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On the 78th anniversary of the final liquidation of the Kraków ghetto, a flower wreath from President Andrzej Duda has been laid at the foot of the commemorative plaque at Ghetto Heroes Square in Kraków commemorating the dreadful event.
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major metropolitan Nazi ghettos created by Germany in the new General Government territory during the German occupation of Poland in WWII. It was established in 1941 for the purpose of exploitation, terror, and persecution of local Polish Jews.
About 20,000 Jews lived in the ghetto, which was later used as a staging area for separating the "able workers" from those to be deported to extermination camps in Operation Reinhard in Kraków.
The Ghetto was liquidated between June 1942 and March 1943, with most of its inhabitants, around 6,000, deported to the Bełżec extermination camp as well as to Płaszów slave-labour camp, and Auschwitz concentration camp, 60 kilometres rail distance.
On March 13 and 14, 1943 alone, about 1,000 people died during the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto.