When my friend Mark hears that I spent Christmas in Krakow his first reference is to the Second World War, when Nazi forces established Krakow as a centre for their attempts to eradicate Jews as part of the so-called “Final Solution”.

Prior to the war, the Jewish population in Krakow was in the region of 68,000. Whilst estimates vary, this population constituted between a quarter and a third of the city’s population. Reading from her guidebook during our visit Judy, my sister-in-law, shares an estimate of just 300 Jews living in Krakow today.

The most limited research suggests a mixed history for the city’s Jews. On the one hand, it’s clear that they contributed significantly to establishing Krakow as a wealthy city. On the other hand there are reports over a number of centuries of tensions between Jews and non-Jews in the city. One report suggests that even today there are up to 1,000 Jews living in the city of whom about 800 choose not to identify themselves as part of the Jewish community.

We visit the Jewish quarter of the City on Saturday, 26th December. The main square is quiet though we catch glimpses of a number of boys playing outside one of the synagogues. We leave my nephew Edward in a cafe to read, returning to join him for lunch after walking round and visiting a former synagogue which has been turned into a museum. The factory owned by Schindler and at which “Schindler’s List” was filmed is not far away.

The cafe is next to the former bath house in the main square. Formerly three shops it is furnished with reminders of its history. One part of the cafe has two sturdy woodworking benches as tables, another has a sewing machine, a third has musical instruments.

My mother’s presence with us is a reminder that the events of the Second World War are within living memory – at least for some. I wonder what it must be like to be a Jewish resident of the city. I wonder what it must be like to be a non-Jewish resident who grew up in the midst of World War Two.