Krakow Guided Tour of The Former Plaszow Concentration Camp

Though after the war the name of Plac Zgody was changed to Plac Bohaterów Getta (Ghetto Heroes Square) and a small monument was erected, the space’s historical significance never felt more pertinent than its post-war use as a public toilet or parking lot. Finally, after decades of neglect, Plac Bohaterów Getta was renovated in 2005, sparking significant controversy over the design. Laid out with 70 large well-spaced metal chairs meant to symbolise departure, as well as subsequent absence, the entire square has essentially been turned into an odd, but iconic memorial to the victims of the Kraków Ghetto.

While thousands of tourists use Krakow as the starting point for visiting Auschwitz, few are aware that Krakow actually has a former concentration camp in its own backyard. On the other side of the river, in the depths of Podgórze, the vast area is almost undeveloped, despite the fact that it is located in one of the most desirable commercial and residential districts of the city - on the main communication artery (Wielicka Street), opposite a large shopping center (Bonarka) and not far from main tourist attraction (Krakus Mound). It is the former seat of "Konzentrationslager Plaszow bei Krakau'' - the German Nazi concentration camp in Płaszów, today a wild, uneven space of land, which until recently did not indicate its own existence, let alone its wartime history.

Kraków’s most prominent evidence of its ghetto is this 12-metre stretch of the original ghetto wall. In 1983, a commemorative plaque was raised, which reads in Hebrew and Polish: “Here they lived, suffered and died at the hands of the German torturers. From here they began their final journey to the death camps.”