The Eagle Pharmacy: The Kraków Ghetto’s Only Pharmacy
On the square that was once the heart of the Kraków ghetto stands a small pharmacy with an extraordinary story: the Eagle Pharmacy, the only one inside the wartime ghetto, run by a Polish pharmacist who chose to stay and help. Today it is a moving little museum of those years. For the wider picture, see our Kraków travel guide and Podgórze guide.
Tadeusz Pankiewicz
When the Germans sealed the Kraków ghetto in Podgórze in 1941, the pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz was the only non-Jew permitted to remain, keeping his Eagle Pharmacy (Apteka pod Orłem) open on Zgody Square — today Ghetto Heroes Square. From here he and his staff supplied medicines, hid people, passed messages and bore witness to the ghetto’s destruction. Pankiewicz was later honoured as Righteous Among the Nations.
The museum
Now a branch of the Museum of Kraków, the pharmacy has been arranged to tell the story of the ghetto and of Pankiewicz’s work, using the original space, documents and testimonies. It is small and sobering, and it sits directly on Ghetto Heroes Square with its memorial of empty chairs — the two together make one powerful stop.
Practical tips
- Tickets. A modest fee, with a free day usually once a week; check current hours with the Museum of Kraków.
- Visit with the square. The Ghetto Heroes Square memorial outside is free and part of the same story.
- Respect. This is a place of memory — visit it quietly.
- Combine it with Podgórze and Schindler’s Factory nearby to follow the wartime story.
Frequently asked questions
Apteka pod Orłem, the only pharmacy inside the wartime Kraków ghetto, on today’s Ghetto Heroes Square in Podgórze. It is now a small museum, a branch of the Museum of Kraków, telling the story of the ghetto.
The Polish pharmacist who ran the Eagle Pharmacy and was the only non-Jew allowed to remain in the ghetto. He and his staff supplied medicines, hid people and bore witness, and he was later honoured as Righteous Among the Nations.
The original pharmacy space arranged with documents and testimonies about the ghetto and Pankiewicz’s work. Outside, on Ghetto Heroes Square, stands the memorial of empty chairs.
On Ghetto Heroes Square (Plac Bohaterów Getta) in Podgórze, a short walk from Schindler’s Factory.
A modest one, with a free day usually once a week. The memorial on the square outside is free to visit. Check current hours with the Museum of Kraków.
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