Jewish sites in Bohemia and Moravia

By Jacqueline Swartz

Prague is one of the great centres of European Jewish art and history. The Jewish museum, which celebrated its centennial in 2006, features over tens of thousands of religious and household relics, from grandly decorated Torah crowns to humble school notebooks.

But when it comes to visible Jewish history, there is much to see in other parts of the Czech Republic. In the Moravian and Bohemian countryside there are towns with restored ghettoes, synagogues and cemeteries that show the Jewish presence dating back to the arrival of the first Jewish trade caravans in the 10th century.

Amidst the rolling green hills and small lakes, less than a two hour drive from Prague, life is slower and less crowded. Only ten functioning Jewish communities exist, including that of Prague. Yet restored Jewish sites are becoming part of the tourist itinerary, even in towns with no Jews.

Of the eleven sites listed in the tourist brochure for the southern Moravian town of Boscovice, one-third are Jewish. (In addition, there is a useful brochure in English devoted to Jewish sites).

The community dates from 1454, and was one the most important in Moravia. Considered a centre of Talmudic study, it had a Yeshiva, and, in l851 its rabbi, Abraham Placzek, became the chief rabbi of Moravia.

Entering the Jewish town you pass by an archway, which was one of the gates to the ghetto. Behind it, 79 buildings have been restored, and 20 of these have plaques. Archives show that one house was used as a distillery, another housed a factory. One of the residential houses belonged to Josephine Low-Beers, the great-grandmother of John Kerry, the Massachusetts senator who discovered his paternal grandparents were Jewish only after the Boston Globe published the story.

At the end of the street is the Greater Synagogue, dating from l639, said to contain one of the finest examples of synagogue wall designs in Moravia.. Craftsmen from Poland, painted flowers and fruit and a giant stylized Menorah. Today the synagogue is used from time to time as a concert hall. Across the street from the synagogue is a doorway that leads down stairs into what was once a Mikva. There, in the semi-darkness, guides explain Mikva practices to tourists.

As in other towns in Bohemia and Moravia, the Jews of Boscovice had a complex history They were confined in ghettos, deprived of rights, sometimes expelled, then allowed to return, then given limited rights..The turning point was the emancipation of l848. At that point, the Jewish community of Boscovice, became independent with its own mayor, police and fire service.

In l857, the Jewish community reached a size of 2019 people, one third of the population. Jews built factories, and became founders of modern industry in the region. They were also actors and singers. Yet their very freedom led to assimilation and a move away from the small towns to the larger centres of Brno, Vienna and Prague, with its universities and cultural and business opportunities. The parents of Franz Kafka were among the Jews who left the village for the big city.

The Jewish cemetery of Boscovice, a short walk from the synagogue, lies on a green hillside. The 2500 gravestones date from the 1640′s to the l930′s, and many are in German, which the Jews were required to speak. This cemetery does not feel like a sad place, for those who rest here died without knowing the fate of their people. By the time the Nazis started hunting Jews, few, perhaps several hundred at most, remained in these small towns. In l942, 458 Jews were deported from Boscovice. Only l4 returned. Still, the Nazis annihilated over 80,614 Bohemian and Moravian Jews out of a population of 122,000, including some 5,000 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. Over 26,000 Czech Jews fled, some as early as 1938.

Brno, 50 km away from Boscovice, is the country’s second city, and has the second largest Jewish community – 300 people, minuscule compared to the 12,000 who lived there in l938. In l945, only 804 people were identified as Jews.. Today, in this town of grand churches, theaters, large stores and a medical school, the most impressive Jewish site is not the l930′s-era synagogue, which is nondescript and closed except during services, but the cemetery, built in l855. In this well-tended cemetery shaded by pine trees, over 9000 tombstones commemorate great rabbis and department store scions; but here the dates extend into the l940′s and mark the death of people who died in the Holocaust. Outside stands the Chevra Kaddisha, a fin de siecle building that seems fitting for an important Jewish community.

Anyone interested in architecture should not miss seeing, the Villa Tugendhat, the Mies van der Rohe home commissioned by the prosperous Jewish family of Fritz and Greta Tugendhat.. Completed in 1930, this three story building is considered a masterpiece of functionalism. It features free flowing open plan spaces, curved walls, an onyx wall and furniture designed by the renowned architect. The Tugendhat family had only a few years to enjoy the villa, for in l938 they fled to Switzerland.

The building was used by the Gestapo and then by the Soviet government as a dance school. In 2001 it was recognized as an UNESCO world Cultural Heritage site.

After the war, Soviet rule neglected religious sites, both Jewish and Christian. But the l990′s brought intense activity – it was urgent to repair these sites before they crumbled.

Another UNESCO site is Trebic, considered to be the best preserved Jewish quarter in Europe.
Originating as far back as the l5th century, the Zmosti quarter was never demolished; now restored, it occupies eleven acres near the town centre.. Trebic’s luminaries included notable rabbis such as Joachim Josef Polak (1728-79), who in l862 discovered the Trebitsch Machzor dating from about 1300. Although the Jewish population diminished during the second half of the l9th century, there were enough men to frequent the Caffe Ceplichal, located in the main square. Even in Vienna, Trebic Jews met for monthly socials at the Café Siller.

Today, the visitor can see the restored houses of Trebic in their various styles – from Rennaissance houses on Pokorneho street, with their archways and stone columns, to baroque and Art Nouveau. structures. These are hardly the humble houses of a ghetto – indeed, they show how the Jewish quarter became a neighbourhood.

The Rear Synagogue, which reopened in l997s, exudes pride and artistry. The vaulted ceilings and stucco walls are painted with flowers and fruit, as well as prayers large enough for the congregants to read. The building functions as a museum and concert hall. Adjacent is an art gallery and a bookstore, with numerous posters advertising concerts. There’s an annual summer festival of Jewish culture, Samijam, which includes music, art, and lectures. The festival is only five years old, which shows how recently Jewish sites outside of Prague have attracted visitors.

From the Trebic Synagogue, it’s about 30 kilometers to the synagogue in the small town of Polna. By l930, only 51 Jews were left. By the late l980′s, the synagogue was abandoned, crumbling and slated for demolition, a common occurence under Soviet rule.. After the regime fell, the l990′s brought intense activity – it was urgent to repair these sites before they crumbled. The Polna synagogue was saved and reopened in September 2000. As one of the regional Jewish museums, it is the property of the Federation of the Czech Republic.

In the main room of the synagogue are display cases of religious objects, including a scroll of Esther. In an adjacent gallery, there is an exhibit called “The Story of Leopold Hilsner”, detailing the notorious case. In l899,. Hilsner, a “ Jewish vagabond of low intellligence”, according to the Jewish Museum’s description, was sentenced to death for the murder of a young woman whose body was found in a field.. The verdict elicited accusations of ritual murder from the locals. Tomas Masaryk, the enlightened founder of the Czech state, appealed the case to the Supreme Court and in l9l8 Hilsner was pardoned by Karl 1 of Austria.

About 60 kilometres north of Polna is the town of Hermanuv Mestec. Like other Jewish sites, this belongs to the Federation of Jewish Communities, headquartered in Prague, but the restoration of he synagogue and cemetery has been assisted by various “friends of” groups. Centuries ago, Jews manufactured and sold spirits, as well as working in a variety of trades. In l685, Jews had their own mayor and police force. By the l9h century, Jews were prominent in manufacturing and exporting shoes.

Today, the synagogue functions as a concert hall and the adjacent school building as the municipal art gallery. In back of the building is the cemetery, which has over 1,000 tombstones, including one dating back to l647. In what looks like an open garage are other relics of the former Jewish community, including a hearse that was drawn by horses. A Czech guide, whose house faces the cemetery, explains to Czech tourists that the last Orthodox Jewish burial took place in l940, and that among the population of 60, only three returned. The community’s two Sefer Torah, she adds, have long been entrusted to communities in the US and Australia. .

Over 1800 Torah scrolls from Bohemia and Moravia were saved when they were sent in the l940s to the wartime Jewish Museum in Prague. After the war they were sold to a British synagogue, then bought by philanthropist Ralph Yablon. The majority have been lent out on a permanent basis to Jewish congregations, Holocaust memorials, museums and libraries around the world. The rest are part of a collection of a small museum in Kent House, London.

Today, Jewish communities around the world are interested in knowing the origins and history of the scrolls lent to them; some have contacted the Czech village or town where the scrolls originated.. The Jewish Museum in Prague is happy to accommodate. For these congregations, along with the restored Jewish communities that once used the Sefer Torah, are a both a bridge to the past and a link to the future.

For more information on Jewish sites and festivals in the Czech republic, contact www.info-ca@czechtourism.com.