85th Anniversary of the Closure of the Kraków Ghetto

Redakcja, 20 March 2026

On 20th March 1941, the final deadline passed for the forced resettlement of all Jews, in Kraków, to the newly established ghetto in Podgórze. The Germans isolated Jews from the rest of society, and any resistance to the forced relocation, as well as all attempts to escape from the “closed district”, were severely punished. The construction of the ghetto walls and the closing of its gates, 85 years ago, marked (as we now know) the beginning of the destruction of Kraków’s Jewish community. In connection with this anniversary, we have prepared a selection of texts, photographs and films, which help to better understand the experience of imprisonment within the Kraków Ghetto. These are stories of loneliness, in the face of the Holocaust, of crossing the limits of human endurance, of the heroic will to survive and of mutual aid.

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The Kraków Ghetto was established by the General Government authorities in March 1941, by order of the governor of the Kraków District, Otto Wächter.

Since the spring of 1940, the Germans had already been attempting to resettle Jews from Kraków . It is estimated that around 50,000 people were forcibly deported from the city. They were sent to various places, mainly within the Kraków area, but also to the Lublin and Radom areas.

The “closed district” was established in Podgórze, rather than in nearby Kazimierz, where the majority of Jews had previously lived. All Jews were required to move into the new location by the non-negotiable deadline of 20th March 1941, while the Poles, who lived there,were forced to leave their homes.

The ghetto covered an area of approximately 20 hectares, which included 320 buildings and houses, in which an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Jews lived over the following two years. Two years later, in March 1943, the Germans began the ghetto's liquidation.

Marking the 85th anniversary of the Kraków Ghetto closure, we have prepared a selection of historical studies from the knowledge portals of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Among them, we have chosen ten stories of survivors, both adults and children. These include stories of those, who survived thanks to the help of others, as well as accounts of Jews who - despite the threat to their own lives - rescued their families, friends or even complete strangers, demonstrating extraordinary courage.

In the gallery, at the top of the page, we present photographs which include depictions of the resettlement of Jews to the ghetto in Podgórze in March 1941, as well as images of individuals. who survived the Kraków Ghetto or were connected with Kraków, whose stories we present below in selected accounts of aid.