Following in the footsteps of Schindler’s List in Krakow

Visit the little-known locations of the scenes from Spielberg’s film, a true story of what happened in the Płaszów camp and the Podgórze Jewish ghetto.

In 1992, Steven Spielberg had a replica of the Nazi labor camp at Płaszów built as part of his film Schindler’s List. The remains of this highly realistic complex can still be seen today, just a few minutes’ walk from the center of Krakow. Reconstructed from the original plans, the copy of the Płaszów camp was designed in a quarry just a few hundred meters from where the real camp stood. The Lebanon quarry (or Kamieniołom Lebanon), home to the film’s shooting location, is one of the places where Płaszów inmates worked themselves to death or were randomly murdered.

Copyright Toolito

In spring, vegetation takes over the quarry’s entire surface. Yet it’s easy enough to enter this strange place. After finding your way along the paths formed by the few curious visitors, you’ll eventually reach the lowest level of the quarry, from where you can explore theformer work camp in greater detail. The whole quarry is visible from the ledges, but it’s well worth going down to see what’s going on up close.

Further down in the article you’ll find details of how to get there.

The « Voie Royale » or alley of Jewish tombstones

There’s nothing noble about the so-called Royal Way. Quite the opposite, in fact… The original Plaszow camp was built partly on the site of Jewish cemeteries. In a trademark Nazi theatricality, the gravestones were used to pave the road to the camp so that inmates were forced to trample over the relics of their ancestors on their way to « work ». Shocking as it may seem, this was surely the last thing on the minds of the men and women trying to survive here. For the Spielberg-directed film, casts of real Jewish tombstones were used to build a similar track in the middle of the quarry. Although they look like the real thing, you can walk on them and take a closer look at the details of the Hebrew lettering.

Copyright Toolito

Copyright Toolito

Fences

The Płaszów camp was framed by a double electrified fence. The corridor between these fences was guarded by SS guards. This is reproduced identically in the quarry, very close to the slabs in the shape of tombstones. The remnants left by the filming are incredibly convincing. The wood of the fences looks decades old, even though filming took place between 1992 and 1993. Perhaps the film’s set engineers used beams that were already old? In any case, the fences still visible today look very authentic, with porcelain insulators, some of which have since broken. Note that the fences in the Auschwitz camp are made of concrete.

Flickr – Allie_Caulfield

Lime kilns

In the historical novel Schindler’s List by Australian author Thomas Keneally, which inspired the film of the same name, we read that work in the Lebanon quarry focused on the production of quicklime rather than the extraction of limestone per se. To produce quicklime, you need a lime kiln, and that’s what these tower-like structures on one side of the quarry look like. Limestone is poured in from above, mixed with coal halfway up, and quicklime comes out at the bottom. When you look at these structures, they seem to date back decades, not to the time of the film. Moreover, they don’t appear on screen, possibly by choice of the director. As the quarry seems to have been abandoned, we may never know the truth about it.

These remains could be related to the facilities used to produce quicklime during Nazi wartime exploitation, but they could also date from after the war, when quarrying continued.

Copyright Toolito

Visiting the « fake » Płaszów camp is a confusing and unsettling experience. However, if you want to go further in your discovery of concentration camps, this is a place to explore. The elements you’ll see here are only movie sets, not those of a real labor camp. The Nazis destroyed the camp before the Russians arrived. Knowing this, you can’t help but be moved by this « fake » place. From the broken flagstones on the ground to the camp’s fences, everything seems to suggest that we are indeed in the heart of the former Płaszów camp. Yet it’s only the location that witnessed the horrors of the camp, and that’s enough to know. The confusion between the « Hollywood » and historical versions is bluffing and thought-provoking.

South view of the quarry with Kopiec Krakusa in the background – Copyright Toolito

Going beyond Steven Spielberg’s film

By « further », we mean « a few hundred metres ». Indeed, the location of the real Płaszów camp was only a few meters from the quarry you visited. On the map below, I’ve positioned the site’s key locations to make it easier for you to find your way around.

Click on the map icons to see what they correspond to.

You can see that if you continue your walk just past the quarry, you’ll come across the Płaszów Camp Memorial.

Wikimedia – Dariusz Żukowski

Then head for the house of Amon Göth:

Flickr – Lars K Jensen

How do I get there?

The Lebanon quarry is located on the south bank of the Vistula River. From the center of Old Town, walk to and through Kazimierz and cross the Piłsudskiego Bridge or the Kladka Bernatka Bridge. From there, you can use the map above to help you locate yourself, and walk up to the Kopiec Krakus hillock from where you’ll have an excellent view towards the quarry. Streetcars 3 and 24 will take you to the « Powstańców Wielkopolskich » stop, which is also very close to the hill.

Scenes from the film in the Kazimierz district

For the scenes depicting the Podgórze Jewish ghetto in Krakow, Steven Spielberg needed an authentic Jewish neighborhood. He chose the Kazimierz district because this part of Krakow had not changed since the 1940s, whereas Podgórze had been partially rebuilt with modern buildings.

Flickr – jafsegal

The photo above shows a courtyard where suitcases and belongings are thrown away in the scene from the film where the Podgórze ghetto is liquidated. In the old Jewish quarters of Polish cities, this kind of square is typical. In the same photo, the staircase we see is the one under which Danka Dresner (Genia’s aunt, the little girl in the red coat) hid from the Jewish police who were helping the Germans round up Jews to « transport them to the East »: a euphemism for taking them to the gas chambers.

Visit Oskar Schindler’s factory (Museum)

While Oska Schindler lived at 7 ul. Straszewskiego, her factory, Fabryka Schindlera, was (and still is) on the other side of Kazimierz and the Vistula, finally close to the Płaszów camp, at 4 ul. Lipowa. The latter can be visited like a museum, following the story of the Jews saved by Schindler, but above all the daily life of Cracovians, and the activity of the Resistance during the General Government. The exhibits, enriched by extensive photographic and film documentation, present a complex picture of life in Krakow and its inhabitants under the German occupation. The factory, one of many owned by Oskar Schindler, produced enamel cookware.

Oskar Schindler’s office in the factory museum – Wikimedia – Adrian Grycuk

Schindler’s List is a memorable film whose courage and faith continue to inspire generations. Here’s an excerpt:

Other things to do in Krakow