6. Liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto, 1940-43
In August of 1940, the order was issued for the 60-80 thousand Jews living in Krakow to leave, allowing only those who worked in industries vital to the German war effort to remain. In March of 1941, the remaining Jews in Krakow, estimated to be about 15,000, were relocated to the Krakow Ghetto, which was a walled section of the city located in an industrial area. The Jewish workers in Schindler’s factories lived in the Ghetto and walked to and from their jobs every day. At the time Schindler employed about 1,000 Jews, out of a total workforce of about 1,600. Schindler expanded the services his company provided employees, including a medical clinic, dining facilities, and expanded work areas. He also provided enlarged office space for staff workers, allowing them to remain overnight whenever possible, rather than returning to the ghetto.
During the fall of 1941, the Nazis began removing the remaining Jews from the Ghetto, most of them being sent to the Belzec concentration camp. In the late winter of 1943, the remaining Jews who were able to work began construction of a new camp at Plaszow, those who were not capable of work were sent to the extermination camp. During the process of rounding up the remaining Jews, the Nazis killed hundreds in the streets, quelling resistance and imposing terror on those who remained. Schindler kept his employees within the factory to protect them from the SS violence in the streets of the Krakow Ghetto. That same month, March 1943, the Plaszow concentration camp was opened under the command of Amon Goth. Goth planned to move the factories supporting the German war effort to within the confines of the camp, which would keep the remaining Jews under the eyes of his guards at all times.