[5][6] Frank's reason for removing Jews from the Jewish quarter was that the area "...will be cleansed and it will be possible to establish pure German neighborhoods..." within Kraków.

Meanwhile, 15,000 Jews were crammed into an area previously inhabited by 3,000 people who used to live in a district consisting of 30 streets, 320 residential buildings, and 3,167 rooms.

Small sections of the wall still remain today, one part is fitted with a memorial plaque, which reads "Here they lived, suffered and perished at the hands of Hitler's executioners.

"[3][18] Young people of the Akiva youth movement, who had undertaken the publication of an underground newsletter, HeHaluc HaLohem ("The Fighting Pioneer"), joined forces with other Zionists to form a local branch of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB, Polish: Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa), and organize resistance in the ghetto, supported by the Polish underground Armia Krajowa.

The group carried out a variety of resistance activities including the bombing of the Cyganeria cafe – a gathering place of Nazi officers.

[22] This Jewish Council was in charge of the inhabitants of the ghetto but received many orders from local Nazi officials, even though it retained some degree of autonomy.

Jews in the Kraków ghetto were required to wear a Star of David on their arm, identifying them as being Jewish, which led to the revoking of most rights.

[27] As time went on, Jews needed to obtain permits in order to enter and exit the ghetto, robbing them of any freedom they felt they had left at this point.

Finally, there was a ghetto pharmacy, which was a place where people could go to discuss problems, read underground and official newspapers and learn the realities of what was happening and what atrocities they were living through.

[30] Street songs are a sub-genre of ghetto music with four dominant themes: hunger, corrupt administration, hope for freedom and a call for revolt.

Many of the musicians were forced to watch the murder of their families and friends due to the Nazi's insistence that the prisoner-musicians play music while the other prisoners were marched to the gas chambers.

[32] In order to pass time while trapped in these horrendous conditions, a lot of Jewish children in the Kraków ghetto played the violin and any other instruments they had access to.

[32] Music proved to be an instrumental aspect of cultural life in the Kraków ghetto that aided in keeping the spirits of Jews up as much as possible during such low and awful times.

[35] Eventually establishing a magazine, the groups initially focused on working with the Polish Underground and the Communist Partia Robotnicza (PPR).

Heszek Bauminger fought for the Polish army at the beginning of the war, and despite participating in the Social Zionist Hashomer Hatzair group, he moved his allegiances to communism.

[42] Significantly, composed of members of the Akiva Zionist youth movement, Hahalutz Halochem worked with Iskra along with communist to stage the Cyganeria bombing.

[45] Ultimately, the Hahalutz Halochem and Iskra resistance groups bombed Cyganeria on December 22 and killed from 7 to 70 Germans and injured many others.

Hahalutz Halochem was quickly subdued by the Nazis – due to Appel and Waisman – but better security habits protected Iskra for a limited time.

The scarce medications and tranquillizers supplied to the ghetto's residents often free of charge – apart from health-care considerations – contributed to their survival.

In recognition of his heroic deeds in helping countless Jews in the ghetto during the Holocaust, he was bestowed the title of the Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem on February 10, 1983.

[18][53] The list of several dozen Polish Righteous from Kraków,[54] includes Maria and Bronisław Florek who lived at Czyżówka Street and saved Goldberger and Nichtberger families.

Notably, Maria Florek smuggled forged identity papers procured at the Emalia Factory of Oskar Schindler (without his awareness), for the Jews hiding on the 'Aryan side' of Kraków.

[55] Władysław Budyński, who provided help without remuneration even to complete strangers, ended up marrying a Jewish girl, Chana Landau in 1943, but they were caught by Gestapo in 1944 and deported to different concentration camps.

[56] Polish gynaecologist Dr Helena Szlapak turned her home at Garbarska Street into a safe house for trafficked Jews and distribution of falsified documents as well as secret messages and storage of photographs from Auschwitz.

[59] In Zegota, historians assert that Polish – Jewish relations were strong before the war, and Żegota became involved to strengthen the organically arising aid.

Several Żegota members – Jozefa Rysinska, Mieczyslaw Kurz, Tadeusz Bilewicz, Zygmunt Kuzma, and Ada Prochnicka – facilitated transport of supplies and overall aid in the camps.

When being interviewed by Spielberg before the making for the film, Burkhut told of a young girl wearing a pink coat, no older than four, who was shot by a Nazi officer right before his eyes.

[citation needed] Other notable people include Mordechai Gebirtig, who was one of the most influential and popular writers of Yiddish songs and poems.

[67] Second lieutenant Jerzy Zakulski, an attorney, and member of the National Armed Forces (Narodowe Siły Zbrojne, NSZ) in German-occupied Kraków was sentenced to death by Stalinist officials and executed in Soviet-controlled postwar Poland on trumped-up charges of being an enemy spy.

[69] In 1940 Edward Mosberg, at the time 14 years old, and his immediate family, grandparents, cousins, and aunt were moved into one small apartment in the Kraków Ghetto.