Founded shortly after the German invasion of Poland, Plaszow was a Nazi concentration camp located in the southern suburbs of Krakow. Originally opened in 1940, Plaszow was intended to be a forced labor camp. However, in 1941, the camp was expanded and subsequently converted into a concentration camp, where from October 28, 1942, deportation of Jews from the Krakow ghetto began.

Plaszow was known as a concentration camp, supplying several military factories and a quarry with labor. The camp and life in it are shown in the movie Schindler's List (1993), which is based on the life of Oskar Schindler. The area which held the camp now consists of sparsely wooded hills and fields, with one large memorial to all the victims, erected in 1964, and several smaller ones as well. As the Plaszow area is now a nature preserve, the director Steven Spielberg built a camp replica in the Liban Quarry, some hundred meters away. We will visit all these points during the tour.