Jewish Quarter in Krakow's Kazimierz District - Bustling and lively again!

Photo. Memorial to victims of the Krakow ghetto in the form of oversized bronze chairs on the Plac Bohaterow Getta.

The Nazis liquidated it only two years later on 13 March 1943. Most of the 17,000 ghetto inhabitants perished in the Nazi concentration camps, such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Krakow’s Plaszow whose site has been turned into a commemoration park with an impressive monument.

Kazimierz district has become newly fashionable in the recent decade, with its mushrooming cafes and nightlife spots.

Kazimierz district's recreated Jewish past and newborn reputation as a haven of artists and the young have made the rundown area near the Old Town trendy among tourists and the locals alike.

Kazimierz's Old Jewish Cemetery Remuh cemetry by the Remuh Synagogue at 40 Szeroka Street was named after the nickname of famous 16th-century rabbi and religious writer Moses Isserles.

Even today pious Jews keep coming to pray at his grave and the graves of their other great men who were buried here. The cemetery was used from 1551 to 1800. Its hundreds old tombstones, dating mostly from the Renaissance, as well as its history and surroundings make the Remuh Cemetery one of Europe's most interesting.

Stein Morten Lund, 29 July 2009

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