Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory

Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory stands at ul. Lipowa 4 in the Zablocie district of Podgorze, Krakow, in southern Poland. The Deutsche Emailwaren-Fabrik was leased by the German businessman Oskar Schindler in November 1939, shortly after the German occupation of Poland began. He employed Jewish workers from the Krakow ghetto, which was established in nearby Podgorze in March 1941. As the ghetto was liquidated in 1943 and the Plaszow forced-labour camp took over, Schindler arranged for his workers to be protected, and in 1944 around 1,200 of them were relocated with him to Brunnlitz in Moravia, where they survived the war. His story became known worldwide through Steven Spielberg's 1993 film, and he was later honoured by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. The administration building of the factory was converted into a museum, opened in 2010 as a branch of the Historical Museum of Krakow, under the title Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945. The permanent exhibition is an immersive, theatrical reconstruction rather than a case-by-case display. Visitors move through recreated rooms, streets, apartments and ghetto interiors, with period photographs, film clips, sound and original objects. The route follows a broadly chronological sequence from the pre-war city and the September 1939 invasion to the creation of the ghetto, the terror of the occupation, and the camp. One of the central rooms is Schindler's reconstructed office, and a spiral staircase leads to the upper floors of the original administration building. Another striking installation is a hall of enamel pots and pans, which symbolise the factory production and the lives of its workers. Other displays cover everyday life under occupation, the Polish resistance, and Krakow's Jewish and non-Jewish residents. The building was carefully renovated, and the interior design is the main work of the exhibition team. Allow about two and a half hours for a full visit. The exhibition includes graphic content and is not designed to be light.