Schindler’s Factory in Krakow 

Oskar Schindler, his factory, and the fate of its Jewish workforce feature prominently in the museum. Roughly a sixth of the museum’s permanent exhibition is dedicated to them. The rest shows prewar Krakow, the German invasion in 1939, Krakow as the capital of Poland under the Nazi occupation, the sorrows of everyday living in the occupied city, family life, the wartime history of Krakow Jews, the resistance movement,  the underground Polish state, and lastly the Soviet capture of the city.

The centerpiece of the part of the exposition dealing with Oskar Schindler himself is his office fortuitously preserved over the intervening years. 

Oskar Schindler arrived to Krakow hot on the heels of the German invasion in September 1939. As a member of the Nazi party and an agent of the German military intelligence he managed to appropriate the factory which had been set up by a group of Jewish businessmen in 1937. Krakow’s two Jewish proprietors who became dependent on Schindler, Abraham Bankier and Samuel Wiener, provided him with necessary capital. The factory originally known under its Polish name as Fabryka Naczyn Emaliowanych i Wyrobow Blaszanych ‘Rekord’ was renamed Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (DEF). Under Schindler’s control the plant at 4 Lipowa street continued to produce cookware and varied metal vessels, primarily for the German army. He accomplished ambitious plans of the rapid expansion of production facilities. Schindler also succeeded in launching a munitions division so his factory was able to contribute directly to the Third Reich’s war effort as supplier of cartridge cases and fuses for bombs and artillery shells. He reduced costs by replacing the original Polish staff with cheap labor from the Krakow Jewish ghetto the Nazis organized not far from Schindler’s factory. When Germans liquidated the ghetto in 1943 and moved the remaining Jews to the Plaszow concentration camp, Schindler opened its branch on the premises of his factory complete with barbed-wire fences and watchtowers. 

In the face of the Soviet Red Army's advances Schindler relocated, with the blessing of the German authorities, his munitions business and its workforce in the late 1944 to the branch of Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp in Bohemia’s Brunnlitz. About 1,200 Jewish prisoners from Krakow survived there to be liberated by the Soviets on May 8, 1945. In 1993 Steven Spielberg immortalized Schindler’s Factory in his movie ‘Schindler's List’.

From 1948 to 2002 the retooled plant at 4 Lipowa street manufactured parts for telecommunications equipment produced by Krakow’s company Telpod.

In June 2010 the Schindler Factory (Fabryka Schindlera) opened as a branch of the City of Krakow Historical Museum. 

The historical museum’s facilities of Oskar Schindler’s Factory consists of three parts, namely its permanent show, space set aside for temporary displays, and the screening room. The permanent exhibition of Schindler’s Factory is entitled ‘Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945’ which correctly summarizes its contents. The screening room is meant as the venue for movies, lectures, meetings, and varied cultural or educational activities.

The museum at 4 Lipowa street is situated some three kilometers southeast from Krakow's Old Town historical center, a five minutes' drive barring traffic jams, across the Wisla river. The simplest access routes run through Most Kotlarski bridge east of Lipowa and Most Powstancow Slaskich west of it. Also, it isn't easy to find parking in the area. 

The nearest bus stop within walking distance of Schindler's Factory is Krakowska Akademia stop at Herlinga Grudzinskiego street. The closest tram stop is situated at Plac Bohaterow Getta square. 

GPS coordinates of Schindler's Factory are N50 02.840 E19 57.711   

From April 1st through October 31st the museum in Oscar Schindler’s Factory is open on weekends, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Mondays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. with the exception of the first Monday of every month when the museum closes at 2 pm. 

November through March the museum of Oscar Schindler’s Factory opens at 10 am and closes at 6 p.m. every day except Mondays when it's open from 10 a.m. to 2 pm. 

Note: visitors aren't let in later than ninety minutes before the closing time.

Ticket prices at Schindler's Factory . 

Individual visitors can see Shindler’s Factory free of charge on Mondays but entry is limited to a fixed quota for safety reasons. Otherwise a standard ticket costs 19 zlotys (PLN) while reduced rate is 16 zlotys. A family ticket costs 50 PLN. Guided tours in English – groups of twenty at least – cost 20 zlotys per person. Online ticket booking is possible at the website of the City of Krakow Historical Museum: www.mhk.pl 

Postal address of the museum in Schindler's Factory is Fabryka Schindlera, ul. Lipowa 4, 30-702 Krakow, Poland. Phone / fax (+48) 122571017 or 122570095 or 122570096. E-mail: fabrykaschindlera@mhk.pl

Oskar Schindler's Factory constitutes one of the branches of the City of Krakow Historical Museum (Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa) with the headquarters at 35 Rynek Glowny (central square).