Exhibition depicting Jewish, Polish fate under Nazi occupation opens in Krakow

Exhibition on Krakow under Nazis opens in Poland

WARSAW, Poland — A new exhibition recounting the fate of Poles — both Jews and non-Jews — during World War II opened in southern Poland on Friday at the former factory used by Oskar Schindler.

“Huge numbers of visitors” came to see the exhibition — “Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939-1945″ organized by the city’s Historical Museum — on its opening day, museum spokeswoman Anna Gabrys told The Associated Press.

It opened at the building on Lipowa street in Krakow in which Schindler ran his factory during the war. He added production of munition for the German army, which gave the facility special protected status.

Photographs, films, witness testimony and multimedia presentations are displayed through 45 rooms to portray the ordeal of the city residents under Nazi occupation.

One theme is the role of Schindler, who employed Jews at his factory, saving them from transport to death camps. His story was told in Stephen Spielberg’s 1993 Oscar-winning movie “Schindler’s List.”

Most of Poland’s 3.5 million Jews died in the Holocaust under German occupation.