Oskar Schindler's factory in Krakow

Warning: This post contains distressing images.

Our journey beyond Kosice, Slovakia, took us to Krakow, Poland. Famous scenes from the film ‘Schindler’s List’ were shot here, because there really was a factory where a man named Oscar Schindler employed Jewish people to save their lives from the Nazis. If you see nothing else in this former Polish capital, visit Oskar Schindler’s Enamel Factory in Krakow.

I did some ‘deep dives’ on the man named Oskar Schindler. He was initially a Nazi, and a scoundrel. Beyond labels, what he really was, was an opportunist who wanted to make money. His kitchenware factory employed Jewish people — if you can call slave labor employment. His employees did not go to concentration or death camps. But at some point, he had a change of heart once we saw what the Nazis were really up to. It’s estimated he saved at least 1,200 Jewish people by insisting they work for him, thereby keeping those Jews out of the Nazi camps.

One of my favorite items on display in the former factory is Schindler’s map. It is the original map he used in his Krakow office. It is restored to its original condition. Look closely – there are no man-made land borders on that map.

A friend of mine once said to me that he believes the world would be a much better place if all of this nationalist shit was eliminated — if there were no man-made borders. I agree. Humanity First. Make Our Humanity Great For Once (MOHGO, mo-fo).

That Schindler found his humanity, his moral compass, at peril to his life and livelihood, gives me hope that others might wake up and see their supremacist views and fascist followings are morally reprehensible.

Perhaps my favorite image in the thousands on display in the Oskar Schindler Factory Museum is the one where he stands amid many of the people whose lives he saved.

Other areas of Oskar Schindler’s factory in Krakow

Before you get to the factory displays, the museum lays out the road that led to the Jewish Ghetto in Krakow and ultimately the extermination of human beings. This is necessary to give you a better sense of what Schindler accomplished. Indeed, he had a few heroic moments when he blustered his way to save people, including showing up at Auschwitz to ‘reclaim’ his workers.

Some of my least favorite photos are the ones below. Warning! They are distressingly horrific. Especially when Nazis are smiling about the people they’ve murdered.

These are heartbreaking, yet necessary to see.

The extermination of Jewish people didn’t simply start up one day. It was a long progression of de-humanization, which I see happening all over the world today by ‘nationalists’. Make no mistake: I abhor the evil propagandists who’ve swept up gullible people into their grasp.

But, as I said, I still have hope for them. If people like self-centered former Nazi Oscar Schindler can ‘change’, maybe they can, too.

Official museum site: https://muzeumkrakowa.pl/en/branches/oskar-schindlers-enamel-factory

Tip: Get tickets weeks early, or risk waiting in a long line.