Art plans for Schindler factory

Schindler is credited with saving 1,200 lives during World War II

The factory which belonged to Oskar Schindler - the man who saved hundreds of Polish Jews during the World War II - is to be turned into an art museum.

Mr Schindler, who was celebrated in the 1993 film Schindler's List, founded a factory during the war and employed Jews, saving them from the death camps.

He was credited with saving 1,200 Jewish lives.

The museum in Krakow will house modern works of art and a permanent exhibition dedicated to the factory owner.

Schindler's List went on to win a number of Oscars, including best picture.

The film had a huge impact when it was released

Krakow deputy mayor Tadeusz Trzmiel said: "The establishment of a museum in this historic factory is part of the rehabilitation of the industrial area of Zablocie."

The local authorities are hoping to secure European funding for 1.15m euro for the project, which is expected to be approved later this year.

The actions of Mr Schindler and his wife in freeing hundreds of Jews were not widely known until Steven Spielberg's film came out.

It told the true life story of how Mr Schindler persuaded an SS concentration camp commander that the Jewish prisoners were needed to work in his saucepan factory.

He died in 1974 at the age of 66.