Schindler's Factory

The manufacturing plant at ul. Lipowa 4 was opened two years before the second world war. Established by three Jewish entrepreneurs, it became property of a Sudeten German, Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) in autumn 1939. Presumably a collaborator of the Abwehr, he had the additional freedom of action granted by NSDAP membership. Schindler employed Jews in his Deutsche Emalien Fabrik (DEF), generally known as Emalia, thus saving them from deportation and transportation to concentration camps. After the ghetto was established, the number of Schindler’s Jewish employees rose from 190 (1941) to 900 (1943). Following the extermination of the ghetto in March 1943, operating through a broad network of contacts and bribes, Schindler was allowed to open a subcamp of the Labour Camp in Płaszów. His workers lived in the sheds built on the premises of the factory. Sanitary conditions and notably food rations in the subcamp exceeded those in the camp.

Faced with defeat, the Nazis began preparing an evacuation. After the subcamp in Emalia was liquidated, Schindler decided to purchase a building in the Moravian town of Brünnlitz to open a munitions factory there and use the services of the Jews he previously employed at DEF. In this way, Schindler saved around 1100 lives.

These events became the basis of Steven Spielberg’s famous motion picture Schindler’s List (1993). To the end of his life, Schindler kept in touch with the Jews he saved, and was given the medal for the Righteous among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Institute. Following his wish, he is buried in the Catholic cemetery in Jerusalem.

Branch of the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków.

Listen more about the Oskar Schindler's Factory.



The file is a part of the Kraków, the Magical City audioguide, available to download at www.guidebuy.pl or to rent in the InfoKraków tourist information offices.

You will find more audio files attached to the descriptions of: Floriańska, Szeroka, Kanonicza Streets, Main Square, the Wawel castle and cathedral, as well as to the descriptions of Kraków's districts: Kazimierz, Podgórze and Zwierzyniec.