The Holocaust Survival Story in Under the Eagle Pharmacy

The Holocaust Survival Story in Under the Eagle Pharmacy At 17, my mother, during the Krakow ghetto roundup, rushed to hide in Under the Eagle Pharmacy, while her parents were sent to Belzec death camp.

This page preserves her story and honors Pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz and his pharmacy, which saved many.

Hair dyes, cosmetics and everyday pharmacy products sometimes became unexpected tools that helped Jews conceal their ide...
17/09/2026

Hair dyes, cosmetics and everyday pharmacy products sometimes became unexpected tools that helped Jews conceal their identity and increase their chances of survival.

In his memoir book written in 1947, Pankiewicz described how ordinary items could take on extraordinary importance when appearance might determine whether someone was slected, recognized or allowed to pass.

The Pharmacy therefore provided more than conventional medicine. its shelves could offer practical means of protection in a world where survival often dependent on small details.

What had once been an everyday product could suddenly become part of an effort to save a life.

Can you imagine this 👆👆 in your neighborhood pharmacy today ?!




Photos :

Right photo (Green bottle ) . Private collection of my mother Irena Halpern -Cinowiec . Circa begging of 80's received in Krakow from friends of the Pharmacy including Tadeusz. It was (Still is today ) showcased in glass cabinet for over four decades .

Left photo Apothecary bottles in the museum.
Bottles displayed at the Eagle museum , Krakow - a visual reminder of the everyday pharmacy supplies that form the background of this story. Photograph of the museum display today.

Photo source: WhichMuseum photo gallery. Photographer and reuse permission are not confirmed .

🦅📍Tadeusz Pankiewicz owner and pharmacist of "under the Eagle" pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto, describes families trying ...
14/09/2026

🦅📍Tadeusz Pankiewicz owner and pharmacist of "under the Eagle" pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto, describes families trying to protect them despite overwhelming danger. Parents struggled to keep children quite during raids, hide them when possible, and shield them from scenes no child should have witnessed.

🦅📍The pharmacy staff understood that even small acts of resistance could offer a frightened family a little time, comfort and hope.

This accounts remind us that behind every historical statistic was a child with a name, a family and a future that should have been theirs. It was brutally stolen by N**i Germany.




Photo:

Three boys in the Krakow Ghetto. At the center is 12 year old Adam Wnuczek. The photograph preserves a glimpse of childhood and friendship amid persecution, fear and uncertainty.

Credit: Yad Vashem Photo Archive, archival reference 6400/4.

Shanah Tova🙏🍎🍏🍯 to our followers, commentators and all of you who keep this important conversation going!Thank you for s...
12/09/2026

Shanah Tova🙏🍎🍏🍯 to our followers, commentators and all of you who keep this important conversation going!

Thank you for sharing the message of the Holocaust.

Thank you for your attention to the Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto story of Heroism and Humanity, in the darkest times of modern history.

When in Krakow, Poland, please visit this unique Pharmacy museum.

Chag Sameach to you and your loved ones 🙏🍎🍏🍯

Maya




Photo

Gisela Stern created this Rosh Hashanah card for her parents in the Theresienstadt Ghetto on Sep. 30, 1943.

She made the flower with yarn so her blind father could feel it, while her sighted stepmother could read the greeting. This deeply personal card preserved love, faith and human dignity amid N**i persecution.

Credit: Gisela Stern, Theresienstadt Ghetto, September 30, 1943.
Gift of Gisela Stern Simon. Collection of the museum of Jewish Heritage - A living Memorial to the Holocaust .

The staff at the Under the Eagle pharmacy witnessed deportations to extermination camps. Tadeusz Pankiewicz memoir recor...
10/09/2026

The staff at the Under the Eagle pharmacy witnessed deportations to extermination camps.

Tadeusz Pankiewicz memoir records not only the events, but also the fear, confusion and heartbreak of those forced onto the transports. From the pharmacy windows on Plac Zgody, Pankiewicz and his three women collogues, saw families separated and people driven toward an unknown fate.

His count preserves the human reality behind the word "Deportation" - individual lives, families and communities being torn apart. By writing what he saw, he ensured that these moments would not disappear with the destruction of the Krakow Ghetto.




Photo:

Abounded belongings lie in the streets of the Krakow Ghetto following its liquidation , March 1943 - a stark reminder of the families who were forcibly removed.

Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtsey of Instytut Pamieci Narodowej (IPN).

🦅📍In "The Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto," a book written by the owner and Pharmacist in 1947, he writes that Medicines ...
07/09/2026

🦅📍In "The Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto," a book written by the owner and Pharmacist in 1947, he writes that Medicines relieved pain, but hope was often the greatest remedy!

🦅📍Many entered the pharmacy seeking both treatment and encouragement during impossible times.

My teen mother, Irena Halpern-Cinowiec, was one of those who entered the pharmacy weekly. Her mother was chronically ill and not mobile. She and her family lived in the Krakow Ghetto, in occupied Poland under N**i Germany.

🙏💚✡️My mother survived.

When in Poland, visit the authentic Pharmacy Museum.
Buy tickets online and book tours (5+ visitors ).




Photo: Original 1947 first edition.

Book cover Tadeusz Pankiewicz "Apteka w getcie Krakowskim" (The Pharmacy in the Krakow ghetto), first published in 1947 - one of the earliest eyewitness accounts of life and persecution inside the Krakow Ghetto.

Publisher: Instytut Wydawniczy "Swiat i Wiedza' Kraków.
Cover design by Mieczyslaw Watorski.

07/09/2026

Welcome Belle Shell, our new follower 🌻

The Under the Eagle pharmacy was one of the few places where Jews could briefly experience normal human interaction. Co...
04/09/2026

The Under the Eagle pharmacy was one of the few places where Jews could briefly experience normal human interaction. Compassion, medicine and dignity were offered together.

My teen mother, living in the Krakow ghetto with her parents, trusted the pharmacy staff at the most frightening time of her life. She picked up her chronically sick mother's medicines every week.
Fear was my mother's strongest memory of this dark time in her life.




Photo:

A wartime photograph of the main gate (Gate no. 1) of the Krakow Ghetto, at the entrance of Limanowskiego Street from Tynek Podgo'rski. The inscription identifies it as the Jewish residential district 1941.

Credit: National Archives in Krakow.

Plac Zgody was the heart of the Krakow Ghetto. Every day the pharmacy overlooked the human drama unfolding outside its w...
30/08/2026

Plac Zgody was the heart of the Krakow Ghetto. Every day the pharmacy overlooked the human drama unfolding outside its wimdows. Pankiewicz's obesrvations preserve moments that would otherwise have been lost forever!




Photo: Podgo'rze Plac Zgody with group of Jews gathered there, in the Krakow Ghetto, 1942 . Archive in Krakow reference 29/670/4922.

The legacy of the Eagle Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto reminds us that even in Humanity's darkest hours, individuals can ...
27/08/2026

The legacy of the Eagle Pharmacy in the Krakow Ghetto reminds us that even in Humanity's darkest hours, individuals can choose compassion over indifference. Their story deserves to be remembered and shared.

I, Maya, created this page as the daughter of my teen mother, Irena Halpern - Cynowiec , who, in 1942, found refuge in the pharmacy run by its owner and his three women pharmacists. They chose humanity and compassion over indifference, risking their lives.

I have a moral commitment to remembering and sharing those brave Polish humans who gave my mother an opportunity to survive🙏




Photo:

The staff of the "Under the Eagle " Pharmacy, Krakow, 1942. Top row Pharmacists :from left: Irena Drozdzikowska, Helena Krywaniuk and Aurelia Danek-Czort. Seated: Tadeusz Pankiewicz, owner and Pharmacist .

Credit: Museum of Krakow collection (Zbiory Muzeum Krakowa )
Fs15465-IX

Pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz described the deportations with painful honesty. He published his memoir in 1947 in Krakow...
19/08/2026

Pharmacist Tadeusz Pankiewicz described the deportations with painful honesty. He published his memoir in 1947 in Krakow.

His eyewitness testimony remains among the most valuable contemporary records of what happened in the Krakow Ghetto.

My teen mother described him as a compassionate person, one you could trust.

🦅📍When you visit the Apteka Pod Orłem / Muzeum Krakowa/under the Eagle Pharmacy, you can learn about his risky actions to help the Ghetto Jews, including my mother Irena Halpern - Cinowiec .

You can buy tickets online and book tours as well (5 people+).




Photo:

Tadeusz Pankiewicz 1942 pass permitting him to enter and leave the Krakow Ghetto. The passes were issued by the German occupation authorities in Krakow. This pass is from Nov.2 1942, and the letterhead is from the Governor of the Health Department.

NO pass meant NO entry to the Ghetto!

Credit: Krakowskie Muzeum Farmacji (Krakow Pharmacy Museum )

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Plac Bohatero’w Getta 18
Kraków
30-547

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