Kraków - Plac Bohaterow Getta

A legend attributes Kraków's founding to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a dragon, Smok Wawelski. The first written record dates to 965, when Kraków was described as a notable commercial center captured by a Bohemian duke Boleslaus I in 955. The first ruler of Poland, Mieszko I, took Kraków from the Bohemians.

In 1038, Kraków became the seat of the Polish government. By the end of the 10th century, the city was a center of trade. Brick buildings were constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle. The city was sacked and burned during the Mongol invasion of 1241. It was rebuilt and incorporated in 1257 by Bolesław V the Chaste who introduced city rights. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols. The third attack in 1287 was repelled thanks in part to the newly built fortifications.

The city rose to prominence in 1364, when Casimir III founded the University of Kraków, the second oldest university in central Europe. But after Casimir´s death in 1370 the campus did not get completed.

As the capital of the Kingdom of Poland and a member of the Hanseatic League, the city attracted craftsmen from abroad, guilds as science and the arts began to flourish. The 15th and 16th centuries are known as Poland's "Złoty Wiek" (Golden Age).

After childless King Sigismund II had died in 1572, the Polish throne passed to Henry III of France and then to other foreign-based rulers in rapid succession, causing a decline in the city's importance that was worsened by pillaging during the Swedish invasion and by an outbreak of bubonic plague that left 20,000 of the city's residents dead. In 1596, Sigismund III of the House of Vasa moved the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from Kraków to Warsaw.
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Before WWII, Kraków was home to more than 60.000 Polish Jews. Persecution of the Jewish population of Kraków began immediately after the German troops entered the city in September 1939. Jews were ordered to report for forced labor, in November 1939 all Jews twelve years or older were required to wear identifying armbands.

The Kraków Ghetto was formally established on 3 March 1941 in the Podgórze district. It was established for the purpose of exploitation, terror, and persecution of local Jews. 15,000 Jews were crammed into an area previously inhabited by 3,000 people who used to live in a district consisting of 320 residential buildings, and 3,167 rooms. As a result, one apartment was allocated to every four Jewish families,.

The Ghetto was surrounded by the newly built walls that kept it separated from the rest of the city. All windows and doors that opened onto the "Aryan" side were ordered to be bricked up.

From May 1942 onward, the Nazis began deportations from the Ghetto to surrounding concentration camps. The first transport consisted of 7,000 people. In March 1943, the final 'liquidation' of the ghetto was carried out. Two thousand Jews deemed able to work were transported to the Płaszów labor camp. Those deemed unfit for work were killed in the streets of the ghetto on those days. The remaining 3,000 were sent to Auschwitz.

The Plac Bohaterow Getta (Ghetto Heroes' Square) in Kraków's Podgórze district played a tragic role in the extermination of the Jews. This square in the center of the ghetto was the last stop for the inhabitants before they were sent to the concentration and extermination camps as this is where the roll calls and selections took place, this is where the Krakow Jews were rounded up for deportation.

Now here are 60 empty, iron chairs. The Jewish Population of Krakow once numbered 60,000, so one chair represents 1000 murdered.