Tadeusz Pankiewicz

Tadeusz Pankiewicz (November 21, 1908, Samborze, Poland - November 5, 1993), Polish pharmacist in the Kraków Ghetto, a "Righteous Among the Nations" who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.

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Early life

Pankiewicz studied at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. In 1933, he took over the proprietorship of the Apteka Pod Orłem ("Under the Eagle") pharmacy. The shop, situated on Plac Zgody (formerly Mały Rynek, the market square) in Krakow's Podgórze suburb, had been founded in 1910 by his father Jozef. Its clientele included both Poles and Jews.

In the Kraków Ghetto

When under the Nazi occupation of Poland in World War II, Podgórze was closed off in March 1941 as a ghetto for Krakow Jewry, there were four pharmacies owned by non-Jews within its walls. Pankiewicz was the only one to decline the Germans' offer of relocating to the "Aryan" side of the city. He was given permission to continue operating his establishment and reside on the premises, and his staff were given passage permits to enter and exit the ghetto.

The often-scarce medications and pharmaceutical products supplied to the ghetto's residents, often free of charge, substantially improved their quality of life. In effect, apart from health care considerations, they contributed to survival itself. In his published testimonies, Pankiewicz makes particular mention of hair dyes used by those disguising their identities and tranquilizers given to fretful children required to keep silent during Gestapo raids.

The pharmacy became a meeting place for the ghetto's intelligentsia, and a hub of underground activity. Pankiewicz and his staff, Irena Drozdzikowska, Helena Krywaniuk, and Aurelia Danek, risked their lives to undertake numerous clandestine operations: smuggling food and information, and offering shelter on the premises for Jews facing deportation to the camps.

Post-WWII

On February 10, 1983, Tadeusz Pankiewicz was awarded recognition as a "Righteous Among the Nations" for his wartime activities in rescuing Jews. In April of that year, he was present at the inauguration of the national heritage museum housed in the Apteka Pod Orłem building. Tadeusz Pankiewicz died in 1993 and is buried in Krakow's Rakowicki Cemetery.

The Pharmacy post-WWII

In April 1983, the "Pod Orlem" pharmacy, located at No. 18 Placu Bohaterów Ghetta (Ghetto Heroes Plaza, renamed), opened its doors as a "museum of national remembrance," featuring the history of Krakow Jewry and focusing on the ghetto period.

In 2003, it became affiliated with the Krakow municipal historical museum. The wartime activities of Pakiewicz and his staff are featured in an exhibition on the history of the ghetto.

The pharmacy features in the Academy Award-winning film, Schindler's List. The film's director Steven Spielberg donated $40,000 for the building's preservation, for which he was honored by the city of Krakow with its prestigious "Patron of Culture" award for the year 2004.

Bibliography

• The Cracow Ghetto Pharmacy (translation by Henry Tilles of Apteka w getcie krakowskim). New York: Holocaust Library, 1987. ISBN 0-89604-086-0, 089604 0879

References

• Bartoszewski, Wladyslaw and Zofia Lewin, Righteous Among Nations: How Poles helped the Jews, 1939 - 1945. London: Earlscourt Publications, 1969, pp. 222-226. Includes first-person testimony by Pankiewicz.
• Bartoszewski, Wladyslaw and Zofia Lewin, The Samaritans: Heroes of the Holocaust (translated from the Polish: Ten jest z ojczyzny mojej, 1966), ed. Alexander T. Jordan. N.Y.: Twayne Publishers, 1970, pp. 173-178.
• Bender, Sara and Shmuel Krakowski, eds., The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust. Poland, Volume II. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem Publications, 2004, p.579.