"Schindler's List"
One of my favorite movies, and certainly the movie I have seen most often, is "Schindler's List". To me it is a reminder that miracles can happen anywhere, even during the horrors of the Holocaust. I wandered over to Krakow, Poland hoping to find some reminders of Schindlers days there. My mission was totally successful; in an area of junkyards and wrecked cars I found Schindler's old factory. Thanks to a man with a key (and the exchange of a small bribe), I got to see the inside of the factory.
The front gate to the factory. This may look familiar; the movie was filmed on location at this site.
Memorial plaque near the factory gate.
Behind the gate. Schindler's office was above the gate, behind the missing pane of glass. He pitched his cigarette butts out through the missing window pane.
The factory. The office building forms a "U" along 3 sides of the factory.
The enamel ware (pot making) side of the factory.
The ammunition production side of the factory.
"If this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I will be very disappointed." - Oskar Schindler
There may have been a wall separating the two sides. Now, there is a pile of bricks on the floor (I have one for a souvenir).
Site of the Plaszow concentration camp. Nothing is left but ruins.
Amon Goeth's old house, now a private residence.
A couple of plaques in languages that I can't read
The memorial at Plaszow. The statues are huge; I'm about as tall as the figure's hands
"In 1958 Oscar Schindler was declared a righteous person by the council of the Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, and invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous."
"It grows there still."
I took these photos, in Jerusalem, in September. It was a heck of a lot hotter than Poland in February. Couldn't find any snow!