Something to Declare

Post No. 6. Kraków (Part 2)

May 11, 2023

We had this morning free of East-West Tour experiences. Some of the folks went to the Salt Mines, but I opted for the “Walkative!” tour of “Jewish Kraków.” Met up with our tour guide, Krzysztof, at the Stara Synagoga (“Old Synagogue”) at Szeroka St. #24. The neighborhood is called “Kazimierz,” after the Polish king at that time.

As previously noted, the medieval Polish kings were eager to have a bourgeoisie and a professional class, so they invited Jews from western Europe to settle in Poland. Since western European Jews were dealing with things like the Inquisition, forced conversion and expulsion, this must have seemed like a good idea at the time. There were Jews settled in Kazimierz before there were any Poles.

Krzysztof noted that the Stara Synagoga dates back to the 15th Century (it’s now a museum). A lot of references on the tour to the fact that “Schindler’s List” was filmed on location here, although he carefully noted that the real action in the movie took place elsewhere. We visited a local bookstore which was formerly a synagogue, with a balcony leading to what had been the women’s section.

Krzysztof pointed out relics of the Holocaust, including holes in several walls next to doors, where mezuzahs had been ripped off, e.g., see photo of door lintel with outline of former mezuzah:

Also saw the site of the Jewish cemeteries (one dating from the 15th Century):

In keeping with the theme of the blog on this trip, we were also shown a neighborhood which was formerly so far out and countrified that it qualified to be a “Shtetl:”

We crossed the bridge to the other side of the Vistula River, to an area called “Josefstadt,” which was the site of the actual Ghetto of Kraków.

The tour ended at a square containing empty chairs. The “Square of Empty Chairs” in Kraków is a memorial to the people who died in the concentration camps.  The chairs are strategically placed in the direction of which crematoriums the Jews from Kraków were taken to. Each chair represented one thousand people.

Krzysztof was kind enough to direct me to the Tram station, where I was told to take the No. 3 tram to the Poczta Główny (main post office) stop. This was supposed to be about 5 minutes walk to the Rynek Główny (Main Market Square), where we were supposed to meet up with our guide, Ania. Krzysztof’s directions were spot on, and I got there in time to have some Gulacz (goulash) and beer, al fresco:

Ania had the tour company, East West Tours, treat us to coffee and pastry, and then we were off to the Princes Czartoryski Museum, one of Poland’s oldest museums, established in 1796 by Princess Izabela Czartoryska:

It contains many works of art and relics of Polish history, as well as one of the three portraits of women done by Leonardo da Vinci, “The Lady with an Ermine.”

(One of the two other such female portraits by Leonardo is “La Gioconda,” otherwise known as the Mona Lisa.)

That’s all for now. Packing tonight for the trip back to NYC and Stef. But stay tuned for our next expedition, in September, to Switzerland and Alsace-Lorraine. I’m told they have good cheese there.