Krakow Ghetto Heroes Square: A Guide to Plac Bohaterów Getta

What Is Krakow Ghetto Heroes Square? A Quick Answer for Podgórze Visitors

Krakow Ghetto Heroes Square, Plac Bohaterów Getta in Polish, sits in Podgórze, the district across the Vistula River from Kazimierz that the German administration converted into the Kraków Ghetto in 1941. Between 1941 and 1943, the square served as the ghetto's gathering point, where residents assembled with whatever belongings they could carry before transport to concentration and extermination camps. Today the square holds a memorial of 70 chairs and also functions as a working tram interchange. That combination matters for planning: this is an open public square with live traffic, not a closed-off park. For WWII history itineraries in Kraków, it anchors a route that also connects to Schindler's Factory nearby and to the broader Poland WWII history guide for national context.

The German Occupation and Formation of the Kraków Ghetto

German forces occupied Kraków in September 1939, and repressions against the city's Jewish community escalated within weeks.

• Forced labor requirements were imposed on Jewish residents.
• Jewish residents were required to wear armbands marked with the Star of David.
• German authorities confiscated Jewish-owned valuables, businesses, and properties.
• By May 1940, deportations had reduced Kraków's Jewish population from about 70,000 to roughly 15,000 residents.

From Small Market to Zgody Square: How the Name Changed

The square carried three names before its current one, each tied to a different period in Podgórze's history.

• Until around 1880: Mały Rynek, meaning Small Market Square.
• From 1917 to 1948: Zgody Square, meaning Square of Concord.
• From 1948 onward: Bohaterów Getta, meaning Heroes of the Ghetto Square, commemorating the Jewish residents who passed through it.

The Liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto, 1942-1943

The square, still named Zgody Square at the time, saw three major waves of deportation before the ghetto's final liquidation.

• Night of 31 May 1942: about 5,000 Jewish residents were deported to Bełżec extermination camp.
• End of October 1942: more than 7,000 residents were deported. The ghetto was then divided into Part A for those able to work and Part B for the elderly and ill.
• 13-14 March 1943: SS-Sturmbannführer Willi Haase oversaw the final deportations. Workers were sent to concentration camps including Auschwitz and Płaszów. Close to 2,000 people were murdered on site during this final action.

Understanding the Empty Chairs Memorial

The square's 2005 redevelopment removed the old bus station building and rebuilt it from scratch. Once construction finished, a memorial designed by architects Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Łatak was unveiled in the square. The installation totals 70 oversized chairs, commonly cited as a mix of 33 larger chairs and 37 smaller ones, positioned across the open square rather than grouped into rows. The design draws directly on a passage from Tadeusz Pankiewicz's book The Kraków Ghetto Pharmacy, which describes furniture being carried out into the square as houses were cleared after the last ghetto residents had been deported. The empty seats stand in for the people who once filled them, a physical reminder rather than a decorative feature. In 2006 the memorial received a special mention in the European Prize for Urban Public Space competition. In 2011 it won the Gold Award in the Urban Quality Award competition.

The Eagle Pharmacy (Apteka Pod Orłem): Tadeusz Pankiewicz's Legacy

At number 18 on the square stood the Eagle Pharmacy, run throughout the ghetto years by Tadeusz Pankiewicz. He was the only non-Jewish resident permitted to live and operate a business inside the ghetto walls. From behind the pharmacy counter he supplied medicine, offered a place of refuge, and helped pass underground news between residents. The building today houses a branch of the Krakow Museum (Muzeum Krakowa), with exhibits on the pharmacy's wartime role. The square itself is free and open at all times, but the pharmacy museum charges admission. Check the official Krakow Museum website for current 2026 opening hours, ticket prices, and any free-entry days before you go.

Planning Your Visit: Trams, Walking Routes, and Timing

The square functions as an active transit hub, so plan around both the memorial and the tram traffic crossing it.

The Memorial Circuit: Combining the Square with Nearby WWII Sites

Ghetto Heroes Square works best as one stop on a longer route through Podgórze's wartime sites. Schindler's Factory museum is about a five-minute walk from the square, making it a natural next stop after the memorial. Fragments of the original ghetto wall still stand on Lwowska Street and Limanowskiego Street, giving a physical sense of how the ghetto was enclosed. For the deportation story that continues past this square, the Płaszów concentration camp site received many of the workers sent from here in 1943. If you are comparing ghetto histories across Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising sites guide covers a different city's wartime geography. For a change of era entirely, the Rynek Underground Museum covers medieval Kraków rather than WWII history. Travelers extending their trip beyond Kraków can also plan around the Centennial Hall in Wrocław, a separate UNESCO-listed stop.

Visitor Etiquette and Mistakes to Avoid

Ghetto Heroes Square commemorates a site of mourning, not a photo backdrop.

• Avoid posed photos sitting on the memorial chairs; treat the installation as a monument, not a prop.
• Watch for active tram traffic crossing the square at all hours; it is a working transit hub, not a pedestrian-only zone.
• Visit outside peak tram commute hours if you want a quieter, less crowded experience.

Walking from Kazimierz: The Most Useful Route

The clearest walking approach starts in Kazimierz near Plac Wolnica or Corpus Christi Basilica, then follows Mostowa Street to the Father Bernatek Footbridge over the Vistula. After crossing into Podgórze, continue through the riverside streets toward Plac Bohaterów Getta rather than treating the square as an isolated tram stop. This route helps the geography make sense: Kazimierz was the historic Jewish quarter before the German occupation, while Podgórze became the enclosed ghetto area in 1941.

Allow roughly 15 to 25 minutes depending on where you start in Kazimierz. The walk is usually more meaningful than taking a short tram because it shows the physical separation created by the river and places the square within the wider Podgórze route. From the square, you can continue to the Eagle Pharmacy on the corner, the ghetto wall fragments on Lwowska or Limanowskiego streets, and then Schindler’s Factory in Zabłocie.

What to Expect Inside the Eagle Pharmacy Museum

The Eagle Pharmacy museum is worth adding if you want the square to feel less abstract. It is a compact Krakow Museum branch inside the former Apteka Pod Orłem at Plac Bohaterów Getta 18, so the visit focuses on rooms, objects, documents, and testimonies rather than a large chronological exhibition.

Inside, the recreated pharmacy setting helps explain why Tadeusz Pankiewicz’s position mattered: the counter, cabinets, medicines, and back rooms became part of the ghetto’s informal support network. Exhibits cover the pharmacy’s role as a meeting point, a source of medicine and hair dye, a place where news circulated, and a witness point during deportations from the square outside. Allow about an hour if you want to read the displays carefully, and visit it before or after standing among the chairs so the two sites reinforce each other.