Krakow: Plaszow Concentration Camp Guided Walking Tour

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Known then as Plac Zgody, the square was the logistical heart of the Kraków ghetto: control, registry, and departure point for transports. After the war it was renamed Ghetto Heroes Square in remembrance.

   15 min

2. Plaszow Camp was created by the Nazi German occupiers in October 1942 on the grounds of two Jewish cemeteries in Krakow. It began as a forced-labor camp for Jews from the liquidated Krakow ghetto; from July 1943 it also held Poles in a penal-labor section. In January 1944 it was redesignated a concentration camp and, later that year, it also functioned as a transit camp for Hungarian Jews being sent onward to Auschwitz. Over its existence, more than 35,000 people were imprisoned here and around 6,000 were murdered. Executions took place at several sites within the camp; today mass graves and memorials mark the landscape.

   1 h

3. On this guided walk your expert guide pieces the camp together from what survives: the Grey House, the ruins of the pre-burial hall, traces of the Jewish cemeteries, the roll-call square, and paths where fragments of gravestones were once used to pave roads. You will reflect at major memorials, including the Monument of Torn-Out Hearts, and learn how the camp was organized into living, hospital, administrative, and industrial sections. An essential part of Plaszow’s story is Oskar Schindler. Through his enamelware enterprise he sought work permits for Jewish prisoners registered through Plaszow, shielding them from further transports; later, he organized their transfer to his wartime plant in Brunnlitz, saving over a thousand lives. His actions, remembered worldwide, are inseparable from the history told here.

   45 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 12 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Krakow

• Its from-price is 74% below the median of the 1446 experiences we list in Krakow.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 388 of 1446.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Krakow

Kraków, Poland's royal former capital, has a beautifully preserved medieval old town, crowned by Wawel Castle above the Vistula River.

The Main Market Square, one of the largest medieval squares in Europe, is lined with burghers' houses and centred on the arcaded Cloth Hall. St Mary's Basilica rises at one corner, its carved wooden altarpiece a Gothic masterpiece, and a trumpet call sounds from its tower through the day and night.

Top-ranked sights in Krakow: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Rynek Glowny (Main Market Square), Wieliczka Salt Mine (Kopalnia Soli).

See all 1446 experiences in Krakow