Tadeusz Pankiewicz

He was the only Pole who worked and lived with the residents of the “Jewish district” throughout its existence. The pharmacy became a meeting venue for Jewish intellectuals, scientists, and artists who lived in the ghetto. Pankiewicz and his assistants: Irena Droździkowska, Aurelia Danek and Helena Krywaniuk were liaisons between the Jews inside and outside the ghetto, passing on information and smuggling food. The pharmacist has seen the crimes that the occupants committed against the vulnerable Jewish population from the window of his on-call room. He witnessed brutal deportations of Jews to the death camp in Bełżec. At the request of his friends from ghetto, after the war, he published memoirs “The Krakow Ghetto Pharmacy”, in which he recalled the fate of the victims, especially those who had not survived, for whom no one else could speak up because the whole Jewish families had died. For his actions in aiding and rescuing Jews, he was awarded the medal “Righteous Among the Nations” on 10 February 1983. In 1983, at 18 Bohaterów Getta Square, in the place where Pankiewicz's pharmacy used to operate, the Museum was established.