Lecturer: Mgr.
Robert Řehák, Charles University of Prague and Academy of Sciencies
Source: "Prague", in: Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol.
13, Keter Jerusalem, pp. 964-977.
Homepage: www.etf.cuni.cz/~rehak/czechjews
PRAGUE
(Czech Praha), capital of Czech Republic; it has the oldest Jewish community in
Bohemia and one of the oldest communities in Europe, for some time the largest
and most revered. Jews may have arrived in Prague in late Roman times, but the
first document mentioning them is a report by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub from about 970. This may be
interpreted as showing that Jews had either settled in Prague or carried on
business there without necessarily settling permanently. The first definite
evidence for the existence of a Jewish community in Prague dates to 1091. From
an analysis of medieval commerce in Prague it is reasonable to assume that its
beginnings date from about the middle of the tenth century. Jews arrived in
Prague from both the East and West around the same time. It is probably for
this reason that two Jewish districts came into being there right at the
beginning, one in the suburb of the Prague castle (Suburbium Pragense)
and the other close to the second castle, Wissegrad (Vicus Wissegradensis).
The
relatively favorable conditions in which the Jews at first lived in Prague were
disrupted at the time of the First Crusade in 1096. The Crusaders murdered many
of the Jews of Prague, looted Jewish property, and forced many to accept
baptism. During the siege of Prague castle in 1142, the oldest synagogue in
Prague and the Jewish quarter below the castle were burned down and the Jews
moved to the right bank of the river Moldau (Vltava), which was to become the
future Jewish quarter, and founded the "Altschul" ("Old
Synagogue") there.
The
importance of Jewish culture in Prague is evidenced by the works of the
halakhists there in the 11th to 13th centuries. The most celebrated was Isaac
b. Moses of Vienna (d. c. 1250) author of Or Zaru'a, a native of
Bohemia, who spent part of his life in Prague. Since the Czech language was
spoken by the Jews of Prague in the early Middle Ages, the halakhic writings of
that period also contain annotations in Czech. From the 13th to 16th centuries
the Jews of Prague increasingly spoke German. At the time of persecutions which
began at the end of the 11th century, the Jews of Prague, together with all the
other Jews in Europe, lost their status as free people. From the 13th century
on, the Jews of Bohemia were considered servants of the Royal Chamber (servi
camerae regis). Their residence in Prague was subject to the most
humiliating conditions (the wearing of special dress, segregation in the
ghetto, etc.). The only occupation that Jews were allowed to adopt was
moneylending, since this was forbidden to Christians and considered dishonest.
Socially the Jews were in an inferior position, but economically many of them
were relatively well off. Against payment of high taxes they were protected by
the king by means of special privileges (e.g., the privilege issued by P1emysl Ottokar II in 1254).
Protection
by the kings made it possible for larger numbers of Jews to settle there, particularly
from Germany. In the 13th century a new Jewish settlement was founded in
Prague, in the vicinity of the Altneuschul (the "Old-New Synagogue"),
construction of which was completed in 1270. The synagogue, which still exists,
is the oldest remaining in Europe. By the 13th century the Jewish community of
Prague owned a cemetery which as then situated outside the city walls (in the
present Vladislav street), and also served other Jewish communities in Bohemia.
It was sold, under pressure, to the citizens of Prague as a building plot in
the 15th century.
The
community suffered from persecutions accompanied by bloodshed in the 13th and
14th centuries, particularly in 1298 and 1338. Charles IV (1346–78) protected
the Jews, but after his death the worst attack occurred in 1389, when nearly
all the Jews of Prague fell victims. The rabbi of Prague and noted kabbalist
Avigdor Kara, who witnessed and survived the outbreak, described it in a selihah: Et Kol ha-Tela'ah. It was also described in a
Christian work Passio Judaeorum Pragensium secundum Joannem rusticum
quadratum. Under Wenceslaus IV the Jews of Prague suffered heavy material
losses following an order by the king in 1411 canceling all debts owed to Jews.
At the
beginning of the 15th century the Jews of Prague found themselves at the center
of the Hussite wars (1419–36; see Hussites). An analysis of Hussite biblical
interpretation shows possible Jewish influence. The attitude of German Jews
toward the Hussites reveals a certain sympathy on the part of the Jewish
communities for this movement (as expressed, e.g., by Jacob b. Moses Moellin,
the "Maharil" of Cologne). The attitude of the Hussites to the Jews
was not entirely friendly. Some Hussite ideologists (e.g., Jacobellus of St1Ebro (Mies) in the treatise De
usura) demanded that Jewish moneylending be prohibited. However, no such
prohibition was ever issued in Prague during the time of the Hussites. The Jews
of Prague also suffered from mob violence (1422) in this period. The unstableconditions in Prague compelled many Jews to emigrate. Nevertheless, the Jewish
community continued to exist there throughout the Hussite period and this in
itself may be considered proof of the relatively tolerant attitude of the
Hussites toward the Jews.
The
position of the Jews in Prague in the second half of the 15th century remained
insecure. There were also attacks in that period (as in 1448 and 1483).
Following the legalization, at the end of the 15th century, of moneylending by
non-Jews in Prague, the Jews of Prague lost the economic significance which
they had held in the medieval city, and had to look for other occupations in
commerce and crafts. Thus the Jews began to compete economically with the
citizens, at a time when the traditional crafts were in a state of crisis.
The
tension between the Jews and the citizens brought about a considerable change
in the position of the Jews in Prague. From the beginning of the 16th century
the citizens repeatedly attempted to obtain the expulsion of the Jews from the city.
Their demands to this effect, in 1501, 1507, 1517, etc., were unsuccessful,
however. Despite the growing tension between the Jews and the citizens of
Prague, the position of the Jews began to improve at the beginning of the 16th
century, mainly owing to the assistance of the king and the nobility. The Jews
found greater opportunities in trading commodities and monetary transactions
with the nobility. As a consequence, their economic position improved. The
number of Jews in Prague increased from the beginning of the 16th century. In
1522 there were about 600 Jews in Prague, but by 1541 they numbered about
1,200. At the same time the Jewish quarters were extended. At the end of the
15th century the Jews of Prague founded new communities in the New Town and on
the "Kleinseite." At the beginning of the 16th century they
left these districts and concentrated on extending the Jewish quarter in the
Old Town. At the turn of the 15th and early in the 16th centuries they rebuilt
the devastated Altschul and built the Pinkas Synagogue (the construction of
which was completed in 1535).
Under
pressure of the citizens, King Ferdinand I was compelled in 1541 to approve the
expulsion of the Jews. The elegy Anna Elohei Avraham, composed by
Abraham b. Avigdor, is related to that expulsion. The Jews had to leave Prague
by 1543, but were allowed to return in 1545. Following the defeat of the first
anti-Hapsburg rebellion in Bohemia in 1547, in which the towns played an
important part, the latter lost a great deal of their political importance in
the country and were no longer able to threaten the Jews of Prague seriously.
However, in 1557 Ferdinand I once again, this time upon his own initiative,
ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Prague. They had to leave the city by 1559.
Only after the retirement of Ferdinand I from the government of Bohemia were
the Jews allowed to return to Prague in 1562.
The
progress of the Jewish community of Prague had been noticeable also in the
cultural sphere even before their expulsion when the Gersonides
(successors of Gershom Kohen) founded a Hebrew printing establishment before
1512 (see Hebrew printing in Prague, below). During the reign of Rudolf II
(1576–1611), who transferred his court to Prague, and of his successor Matthias
(1611–19), the position of the Jews was particularly favorable. L. Zunz called
that period the golden age of Prague Jewry. Some Jews attained fabulous wealth
and became the patrons of the Jewish community, notable among them Marcus
Mordecai Meisel (1528–1601), the Gersonide Mordecai Zemah Kohen (d. 1592), and Jacob Bassevi von Treuenberg (d.
1634).
The
favorable position of the Jewish community of Prague during the reign of Rudolf
II is reflected also in the flourishing Jewish culture. Among illustrious
rabbis who taught in Prague at that time were Judah Loew b. Bezalel (the
"Maharal"); Ephraim Solomon b. Aaron of Luntschitz; Isaiah b. Abraham
ha-Levi Horowitz, who taught in Prague from 1614 to 1621; and Yom Tov Lipmann
Heller, who became chief rabbi in 1627 but was forced to leave in 1631. The
chronicler and astronomer David Gans also lived there in this period. At the
beginning of the 17th century about 6,000 Jews were living in Prague. To extend
the Jewish quarter the community acquired in 1627 the so-called Lichtenstein
houses, thus almost doubling the area.
In 1648
the Jews of Prague distinguished themselves in the defense of the city against
the invading Swedes. In recognition of their acts of heroism the emperor
presented them with a special flag which is still preserved in the Altneuschul.
Its design with a Swedish cap in the center of the shield of David became the
official emblem of the Prague Jewish community.
After the
Thirty Years' War, government policy was influenced by the Church
Counter-Reformation, and measures were taken to separate the Jews from the
Christian population, to reduce the number of Jews and segregate them in
ghettos, to limit their means of earning a livelihood, and to extort larger
contributions and higher taxes from them. The ultimate aim of this
"anti-Semitism of the authorities" was to reduce the importance of
the Jews in Prague. A number of resolutions and decrees were promulgated; among
them the resolution of the provincial diet of Bohemia passed in 1650, and the
Familiants Law of 1727 were particularly oppressive. According to the latter
only the eldest son of every family was allowed to marry and found a family,
the others having to remain single or leave Bohemia.
In 1680,
more than 3,000 Jews in Prague died of the plague. Shortly afterward, in 1689,
the Jewish quarter burned down, and over 300 Jewish houses and 11 synagogues
were destroyed. The authorities initiated and partially implemented a project
to transfer all the surviving Jews to the village of Lieben (LibMn) north of Prague, later a suburb
of the capital. The clergy fanned anti-Jewish feelings. Great excitement was
aroused in 1694 by the murder trial of the father of Simon Abeles, a
12-year-old boy, who, it was alleged, had desired to be baptized and had been
killed by his father. Simon was buried in the Tyn (Thein) church, the greatest
and most celebrated cathedral of the Old Town of Prague. Concurrently with the
religious incitement against the Jews an economic struggle was waged against
them.
The
anti-Jewish official policy reached its climax after the accession to the
throne of Maria Theresa (1740–80), who in 1744 issued an order expelling the
Jews from Bohemia and Moravia. This was actually carried out against the Jews
of Prague, who were banished (1745–48) but were subsequently allowed to return
as a result of influential intervention on their behalf, and after they
promised to pay high taxes. In 1754 a great part of the Jewish quarter burned
down. Despite all these persecutions Jewish culture continued to flourish in
Prague. In the Baroque period noted rabbis were Simon Spira; Elias Spira; David
Oppenheim; and Ezekiel Landau, chief rabbi and rosh yeshivah
(1755–93).
The
position of the Jews greatly improved under Joseph II (1780–90), who issued the
Toleranzpatent of 1782 and other decrees connected with it. The new
policy in regard to the Jews aimed at gradual abolition of the limitations
imposed upon them, so that they could become more useful to the state in a
modernized economic system. At the same time, the new regulations were part of
the systematic policy of Germanization pursued by Joseph II. Jews were
compelled to adopt family names and to establish schools for secular studies;
they became subject to military service, and were required to cease using
Hebrew and Yiddish in business transactions. Wealthy and enterprising Jews made
good use of the advantages of Joseph's reforms. Jews who founded manufacturing
enterprises were allowed to settle outside the Jewish quarter in Prague. Among
the first Jewish industrialists of Prague, who were engaged particularly in the
textile industry, were the Porges (later Porges of Portheim), Dormitze, and
Epstein families.
Subsequently
the limitations imposed upon Jews were gradually removed. In 1841 the
prohibition on Jews owning land was rescinded. In 1846 the Jewish tax was
abolished. In 1848 Jews were granted equal rights, and by 1867 the process of
legal emancipation had been completed. In 1852 the ghetto of Prague was
abolished and united with four other "cities" as the fifth district
of Prague, called Josefov (Ger., Josefstadt). Because of the unhygienic
conditions in the former Jewish quarter the Prague municipality decided in 1896
to pull down the old quarter, with the exception of important historic sites.
Thus the Altneuschul, the Pinkas and Klaus, Meisel and Hoch synagogues, the
famous "Radnice" or "Rathaus" (Jewish town hall), erected
by Mordecai Meisel, the larger part of the old cemetery, and some other places
of historical and artistic interest remained intact. Many Jews moved out of the
old quarter and dispersed through the city. Whereas in 1870 over half of Prague
Jewry still lived in the old quarter, in 1900 less than one-quarter remained.
In 1848
the community of Prague, numbering over 10,000, was still one of the largest Jewish
communities in Europe (Vienna then numbered only 4,000 Jews). In the following
period of the emancipation and the post-emancipation era the Prague community
increased considerably in numbers, but did not keep pace with the rapidly
expanding new Jewish metropolitan centers in Western, Central, and Eastern
Europe. While an increasing proportion of Bohemian Jewry concentrated in
Prague, the importance and size of Bohemian Jewry within world Jewry began to
dwindle. In the period 1880 to 1900 Jewish natural increase reached its peak in
the world, whereas the number of Jews in Bohemia reached its maximum in 1880
and subsequently decreased. The Table: Jewish Community in Prague shows the
numerical development of the Jewish population of Prague (including the suburbs
incorporated in the city, some only after World War I):
During
the revolutionary period of 1848 there were violent anti-Jewish outbreaks in
Prague. In consequence the emigration of Bohemian Jews to America and Western
Europe that had begun in the 1840s increased and gained momentum.
After
emancipation had been achieved in 1867, emigration from Prague abroad ceased as
a mass phenomenon; movement to Vienna, Germany, and Western Europe continued, but
in Prague the loss had been offset by the influx of Jews from the smaller
provincial communities. Jews contributed to the economic progress of the city.
They were now represented in industry, especially the textile, clothing,
leather, shoe, and food industries, in wholesale and retail trade, and in
increasing numbers in the professions and as white-collar employees. Some
Jewish bankers, industrialists, and merchants achieved considerable wealth. The
majority of Jews in Prague belonged to the middle class, but there also
remained a substantial number of poor Jews.
Emancipation
brought in its wake a quiet process of secularization and assimilation. In the
first decades of the 19th century Prague Jewry, which then still led its
traditionalist orthodox way of life, had been disturbed by the activities of
the followers of Jacob Frank. The situation changed in the second half of the
century. The chief rabbinate was still occupied by outstanding scholars, like
Solomon Judah Rapaport (Shir; officiated from 1840 to his death in 1867), the
leader of the Haskalah movement; Markus Hirsch (officiated 1880–89);
Nathan Ehrenfeld (1890–1912); and Heinrich (Hayyim) Brody (1912–30), but the mainstream of Jewish life was no longer
dominated by the rabbinate. Many synagogues introduced modernized services, a
shortened liturgy, the organ and mixed choir, but did not necessarily embrace
the principles of the Reform movement.
Jews
availed themseves eagerly of the opportunities to give their children a secular
higher education. Table: Prague Jews in the University shows the participation
of Jewish university students at Prague (the famous Charles University, founded
in 1348, was split in 1882 into a German and a Czech university).
Emancipation
was accompanied by a strong tendency to adopt the German language, and by
assimilation to German culture and national consciousness. Jews formed a
considerable part of the German minority in Prague, and the majority adhered to
liberal movements. David Kuh founded the German Liberal Party of Bohemia and
represented
it in the Bohemian Diet (1862–73). Despite strong Germanizing factors, many
Jews adhered to the Czech language, and in the last two decades of the 19th
century a Czech assimilationist movement (see uechf-Cidf, Svaz) developed which gained
support from the continuing influx of Jews from the rural areas. Through the
influence of German nationalists from the Sudeten districts anti-Semitism
developed within the German population and opposed Jewish assimilation. At the
end of the 19th century Zionism struck roots among the Jews of Bohemia,
especially in Prague. The Table: Non-Declaring Jews- Prague, showing the
national affiliation of the Jews of Prague, indicates the extent of
assimilation there (Jews were entitled to declare their nationality as Jewish
from 1920).
Growing
secularization and assimilation led to an increase of mixed marriages and
abandonment of Judaism. Whereas under Austrian rule cases of baptism were not
very frequent, at the time of the Czechoslovak Republic, established in 1918,
many more people registered their dissociation of affiliation to the Jewish
faith without adopting another. The proportion of mixed marriages in Bohemia
was one of the highest in Europe, amounting to 24.3% in 1927 and 30.73% in 1933
of the marriages of all Jewish males and 22.1% and 25.25% respectively of
Jewish females. The proportion in some small communities may have been higher
than in Prague, but the difference could not change the overall picture
substantially, since almost half of Bohemian Jewry resided in Prague. The
consequences of this development are clearly demonstrated in the census of
1939, conducted under the German occupation. Of those classified as Jews in
Prague according to the Nazi racial laws, 12.1% did not profess the Jewish faith.
After the
establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, when the suburbs were incorporated
in the municipality of Prague, the Jewish communities did not similarly
affiliate. The paradoxical situation therefore developed that there were seven
Jewish communities in Prague, one covering the inner city (districts I–VII)
with approximately one-half of the Jewish population of Prague, and the other
six in the various suburbs. These seven communities were federated in the Union
of Jewish Religious Communities of Greater Prague, cooperated on many issues,
and also established joint institutions; among these the most important was the
Institute for Social Welfare, established in 1935. There were many Jewish
associations, organizations, and institutions in Prague. Among associations of
a religious character the most important was the hevra kaddisha existing from the early 16th
century. The Afike Jehuda Society for the Advancement of Jewish Studies was
founded in 1869. There were also the Jewish Museum and the Jewish Historical
Society of Czechoslovakia. A five-grade elementary school was established with
Czech as language of instruction. The many philanthropic institutions and
associations included the Jewish Care for the Sick, the Center for Social
Welfare, the Aid Committee for Refugees, the Aid Committee for Jews from
Carpatho-Russia, orphanages, hostels for apprentices, old-age homes, a home for
abandoned children, free-meal associations, associations for children's
vacation centers, and funds to aid students. Zionist organizations were well
represented. There were three B'nai B'rith lodges, several other fraternities,
women's organizations, youth movements, student clubs, sports organizations,
and a community center. Four Jewish weeklies were published in Prague (three
Zionist; one Czecho-assimilationist), and several monthlies and quarterlies.
Most Jewish organizations in Czechoslovakia had their national headquarters in
Prague.
Jews
first became politically active, and some of them prominent, within the German
orbit. David Kuh and the president of the Jewish community, Arnold Rosenbacher,
were among the leaders of the German Liberal Party in the 19th century. Bruno
Kafka and Ludwig Spiegel represented its successor in the Czechoslovak
Republic—the German Democratic Party—in the chamber of deputies and the senate
respectively. Many Jews also joined the German Social Democratic Party and some
rose to leadership; Emil Strauss represented that party in the 1930s on the
Prague municipal council and in the Bohemian Diet. From the end of the 19th
century an increasing number of Jews joined Czech parties, especially T. G.
Masaryk's Realists and the Social Democratic Party. In the latter party Alfred
Meissner, Lev Winter, and Robert Klein rose to prominence, the first two as ministers
of justice and social welfare respectively. Klein, leader of the white-collar
employees, participated in the founding of the World Jewish Congress; he was
tortured to death in a concentration camp. Meissner (d. 1952) was a member of
the last Council of Elders in Theresienstadt, and survived the Holocaust.
The
Zionists, though a minority, soon became the most active element among the Jews
of Prague. Before World War I the students' organization Bar Kochba, under the
leadership of Samuel Hugo Bergman, became one of the centers of cultural
Zionism. At the same time Zionism also spurred Jewish political activity. The
Prague Zionist Arthur Mahler was elected to the Austrian Parliament in 1907,
though as representative of an electoral district in Galicia. Under the
leadership of Ludvik Singer the Jewish National Council was formed in 1918.
Singer was elected in 1929 to the Czechoslovak Parliament, and was succeeded
after his death in 1931 by Angelo Goldstein. Singer, Goldstein, Franti2ek Friedmann, and Jacob Reiss
represented the Zionists on the Prague municipal council also. Some important
Zionist conferences took place in Prague, among them the founding conference of
Hitahadut in 1920, and the 18th Zionist
Congress in 1933.
Jews were
prominent in the cultural life of Prague. Their contribution to German
literature was most significant. Of the older generation Salomon Kohn dealt
mainly with Bohemian Jewish topics, Friedrich Adler, Auguste Hauschner, and
Hugo Salus were among the most prominent authors; Heinrich Teweles was
important as an author, editor, and director of the theater. The group of
Prague German-Jewish authors which emerged in the 1880s, known as the
"Prague circle" (Der Prager Kreis), achieved international
recognition and included Franz Kafka, Max Brod, Franz Werfel, Oskar Baum,
Ludwig Winder, Leo Perutz, Egon Erwin Kisch, Otto Klepetar, and Willy Haas.
Among Jews who contributed to Czech literature a pioneer was the poet Siegfried
Kapper; he was later considered the herald of Czech-Jewish assimilation. To
this group also belonged at a later time Eduard Lederer (Leda), Vojtech Rakous, celebrated for his novels
about Jewish life in the Czech countryside, and Jind1ich Kohn, the philosopher and
ideologist of assimilation. Other important authors were Otakar Fischer,
Richard Weiner, Franti2ek Langer, his brother Mordecai Ji1E Langer, Ji1E Weil, Franti2ek Gottlieb, and Egon Hostovskl. Important scientists teaching at
Prague universities included Arnold Piek, Max Saenger, and Edmund Weil
(medicine), Samuel Steinherz (history), Ludwig Spiegel (constitutional law),
Moritz Winternitz (Sanskrit), Otakar Fischer (German literature), Oskar EnglEnder (economics) and Guido Adler
(musicology). Albert Einstein taught in Prague in 1911–12, and Hans Kelsen, a
native of Prague, taught there in 193638. The composer Jaromir Weinberger was
born in Prague and lived there until his emigration in 1937; Gustav Mahler, a
native of Bohemia, spent several years in Prague as a conductor. Among many
other noted Jewish conductors and musicians from Prague were Walter Suesskind,
Frank Pelleg, George Singer, and Karel An"erl. The German theater in Prague knew its most glorious
period under the directorships of Angelo Neumann, Heinrich Teweles, and Leopold
Kramer. Ernst Deutsch and Franz Lederer were among the most celebrated actors
on the German stage, and Hugo Haas and Ji1E
Voskovec on the Czech stage. Emil Orlik and Hugo Steiner-Prag were outstanding
artists.
Jewish topics,
and particularly the history and legends of Prague Jewry, were a frequent theme
in the work of non-Jewish authors and artists, more so in the Czech cultural
sphere than in the German. Retrospectively, the Jewish ghetto has been
considered part and parcel of Prague's history. The statue of Judah Loew b.
Bezalel at the entrance to the new City Hall, and a statue of Moses near the
Altneuschul, both works of Czech sculptors commissioned by the Prague
municipality, are monuments to this attitude. The Jews of Prague responded with
gratitude and pride in their history; but latterly only a minority was still
capable of living a meaningful Jewish life, much less of forging a creative
Jewish future.
[Jan Herman/Chaim Yahil]
Holocaust Period
From
1935, two years after Hitler's seizure of power in Germany, a constant influx
of refugees arrived in Prague from Germany, followed in 1938 by refugees from
Austria and the German-speaking occupied parts of Czechoslovakia. As a result
the number of Jews in Prague on March 15, 1939, the day of the Nazi occupation,
amounted to about 56,000. On July 22, 1939, Reichsprotektor Constantin
von Neurath ordered the establishment of a Zentralstelle fuer juedische
Auswanderung in Boehmen und Maehren ("Central Office for Jewish Emigration
in Bohemia and Moravia"). Its director in fact was Adolf Eichmann.
Initially the office dealt only with Prague's Jews but as of Feb. 16, 1940, it
affected all the Jews in the protectorate.
At the
outbreak of the war (Sept. 1, 1939), prominent Prague Jews were arrested and
deported as hostages to Buchenwald concentration camp. Various anti-Jewish
measures, e.g., deprivation of property rights, prohibition against religious,
cultural, or any other form of public activity, expulsion from the professions
and from schools, a ban on the use of public transportation and the telephone,
affected Prague Jews much more than those still living in the provinces. Jewish
organizations provided social welfare and clandestinely continued the education
of the youth and the training in languages and new vocations—in preparation for
emigration. The Palestine Office in Prague, directed by Jacob Edelstein,
enabled about 19,000 Jews to emigrate legally or otherwise until the end of
1939. In March 1940, the Prague Zentralstelle extended the area of its
jurisdiction to include all of Bohemia and Moravia. In an attempt to avert the
deportation of the Jews to "the east," Jewish leaders, headed by
Jacob Edelstein, proposed to the Zentralstelle the establishment of a self-administered
concentrated Jewish communal body; the Nazis eventually exploited this proposal
in the establishment of the ghetto at Theresienstadt (Terezin). The Prague
Jewish community was forced to provide the Nazis with lists of candidates for
deportation and to ensure that they showed up at the assembly point and boarded
deportation trains. In the period from Oct. 6, 1941, to March 16, 1945, 46,067
Jews were deported from Prague to "the east" or to Theresienstadt.
According to Encyclopaedia Judaica (quotation see above): "Two leading officials of the Jewish community, H. Bonn and Emil Kafka (a former president of the community) were dispatched to Mauthausen concentration camp and put to death after trying to slow down the pace of the deportations." Thanks to son of Emil Kafka I discovered, that Emil Kafka survived the holocaust and emigrated to England. It is the light in the darken period of the time.
The Nazis set up a Treuhandstelle ("Trustee Office") over evacuated
Jewish apartments, furnishings, and possessions. This office sold these goods
and forwarded the proceeds to the German Winterhilfe ("Winter
Aid"). The Treuhandstelle ran as many as 54 warehouses, including 11
synagogues (as a result, none of the synagogues was destroyed). The
Zentralstelle brought Jewish religious articles from 153 Jewish communities to
Prague on a proposal by Jewish scholars. This collection, including 5,400
religious objects, 24,500 prayer books, and 6,070 items of historical value the
Nazis intended to utilize for a "Central Museum of the defunct Jewish
Race." Jewish historians engaged in the creation of the museum were
deported to extermination camps just before the end of the war. Thus the Jewish
Museum had acquired at the end of the war one of the richest collections of
Judaica in the world. The Pinkas Synagogue, which is included in the museum
complex, contains inscriptions of the names of 77,297 Jewish victims of the
Nazi extermination campaign in Bohemia and Moravia.
In April 1945
the Prague representative of the International Red Cross (IRC), Paul Dunant,
negotiated with Reichsprotektor Karl Hermann Frank for the transfer of
Theresienstadt ghetto to IRC auspices. When the Czechoslovak
government-in-exile in London returned to Prague, a Jewish member of the State
Council, Arno2t Frischer, also came back, and
under his leadership the Prague Jewish community was reconstituted and a
council of Jewish communities in Czechoslovakia established. According to the
monthly V#stnEk, the official Jewish community publication, Prague
had a Jewish population of 10,338 in 1946, of whom 1,396 Jews had not been
deported (mostly of mixed Jewish-Christian parentage); 227 Jews had gone
underground; 4,986 returned from prisons, concentration camps, or
Theresienstadt; 883 returned from Czechoslovak army units abroad; 613 were
Czechoslovak Jewish emigrMs who returned; and 2,233 were Jews
from Ruthenia (Carpatho-Ukraine), which had been ceded to the U.S.S.R., who
decided to move to Czechoslovakia.
Contemporary Period
In the
three years following the end of the war, the Jewish population of Prague rose
to 11,000, after the return of Prague Jews and the settlement of other
survivors of the Holocaust. Thus a basis for Jewish life again existed
in the city, and Chief Rabbi Gustav Sicher, who had returned from Palestine,
sought to establish firm foundations for the further development of Jewish
activities. The Communist takeover of 1948, however, put an end to these
endeavors and marked the beginning of a period of stagnation. By 1950 about
half of the Jewish population had gone to Israel or emigrated to other
countries. The SlaGskl Trials and the officially promoted anti-Semitism had a
destructive effect upon Jewish life. Nazi racism of the previous era was replaced
by political and social discrimination. Most of the Jews of Prague were branded
as "class enemies of the working people" and suffered from various
forms of persecution, including imprisonment, exile, forced labor, and, in some
cases, execution. During this period (1951–64) there was also no possibility of
Jewish emigration from the country. The assets belonging to the Jewish
community—estimated at 100 million Czech crowns—had to be relinquished to the
state, the charitable organizations were disbanded, and the budget of the
community, provided by the state, was drastically reduced. The general
anti-religious policy of the regime resulted in the cessation, for all
practical purposes, of such Jewish religious activities as bar mitzvah
religious instruction, and wedding ceremonies. Two Prague rabbis—E. Davidovi" and E. Farkas—left the country, and
in 1964 the office of the chief rabbi also became vacant; only two cantors and
two ritual slaughterers were left. Services were held in only two of Prague's nine
synagogues, while the other seven were used as exhibition halls and warehouses
for the State Jewish Museum. The Hebrew inscription on the wall of the Talmud
Torah Synagogue was removed by the museum director. The museum's collection of
Jewish art and religious articles were used by the Czechoslovak Travel Bureau
as a tourist attraction. Officials of the Jewish communal organizations
achieved their positions by manipulated elections.
The
liberalization of the regime during 1965–68 held out new hope for a renewal of
Jewish life in Prague. At the end of March 1967 the president of the World
Jewish Congress, Nahum Goldmann, was able to visit Prague and give a lecture in
the Jewish Town Hall. Among the Jewish youth many tended to identify with
Judaism. In August 1968, however, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia put an
end to this trend. The festivities that were to mark the millennium of Jewish
life in Prague were canceled four times. A new wave of emigration began, and
the Jewish population of Prague was further reduced to about 2,000.
[Erich Kulka]