Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory Museum is one of Krakow's most visited and most acclaimed museums — and one of the best places in the city to understand daily life under Nazi occupation, not only the story that made it famous.
More Than a Schindler Museum
The museum occupies the real former administrative building of Oskar Schindler's enamelware factory ("Emalia") in the Zabłocie district, just across the river from Podgórze. Schindler, a German industrialist and Nazi party member, employed roughly 1,200 Jewish forced labourers in this factory and is credited with saving their lives by keeping them classified as essential workers — the story told in Thomas Keneally's book Schindler's Ark and Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List.
The permanent exhibition, run by the Historical Museum of Krakow, is titled "Krakow under Nazi Occupation 1939–1945", and it is broader than Schindler's story alone: expect immersive, room-by-room exhibits on the German invasion, daily life for Poles and Jews under occupation, the establishment of the ghetto in Podgórze, and the city's resistance movements — with Schindler's preserved office, and his famous desk, as one particularly moving stop among many.
How It Connects to Kazimierz & Podgórze
Visiting the factory museum after walking through Kazimierz and the site of the former ghetto in Podgórze (see our history of the Krakow Ghetto) gives the exhibition extra weight — you've already seen the streets and square the exhibits describe. This is why the museum works well as the final stop on a full-day Jewish heritage walk, as in our own Krakow & Jewish Heritage Private Walking Tour.
Planning Your Visit
- Tickets: Timed-entry advance booking is strongly recommended, particularly from spring to autumn — the museum frequently sells out.
- Time needed: Around 1.5–2 hours for the full exhibition.
- Format: Self-guided with included multimedia elements, or with an audio guide; a guide can introduce the historical context beforehand so your independent visit goes further.
- Location: Zabłocie district, a short taxi or tram ride from Kazimierz or the Old Town.
