Site of the former KL Plaszow camp

The site of the former German Nazi forced labour camp, and later concentration camp, KL Plaszow lies in Kraków's Podgórze district. The camp operated in 1942-1945. Today it is a place of remembrance run by the KL Plaszow Museum - Memorial Site.

What the camp was

The German Plaszow camp was established in October 1942 as a forced labour camp on the site of former Jewish cemeteries in Podgórze and Wola Duchacka, and on 10 January 1944 it was converted into a concentration camp. In mid-1944 it covered about 80 hectares. According to the KL Plaszow Museum, about 35,000 prisoners passed through the camp in 1942-1945, mainly Jews, as well as Poles and Roma; the museum estimates the number of people murdered in the camp at 5,000-6,000. The former camp site entered in the heritage register covers about 37 hectares and includes two Jewish cemeteries.

The museum and protection of the site

The site was first commemorated as a branch of the Museum of Kraków, and in 2021 the independent KL Plaszow Museum - Memorial Site in Kraków was established, jointly run by the city of Kraków and the minister responsible for culture. The former camp site is entered in the heritage register under number A-1120 (entry from 2002).

The open-air exhibition on the camp site

Since March 2024 an open-air exhibition titled “KL Plaszow. Place After, Place Without” has been presented on the site of the former camp. It consists of 14 information carriers in Polish, English and Hebrew, 41 field points and 3 archaeological windows. The route laid out by the exhibition takes about an hour. The site also contains seven monuments, and the roll-call square is marked with a gravel edging.

Practical information

• Entrances to the site: from Swoszowicka and Jerozolimska streets in Kraków. At the seven main entrances there are rules of conduct for the memorial site.
• According to the museum, the open-air exhibition is accessible around the clock and free of charge, and visiting on your own does not require a ticket. Guided tours and programmes for groups have a separate price list on the museum's website.
• Three flights of open-air steps lead to the higher parts of the site.
• Contact with the museum: sekretariat@plaszow.org, telephone 12 307 02 53. Check current information on accessibility at plaszow.org.
• Nearby there is also Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory, with a separate exhibition.