Schindler’s factory in Cracow
Medals available for purchase in the souvenir shop!
In the administrative building of the former Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory at 4 Lipowa Street in Kraków, another branch of the Historical Museum of Kraków is being established, dedicated to the history of Kraków during 1939-1945. The permanent exhibition opens on June 10, 2010!
The wartime history of the factory and its owner Oskar Schindler, as well as the fates of the Jewish prisoners from Płaszów camp whom he saved, are well known primarily through Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List. The Museum’s intention is to present the history of the Lipowa Street factory in a broader historical context and provide visitors with an opportunity to gain deeper insight into the history of occupied Kraków.
The exhibition being prepared by the Museum, titled ‘Kraków – The Occupation Years (1939-1945)’, will focus on Kraków and its inhabitants during World War II. The narrative will begin with selected themes from the interwar period (1918-1939), presented among other things through a historic stereoscopic viewer from that era.
Visitors will be guided through the exhibition by selected Kraków residents whose personal stories symbolize the experiences of many Polish and Jewish inhabitants of the city. The exhibition will be divided into several segments dedicated to specific themes: the 1939 war, Kraków’s role as the capital of the General Government, daily and family life, the fate of Kraków’s Jews, resistance and the underground state, and finally the history of the factory, its workers, and its owner Oskar Schindler.
These segments will be connected by a symbolic Kraków street where Poles, Jews and Germans interacted. On these streets we’ll encounter the racial segregation imposed by the occupiers, people wearing Star of David armbands, German soldiers, trams and ‘Nur für Deutsche’ establishments, but also the ordinary daily life of an occupied city. The streets were also spaces of roundups, public executions, and retaliatory actions by the Polish underground.
Interesting museum exhibits will be complemented by extensive photographic and archival documentation from Polish and international collections. An important element of the exhibition will be film testimonies and audio recordings in which Kraków residents recount their experiences from 1939-1945.
A dedicated space in the Museum will host temporary exhibitions, while the cinema room will screen films and host meetings, lectures and other cultural and educational activities.
This new branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków will complement two existing MHK branches: Pomorska Street and the Pharmacy Under the Eagle, both dedicated to Kraków’s history during World War II and the postwar period, and both holding the status of national memorial sites.
