Insight Guides Poland by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Poland
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2019-01-09T16:00:00+00:00

The crypt of the Royal Cathedral is where the newly ordained Karol Wojtyła (subsequently Pope John Paul II) celebrated his first mass.

Inside the Tempel Synagogue in Kazimierz.

Gregory Wrona/Apa Publications

Kazimierz teems with bars and cafés.

Gregory Wrona/Apa Publications

Kazimierz, Kraków’s Jewish Quarter

Kraków’s Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, was originally a separate walled town established in the 14th century by King Casimir the Great (Kazimierz Wielki), with its own gateways, town hall and market place, centred around what is now Szeroka V [map] (literally ‘Wide Street’). Kazimierz became part of Kraków in the 18th century. In 1941 the Nazis confined Jews to the Kazimierz ghetto before sending them to the death camps. Of the 68,000 Jews who lived in Kazimierz in 1938, only a few hundred survived the war. Kazimierz itself escaped destruction by the Nazis – but only because they planned to establish a macabre museum here of what they termed ‘vanished races’. However, after the war it fell into ruin as Communist authorities neglected the quarter. Things changed when the first annual Jewish Culture Festival was organised in 1988, soon becoming one of the biggest such events in the world. A seven-hour concert, ‘Szalom na Szerokiej’, on Szeroka street, which presents Jewish music from all over the world, remains one of its highlights. The festival succeeded in awakening interest in the nearly forgotten culture of Kraków’s Jews. Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, mostly shot in Kazimierz, also contributed to the quarter’s revival. As a result, renovation work started, with once-dilapidated streets and houses being slowly restored to their former glory.

Szeroka has retained its Jewish character, though parts of this and some surrounding streets are still so run-down you would think the war had only just ended. Restoration work is ongoing, and in the meantime the area receives plenty of tourists, particularly American Jews tracing their roots, or other visitors taking ‘Oskar Schindler tours’. Making the most of this, wandering musicians play nostalgic tunes in Szeroka’s Jewish cafés and restaurants. Szeroka also has three synagogues. The Jewish Museum (www.mhk.pl; Apr–Oct Mon 10am–2pm, Tue–Sun 9am–5pm, Nov–Mar Mon 10am–2pm, Tue–Thu and Sat–Sun 9am–4pm, Fri 10am–5pm; free on Mon) is housed in the Old Synagogue (Stara Synagoga; Szeroka 24; tel: 12-431 05 45). Dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, the façade has Gothic and Renaissance elements, while period interiors house an exhibition of Jewish history and culture. A monument in front of the synagogue marks the site where 30 Jews were shot by the Nazis in 1943.

Oskar Schindler and Płaszów

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