This is not a tourist attraction. It is not art. It is a scream. It is the absolute nothingness the Nazis left behind: a square filled with empty chairs. And each one of them represents a person who never had the chance to say goodbye. A child who never grew up. A mother who wiped away her son’s tears for the last time. A grandfather who once sat in his home chair – and never stood up again.
Plac Bohaterów Getta, in the Jewish district of Podgórze in Krakow, is one of those places that shatter your soul.
There are no voices, no tourist noise.
Only chairs. Many. Metal. Dark. Still.
Your eyes count them unconsciously. As if you’re counting absences. But no matter how many you count, they’re never enough. Because there were so many more. Over 15,000 Jews were packed here before being transported to extermination camps. Many were executed right there, on this very square.
Roman Polanski, the artist and Holocaust survivor, once said that life in the ghetto stopped suddenly – as if time itself had frozen. That time is still frozen. And it stands before you – in the shape of a chair.
This is not a monument
It is guilt. Some trips open your eyes. But sometimes, they open wounds that are not your own – wounds we must carry.
So that we never sink into darkness again. If you ever find yourself in Krakow, do not pass this square by.
Don’t just say, “what a powerful photo,” and leave. Sit for a while. Be silent. And listen to those who can no longer speak.
Travel is not always an escape. Sometimes, it’s a return to the truth.
📍 Plac Bohaterów Getta, Podgórze, Kraków
📷 Don’t forget to take a photo – but more importantly, don’t forget to remember.
