally.

There were 60,000 plus Jews living in Krakow pre-WWII. This was one-fifth of the city’s population. There are/were seven main synagogues in the old Jewish Quarter. The Jewish population today is only 200. The synagogues are used as museums and not worship centers.

We visited the memorial for the Ghetto; it is a large squared area that originally was the entrance point to the Ghetto. It is filled with empty chairs, the chairs are oversized. The chairs are symbolic of the Jewish furniture the Germans throughout in the square, while evacuating the Jews to the concentration camps.

The guard house still stands and is used for a flower shop today. Jacek told us that the ghetto was set up in such a manner that when the Jews entered, they realized they were going to die here. Now, I am unclear of all the facts regarding this, but the wall surrounding the ghetto appeared to look like Jewish tombstones. If that does not make one uneasy, I do not know what would.

We were able to go into the Remuh Synagogue. It is a very small synagogue and contains the oldest Jewish cemetery. The cemetery was used between the years of 1500 and 1800’s. The Germans of course desecrated it by using it as a place for garbage. Archaeologists discovered it many years ago and have restored it. Today, you find pebbles which people bring in to honor the dead. This tradition dates back to the time of the Wilderness wanderings.

A commemorative wall has been built surrounding the cemetery. In Jewish cemeteries they use symbols and sayings on the gravestones. Notice the different symbols the artists used in the wall.

The Kohen immediately washed his hands upon exiting the cemetery. He made the comment that he was not supposed to be in there. I did get a few pictures of him enjoying the sites of Kazimierz and The Ghetto.

We also toured Schindler’s factory. They only have a small part of the new museum opened. However, we were able to read the history of Schindler and his factory. I am sure many of you have seen the movie ‘Schindler’s List.’ If not, I would recommend you watch it. We were able to visit the original sites that were used in the movie!

Today was not as emotional as touring Auschwitz, but the reality of what happened has become real. It is no longer just a story or part of history on the other side of the world. I have seen the faces, their homes and where they died. I witnessed photographs of inhuman abuse of one another. I have seen photographs of Soldiers without a care; sending people to their deaths. Even the innocent children died because someone did not like them because of their heritage.

The point is; will this happen to us as Christians someday? Is the world safe or will we face concentration camps in the near future?