2. Żydowska Street

At the corner of Żydowska and Piekarska Streets and the Main Square, we can see a plaque commemorating the tragic events of June 1942. Between 11 and 19 June 1942, the Nazis carried out their ‘Aktion’ in Tarnów. They murdered over 7,000 Jews in the nearby forest of Buczyna in Zbylitowska Góra, and deported 12,000 to the death camp in Bełżec. For several hours, the Germans gathered thousands of people already condemned to death in the Main Square, killing some of them on the spot. If we look at the pavement just below the commemorative plaque, we can see a distinctive type of pavement. It is a piece of original paving from that period, deliberately left there as a silent witness to those events.

Before the Second World War, the buildings on both sides of the street were inhabited predominantly by Jews. A trained eye will still see traces of mezuzahs (Hebr. mezuzot). A mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with religious texts, inserted in a case and attached to the doorpost of a Jewish house. Some traces are still visible in this part of the city — authentic remnants of the former citizens of Tarnów. The signboards that we see are modern decorations, part of the set of a film shot here.