Plaszow Concentration Camp
The old black-and-white photograph below
shows the Plaszow camp, taken when it was in operation. The Plaszow
forced labor camp, later a concentration camp, was actually located
right next to not one, but two, granite quarries. The second
of these quarries is shown in the second photograph below. A
monument to the victims of the Plaszow camp can be seen in this
color photograph, taken in 1998. The old photograph was taken
in the 1940ies on the other side of the plateau on which the
monument now stands. Both photos show the city of Krakow in the
distance.
Plaszow Camp as it
looked when it was in operation
Terraced ground where
Plaszow barracks were located
Shown in the photo above, on a high plateau,
is the back side of the large monument, which faces the city
of Krakow. It was on this plateau that mass executions took place,
according to testimony in the trial of Amon Goeth in a Polish
court in 1946. According to survivors of the Plaszow camp, 8,000
bodies were later dug up and burned on pyres in order to destroy
the evidence. Goeth, who was charged with repsonsibility for
these deaths, was convicted and hanged.
According to my tour guide, some of the
barracks of the Plaszow forced labor camp were located on the
terraced terrain that you see in the foreground of the photo
above; portions of the barrack foundations are still visible.
In the movie, Schindler's List, there is a scene where a woman
engineer is shot because she told the workers that the foundations
were not laid correctly and would have to be redone. The barracks
were prefabricated buildings which were carried up the hill to
the camp from the Plaszow railroad station by women prisoners
in the camp.
On the right side of the photo above,
you can see some of the buildings of the city of Krakow in the
distance. The photograph below shows a sign which stands just
to the left of where the photo above was taken; the sign says
that this is a nature preserve because of the rare plants, native
to the area, which are located here. Because this is a protected
area, Spielberg could not build a movie set here. Besides, the
monument would have shown in the background.
Site of former Plaszow
camp which is now a nature preserve
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