The real Oskar Schindler? (and Larna's photos of Krakow)

Yesterday we did a walking tour of "Jewish Krakow" which was mainly focused on the Jewish quarter (Kazimierz). Our guide told us that before the war there were something like 70,000 jews in Krakow, a community dating back to the 14th century. Now there are just 97 left.

We are doing these free walking tours - most of the major cities seem to have them. You basically pay what you feel, which means that the guides try and be as interesting and entertaining as possible. They also tend to be controversial and say things like "now do you want to hear the real story about so and so..."

Our guide yesterday talked a lot about Oskar Schindler. His question was: "Was he a hero or not?" Among the things he told us were that yes, Schindler did save lives (so he is a hero), but that there was no "list" as in the one drawn up by Isaak Stern in the movie. Those who wanted to escape the camps had to pay Schindler a lot of money, and even those who did, many still ended up being sent to their deaths. Furthermore after the war (all this, according to our guide) Schindler was living in Argentina and was penniless. He apparently wrote to the Israeli government and demanded they pay him back for all the money he spent saving jews.

His other main point was that even if Schindler did save jews, there were many others who were equally, if not more brave, but did not receive the recognition. "Schindler just had better PR," the guide said.

Our tour ended in the Podgorze district, across the river, the site of the Krakow ghetto, where thousands of Jews were killed or sent to the camps. We were huddled in a shelter as it was raining and outside there was an exhibition of chairs on the square dedicated to those who died in the ghetto - the Nazis made the jews throw out all their furniture, as they believed that they hid their jewels inside their chairs, couches and tables.

Larna has been taking some great photos around Europe. Here are just a few she took around Krakow: