Eagle Pharmacy: Holocaust Heritage Site in Krakow

The Eagle Pharmacy (Apteka Pod Orłem) at Plac Bohaterów Getta 18 was the only pharmacy inside the Krakow Ghetto, and its owner, Tadeusz Pankiewicz, was the only Pole permitted to live within the ghetto walls. From March 1941, when the Germans established the ghetto in Podgórze, until its liquidation in March 1943, he and his staff used the pharmacy to help the Jews imprisoned there. Today the reconstructed interior is a small museum of remembrance, a branch of the Museum of Krakow, standing on the square from which the Germans deported the ghetto's residents.

What is the Eagle Pharmacy museum?

The museum recreates the wartime pharmacy: the counter, the shelves of jars, the back rooms where people met, hid and exchanged news. Drawers and cabinets open to reveal documents, photographs and testimonies, so the small space repays slow exploration. Through the windows you look out on Ghetto Heroes Square and its memorial of 33 chair monuments in cast iron and bronze and 37 ordinary chairs that anyone may sit on, which places the pharmacy's story in its exact setting.

History of the Eagle Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto

Józef Pankiewicz owned the pharmacy from 1909, when Podgórze was a working-class town. His son Tadeusz was running it in March 1941, when the Nazi German occupiers enclosed the surrounding streets as the Krakow Ghetto, crowding between 11 and 20 thousand Jews, according to Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, into an area that had housed about 3,000 people. Pankiewicz declined the chance to relocate and kept the pharmacy open through the ghetto's entire existence. He and his three staff supplied medicines, often free of charge, provided sedatives for children who had to stay silent during roundups and hair dye for those trying to alter their appearance, passed information, and offered a place of relative safety. From the pharmacy windows he witnessed the deportations of 1942 and the liquidation of the ghetto in March 1943, and he later recorded what he saw in his memoir, The Cracow Ghetto Pharmacy. In 1983 Yad Vashem honored him as Righteous Among the Nations.

What to see in the Eagle Pharmacy

• The reconstructed pharmacy rooms: fitted out as in the war years, from the sales room to the laboratory and duty room.
• Interactive drawers and cabinets: opening them reveals photographs, documents and personal stories of the ghetto's residents.
• Pankiewicz's account: excerpts from his memoir and testimonies that describe daily life and death in the ghetto with documentary precision.
• The view of the square: the windows frame Ghetto Heroes Square, linking the exhibits directly to the place where the events occurred.

Eagle Pharmacy opening hours and tickets

This is a compact museum; most visitors spend 30 to 60 minutes inside. The museum is open Wednesday to Sunday, 9:00 to 17:00, with last admission 30 minutes before closing, and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. A regular ticket costs 22 PLN and a reduced one 16 PLN, and Wednesday is the free admission day; check current hours and prices on the Museum of Krakow website before you visit. A ticket to Schindler's Factory also admits you to the Eagle Pharmacy within 7 days of the visit date printed on it. The pharmacy itself continued to operate here after the war until 1967. Its furnishings were later destroyed, and the furniture, equipment and vessels you see today were reconstructed from surviving documentation and witness accounts. Exhibits are captioned in Polish and English.

How to get to the Eagle Pharmacy

Trams from the city centre and Kazimierz stop at Plac Bohaterów Getta, directly by the museum; on foot from Kazimierz, cross the Father Bernatek footbridge and continue on foot for about nine minutes. Combine the pharmacy with the ghetto wall fragments on Lwowska and Limanowskiego streets, described on our Podgórze ghetto district page, and with the Schindler's Factory Museum ten minutes away. Our Krakow Ghetto tour visits these sites by electric cart with commentary.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Tadeusz Pankiewicz?

A Polish pharmacist who ran the Eagle Pharmacy inside the Krakow Ghetto from 1941 to 1943, helping its residents with medicines, information and shelter. Yad Vashem recognized him as Righteous Among the Nations in 1983.

Why was the pharmacy important?

It was the only pharmacy inside the ghetto and one of the few places where Jewish residents could find practical help, medicines and news. Its back rooms served as a meeting point throughout the ghetto's existence.

How long does a visit take?

About 30 to 60 minutes. The museum is small, but the drawers, documents and testimonies reward unhurried attention.

Is the Eagle Pharmacy suitable for children?

The exhibition is quiet and text-based rather than graphic, but its subject is the Holocaust. It works best for teenagers and older children who can engage with the history.

What else is nearby?

The chair memorial (33 chair monuments and 37 ordinary chairs) is directly outside on Ghetto Heroes Square, the ghetto wall fragments on Lwowska and Limanowskiego streets are a short walk away, and Schindler's Factory Museum is about ten minutes east in Zabłocie.

Photo: Mister No, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.