Tadeusz Pankiewicz

Tadeusz Pankiewicz

(Pankiewicz at his Pharmacy inside the Krakow Ghetto in 1941.)

He was a Polish Roman Catholic Pharmacist operating in the Krakow Ghetto during the Nazi German Occupation of Poland.

In 1933, he took over the Proprietorship of the "Pod Orłem" (Under the Eagle) Pharmacy founded in 1910 by his father Jozef.

The Pharmacy was situated on Plac Zgody (formerly Mały Rynek Square) in Krakow's Podgorze district.

Its prewar clientele included both Gentile Poles and Jews.

He was arrested by the Germans during the Sonderaktion Krakau (when the Germans arrested Krakow’s Intellectual Elite) on November 9, 1939 and released on December 5, 1939.

When the Germans created the Krakow Ghetto in March 1941 his Pharmacy was within the Ghetto’s Walls.

The Germans tried to force him to leave and start a Pharmacy outside the Ghetto, but Pankiewicz wanted to stay inside the Ghetto and help the Jews imprisoned there.

It was the only Pharmacy operating in the Krakow Ghetto and served its 15,000 Residents.

After he proved his "Aryan" origin, agreed to only employ "Aryan" Personnel and made a written statement that the Pharmacy Employees would not talk to Jews on other than strictly medical topics, Pankiewicz was given permission to operate the Pharmacy in the Ghetto.

Night duty in the Pharmacy was performed exclusively by Pankiewicz, so he actually lived in the duty room at the Pharmacy.

He became the only Gentile permanently residing in the Ghetto, which was a unique situation in the history of World War II.

From the first day of the Ghetto's existence in March 1941, he hosted its inhabitants in the Pharmacy, creating a meeting place for the cultural and professional elites of the Ghetto - a substitute for the free world.

He helped maintain professional and social contacts with the world outside the walls, obtaining passes for several Scientists, Doctors and Lawyers befriended by people locked in the Ghetto.

The often-scarce medications and pharmaceutical products supplied to the Ghetto's residents, free of charge, substantially improved their quality of life.

In effect, apart from health care considerations, they contributed to survival itself.

He also supplied hair dyes used by those disguising their identities and tranquilizers given to fretful Children required to keep silent during Gestapo raids.

Pankiewicz, while helping Jews, was directly threatened several times.

One of the most dangerous informers in the Krakow Ghetto, Szymon Szpitz, put Pankiewicz's name on the list of those sent to be deported in the autumn of 1941 for organizing illegal meetings in the Pharmacy for Ghetto Residents and for allowing them contact with the "Aryan" side of the city.

The intervention of Dr. Rozalia Blau, a surgeon from the Jewish Hospital, saved Pankiewicz's life.

During the October Deportation (1942) he was taken out of the Pharmacy by a German Police Patrol and attached to the transport of Jews to the Bełżec Death Camp, until SS-Sturmbannführer Willi Haase, commanding the Deportation, allowed him to return to the Pharmacy.

After the Liquidation of the Ghetto on March 13, 1943, he continued to work in the Pharmacy.

From November 1944, he supported Artists who had escaped from the Post-Uprising from Warsaw by inviting them to the Pharmacy and feeding them. He also helped fellow Jews returning from exile from the east.

He described his war memories in a book entitled "Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto", which had its first edition in 1947.

When the Communists nationalized Pharmacies in 1951 he became the Manager (no longer the Owner) of the Pharmacy his Family had created in 1910.

He stayed there until 1953 when he moved to another State-Owned Pharmacy where he worked until he retired in 1974.

He was watched by the Polish Communist Secret Police from the time of his first visit to Israel in 1957 until his death because they believed he was still helping Jews as well as Anti-Communists inside Poland.

For his activities to help and save Jews during the War, he was awarded the Medal "Righteous Among the Nations" on February 10, 1983.

In April 1983, the "Pod Orlem" Pharmacy, located at No.18 Plac Bohaterów Ghetta (Ghetto Heroes Plaza,), opened its doors as the Museum of National Remembrance, featuring the History of Krakow Jewry with a special focus on the Ghetto Period.

In 2003, it became affiliated with the Municipal Historical Museum of Kraków.

The wartime activities of Pankiewicz and his Staff are featured in an exhibition on the History of the Jewish Ghetto in Krakow.

He died in Krakow on November 5, 1993 at the age of 84.