Oskar Schindler's Enamel Factory

The company First Little Polish Limited Liability Factory of Enamel Vessels and Tinware, Record, Limited Liability Company was established in March 1937 in Kraków, Poland by three Jewish entrepreneurs: Michał Gutman from Bedzin, Izrael Kahn from Kraków, and Wolf Luzer Glajtman from Olkusz. The partners leased production halls from a factory that produced wire, mesh, and iron products with sawtooth roofs and purchased a plot of land at ul. Lipowa 4 for their future base.

At this location, the company built a stamping room where metal sheets were processed, prepared, and pressed, a deacidification facility (varnishing) where the vessels were bathed in a solution of sulfuric acid to remove impurities and grease, and an enamel shop where enamel was laid in multiple layers, including a priming coat, a color layer, and a final protective coat.

Over time, the ownership of the company changed multiple times and the company's financial situation continued to deteriorate. In June 1939, the company filed for insolvency, which was officially announced by the Regional Court in Kraków.

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, marking the start of the Second World War. German troops entered the city of Kraków on September 6th, and it is around this time that Oskar Schindler, a Sudeten German who was a member of the Nazi Party and an agent of the Abwehr, arrived in the city. Using his position and power as a trustee of the German occupation forces, Schindler took over a German kitchenware shop on ul. Krakowska and, in November of that year, he also took over the receivership of the "Rekord" company in Zabłocie. Additionally, Schindler's factory also produced ammunition shells, which allowed him to classify his factory as an essential part of the war effort. He was able to establish a subcamp of the Płaszów forced labor camp within his factory, where the Jewish workers had limited contact with the camp guards.

In January 1940, Schindler changed the name of the factory to Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (DEF). Initially, the majority of the workers employed were Poles, but over time, the number of Jewish workers recruited through the ghetto wage office increased. Schindler's motivation for this was primarily economic, as employing Jews significantly reduced the costs of recruitment as they were not compensated for their work. For each Jewish worker, the factory director paid a small fee to the SS - 4 zlotys per day for a working woman and 5 zlotys per day for a working man. The Poles were primarily employed in administrative positions. The number of Jewish workers at DEF increased from over 150 in 1940 to around 1100 in 1944 (this includes workers from three nearby factories, who were housed in the sub-camp at DEF).

From the beginning of the factory's operation, Schindler used part of its profits to provide food for its Jewish workers. Despite the difficult working conditions, such as exposure to enamel furnaces and sulfuric acid, the workers at Schindler's factory received bigger food portions than in other factories based on forced labor. When the ghetto in Podgórze was liquidated in 1943, the Jewish workers were transferred to the Plaszow labor camp, which was several miles away from the factory. Schindler felt sorry for his workers and applied for a permit to establish a sub-camp of the Plaszow camp on the premises of his factory. He argued that the long distance the workers had to walk was affecting the factory's efficiency and with bribes, his plan came to life.

The sub-camp was located in Zabłocie, where employees of DEF and three neighboring companies producing for the German army were accommodated. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire, watchtowers were built, and an assembly square was situated between the barracks. The nutritional conditions were much better than in the Płaszow camp, thanks to the cooperation with Polish employees, who contacted people in the city and brought letters and food to the Jewish workers. The production in the factory and the camp was controlled and the commandant of the Plaszow camp, Amon Goeth, was often a guest there. Thanks to Schindler's efforts, the inspections were not so burdensome for the plant employees. However, as the Płaszow camp was transformed into a concentration camp in January 1944, the prisoners from Zabłocie were subject to permanent SS control.

As the eastern front approached Kraków, the Germans began to liquidate the camps and prisons in the east of the General Government. It was then that Oskar Schindler decided to evacuate the factory with its employees to Brünnlitz in the Czech Republic. This move saved the lives of many Jewish workers who would have otherwise been killed in the Holocaust.

After World War II ended in 1946, the factory was nationalized and taken over by the government. From 1948 to 2002, the former DEF facilities were used by a company called Krakowskie Zakłady Elektroniczne Unitra-Telpod (later renamed Telpod S.A.). This company manufactured telecommunications equipment. However, in 2005, the territory was returned to the city of Krakow and since 2007, the Krakow Historical Museum has been located there. The Museum has an exhibition called "Krakow. The period of occupation 1939-1945" which features a desk and stairs from the set of the movie Schindler's List as part of the tour. Visitors can see these items and learn about the history of the city during the occupation during World War II.