Jewish Ghetto Memorial
The Jewish Ghetto Memorial in Kraków is located at Plac Bohaterów Getta (Heroes of the Ghetto Square) in the city’s historic Kazimierz district. The memorial was created to honor the memory of the Jewish community that lived in the Kraków Ghetto during the Nazi occupation in World War II. In 1941, the Jewish population of Kraków was forcibly relocated to the ghetto, where they endured extreme hardship, overcrowding, and starvation. Many were eventually deported to Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
The central feature of the memorial is a series of large, rusted steel chairs, designed by artist Piotr Lewicki and architect Krzysztof Wodiczko. These chairs symbolize the empty spaces left behind by the Jewish families who were forcibly removed from the ghetto. The installation is a somber and powerful tribute to the victims, representing both the physical absence of the community and the loss of their culture and lives.
The Jewish Ghetto Memorial is an important site of remembrance and reflection for visitors to Kraków. It serves as a place to honor the victims of the Holocaust, particularly the Jewish people who lived and died in the ghetto. The memorial is surrounded by other significant historical sites, such as the Oskar Schindler Factory Museum and the remains of the ghetto walls, providing context for the events that unfolded in the area during World War II.
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