Kazimierz and the Ghetto

So as I said we took a golf buggy ride through Kazimierz (the jewish district) which we were staying at the edge of. We took in a few sights but the sad thing is the population of jews is still vastly reduced and the synagogues once the grandest and fullest of artefacts were pillaged. As we crossed the river precariously in the middle of the road heading to see Oscar Schindler's factory on the outskirts of the Ghetto about whom Beccy quietly remarked "Well he wasn't the whitest of white was he!". Some fragments of the 3meter high wall to keep the jews in still remain. Rounding a corner we happened upon the main square where many of the jews were rounded up and just shot by the SS. Back across the river our magical mystery journey continued and we were invited to dismount the buggy to enter "The New Synagogue" so named not because it is post-war but because it is the place of worship for the less orthodox jews. Used by the Nazis as a stable would you believe it was certainly one of the most astounding sights of the area. Restored it seemed by money mainly from the USA.
The Ghetto and Kazimierz districts were much of the set for "Schindler's List" as it happens. As you drive around you get the feeling that there's a sort of lack of lustre. Also an unwillingness to let go of the scars of the past, certainly it seems the tourist industry is almost geared up to holocaust tourism, it was a bit odd. But at night the whole district comes alive with nightlife. We wended away some hours in those restuarants and bars, but I suppose that's a different story. I'll leave you with a brief photographic tour.

Schindler's infamous pan factory, later making munitions,	The Ghetto's wall, resembling tombstones,
Inside the New Synagogue...
... some ornate detail of the ceiling.