KrakowInformer.com

Current owner wants the city to take over, as villa needs renovation urgently

Villa's view from WW II times

Amon Goeth hosting guests in his villa

Witnesses confirm Goeth shot people for fun

Red House is visited by many every day

The notorious villa in 22 Heltmana St. occupied by Amon Goeth during his stay as a head of Nazi concentration camp in Plaszow area has been one of the sceneries for events depicted in an Oscar winning motion picture ‘Schindler’s List’. It was from its balcony that the sadist commandant shot prisoners with his riffle for sheer fun. Now the current owner, Jan Grabiec, wants to sell the property. The advertisements are available on the internet and in newspapers, and as he says, there are plenty of potential buyers.

 - There is hardly a day when I tourist from all over the world would not come to the house to see this place. They ask whether the house will one day become a part of regular museum exhibition or a branch of the Schindler’s Factory museum – says Grabiec. – I walk them around for free and I do not advertise my activity, as I treat it as an education mission – he stresses.

Jan Grabiec, a businessman from Makow Podhalanski, a small town in the Tatra mountains has bought the villa in 1992, completely unaware of the identity of its past occupant. He realized what the house really is when set decorators of ‘Schindler’s List’ came to see what Amon Goeth’s house looked inside. Almost ten years ago Grabiec decided to establish a foundation, Schindler’s Institute to promote education activities connected with Plaszow camp. The villa was to become its seat, housing exhibition and workshops. The villa has not been included in land development of Plaszow camp premises being drawn up since two years and its condition has severely deteriorated. Jan Grabiec assures that lest the city declared to buy the villa for education purposes, he is willing to offer a very attractive price, yet he doesn’t want to share any figures.

 - The city is not interested with buying Amon Goeth’s villa, as we do not intend to exhibit a house inhabited and used by a mass murderer – says Filip Szatanik, a spokesman for Krakow municipality. – The owner of the house wants merely to profit from tragic events connected with the house – says Szatanik.

A special meeting will be held next week to decide on the future of a previously launched revitalization program for Plaszow camp premises that was stopped two years ago.