Prague and the Jews

The Old New Synagogue (14th Century)

The expectation that the intersection of Prague and the Jews would end badly is not disappointed as you learn more about a rich culture that once flourished just outside of the Old Town Square for centuries. What remains as monuments to thousands who are no longer here are a handful of ancient synagogues, museums treasuring fragments of a wealthy community and an extraordinary cemetery.
At one time, Jews considered Prague as a safe haven in Europe. Although they were relegated as elsewhere to a specific walled enclave within the main city, they enjoyed protection under a succession of Bohemian kings. Mostly the Jews benefited from Christian usury laws and quickly took up financing nobles and merchants. They prospered and created a ‘Ghetto’ of great prosperity.
When the Austrians came in, they really began feeling persecutions and were even more restricted. They were force to learn German and take German surnames. Eventually the ghetto was dismantled and the Jews spread out to the general populace. The area began a slow decay.
As Czech nationalism rose, the Jews began to be resented along with the German speakers. As in other places, the Jews could not feel as they belonged anywhere. Czechoslovak independence in the 1910s saw some easing, but it all came to an end in 1939, when the Nazis invaded. Czech Jews, some 140,000 of them were shipped north to the fortress at Terezin, and half were eventually sent to the camps at Auschwitz and Treblinka. Only 17,000 made it through and only some 3,000 Jews remain in this area.
One of the synagogues has been converted to a Holocaust memorial. The space is empty except for the walls which are covered with the names and dates of birth and dates they were last accounted for. An upstairs gallery contained children’s drawings that were produced at the Terezin concentration camp. It was a little too much to take in.

The Jewish Cemetery