Plac Bohaterów Getta

The Ghetto Heroes Square in Kraków during World War II was the center of the Jewish ghetto. It was here that the population selections and roll-calls took place, and there were also executions. Today it is a place of remembrance, a characteristic monument was erected on it, consisting of 33 large metal chairs and 37 small ones.

Chairs stand on the square in rows, just like the Jews during each roll-call. The creators of the monument's design were inspired by the written memories of Tadeusz Pankiewicz, the owner of the „Pod Orłem” pharmacy in Podgórze (now a museum). He described the square with the abandoned furniture of the ghetto inhabitants who were deported to concentration camps or murdered.

In the nineteenth century, the square served as a marketplace, it was called the Small Market Square, from the beginning of the 20th century it functioned as Plac Zgody (Agreement Square). Today's name was introduced after the end of the war. Every year, in March, on the anniversary of the last Jewish selection made in this place, the March of the Living sets out from the square.