Remembering the Holocaust

The people in these photographs are Holocaust survivors. They’re ‘Schindler Jews’, some of a group of twelve hundred Jewish men, women and children saved from World War II death camps by the German factory owner, Oskar Schindler.

When Krakow became the headquarters of the Nazi occupation during the war, Jewish people were herded across the river into a ghetto. Thousands were killed there. Many others – more than a million from throughout occupied Europe – were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz.

Tours to the former concentration camp are popular, but that wasn’t something we wanted to do – until we talked about why. And we decided then, that while remembering the Holocaust would be distressing, not forgetting it was the far greater priority.

And with the rise of nationalism in so many places around the world today, it seemed important to bear witness to the tragedy that was the Holocaust.

The Krakow Ghetto was established in March 1941; St Joseph's Church was just outside the boundary - the buildings on the left were inside the ghetto

15,000 people were crammed into a small area where 3,000 had lived previously

To reinforce the message of the fate that awaited its inhabitants, the ghetto wall was built in the shape of tombstones

People tried to adapt as best they could (this ghetto synagogue is now an art centre)

But conditions were terrible; overcrowding in the ghetto brought hunger and disease

Some of the country's finest Jewish doctors worked at the ghetto hospital but people rarely sought help here; regular 'fit for work' checks meant certain death for those who were seen to be unwell

Heroes Square was the place from which many Jews were transported to Auschwitz; the people had been told only that they were being relocated so they brought with them all they could carry - the chairs in the square represent the furniture and other items left behind as people were herded onto trains and transported to the camps

There were heroes in the wider community, too; this pharmacy inside the ghetto continued to operate throughout the war

The Catholic Polish pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz and his staff are credited with saving countless Jewish people

They risked their lives to hide Jews in the shop and to smuggle food and information

Though there were others, Oskar Schindler is probably the best known of those who rescued Jewish people during the war, thanks largely to the book and movie based on his actions

Schindler's factory was just outside the ghetto; the old administration building is now a permanent museum

Very deliberately, the swastikas here today are underfoot

Oskar Schindler's office as it was during the war

Schindler's story is not black and white; his efforts to employ Jewish workers were initially motivated by profit; later he fought hard to save as many people as he could

The factory area behind the admin building is now Krakow's Museum of Contemporary Art

Niusia Horowitz is the only surviving member the group - now 87, Niusia is still active in the community and regularly gives presentations at the museum and in other places; Niusia was 12 and her brother, Ryszard, was just five when they were saved by Oskar Schindler

There's a literary trail in Krakow that includes the Australian author Thomas Keneally; his book 'Schindler's Ark' was the basis for the movie starring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler

Birkenau, one of the camps that made up the Auschwitz complex; people were unloaded from trains onto the platform on the left

Auschwitz today is quiet, but there's no escaping the horror that was enacted here

Oskar Schindler saved 1200 people from this fate; others rescued many thousands more

Right at the end of the war, Schindler's Jews presented him with a ring bearing the inscription 'Whoever saves one life saves the world entire'

From that group of 1200 survivors alone, there are now more than 7000 descendants and, of course, that number will continue to grow. 'Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.'