The Comprehensive History of Jewish Community in the Czech Republic + Sites to Visit
This was quite a sad blog post to write, but after several years of visiting the main Jewish historic sites across the Czech Republic, learning more about Jewish history in each town and doing my own research I wanted to put all the pieces together to write a history of Jewish people and their community in the Czech lands.
I hope this explains some of the questions, you might have whilst visiting the Jewish Quarter in Prague or other sites, such as the historic Jewish Cemeteries or the beautiful Jerusalem Synagogue and help you to understand a little bit more this complex history.
The first Jews, belonging to the Ashkenazi Jewish population, settled in the territory of today’s Czech Republic around the 10th century.
The most significant community from the beginning was the Prague community (in today’s Jewish Quarter), but people have moved to other large towns across Bohemia and Moravia. These smaller communities were called ‘kehillots’ and even today, you can visit many Jewish heritage sites outside Prague, such as Kolin, Boskovice or Třebíč’s Zámostí, which is listed as one of the Czech UNESCO Heritage Sites.
During their history in the Czech lands, Jewish people were mostly in an unequal position as a tolerated minority, largely dependent on the favour of the particular King of Bohemia. This seems to have fluctuated from periods of relative prosperity (such as during the reign of Rudolf II) to being told to leave the country by Empress Maria Theresa.
The position of Jewish people began to improve during the reign of King Joseph II. In the 19th century, they were granted equal rights and began to partially assimilate with the rest of the population. The complex history of Jewish people in the Czech lands nearly ended during the Nazi occupation in World War II when more than 80,000 Jews from Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia died in concentration camps.
First Jewish Settlements in the Czech Lands
The first written mention of Jewish settlement in the Czech lands dates back to the 10th century when the merchant and diplomat Ibrahim ibn Yaqub travelled through the Czech lands around the year 965.
There are other mentions before this date, but most historians don’t see them as credible, so these are not generally accepted. During this period, Jews played a crucial role in the foreign trade of the emerging Czech kingdom, because they imported gold to Prague, which was mined in Sudan and transported through Spain.
The merchants usually exchanged their gold for horses, animal furs, and especially Slavic slaves. The first Jewish communities were established in Prague as merchants settlements in the lower parts of Prague castle. Prague Castle was originally on Vysehrad Hill, so the first settlements were under Vyšehrad and when the king moved to the current Prague Castle, the Jewish merchants settled in Ujezd.
These settlements enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy, but the legal protection of Jews was still quite uncertain. During the First Crusade in 1096, the Jewish population was subjected to looting, prompting many Jews to flee to Poland or Hungary. The Jewish settlements under Vyšehrad and in Újezd disappeared, and the Jewish quarter moved to the area of today’s Josefov Quarter.
The Beginnings of Jewish Ghettos
The position of Jews became even more difficult after the Third (1179) and Fourth Lateran Councils (1215), which decided that there needed to be segregation of Jews from the Christian population.
The council also required Jews to wear distinctive markings (usually a yellow badge or hat), and restricted their means of livelihood so that, outside the ghetto, they could only engage in trade and finance.
There was more tension between the Jewish and Christian populations, fueled by ecclesiastical anti-Judaism. There were many attacks on Jews until Pope Innocent IV issued two law documents prohibiting any violence against Jewish people.
Kings Protection Law Documents – Statuta Iudaeorum
Czech kings also tried to prevent unrest, although they exploited the situation to their advantage. The first privileges were granted to Jews by Wenceslaus I (the content of which remains unknown) and Ottokar II, who issued them sometime between 1254 and 1262 under the name Statuta Ludaeorum.
Jewish people found themselves in the special status of being the servants of the royal chamber and practically becoming royal property. Any attack on Jews was then considered an attack on the property of the royal chamber and was punished accordingly.
imBut, in return for the royal protection, Jews had to pay much higher taxes and had to be willing to provide large loans to the king.
Main Jewish Settlements during the early history (13th century)
By the end of the 13th century Jews were already settled in several places in the Czech lands, especially in significant trade centres such as Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Jihlava, Znojmo, Litoměřice, and Příbram.
In Prague, the two-aisled Gothic Old-New Synagogue was built, influenced by French and Rhineland styles. In larger towns, Jewish settlements might have had around 100–200 people, while in smaller towns, there were perhaps 2-3 families.
Early Jewish Education & Language
Czech lands were slightly away from the main centres of Jewish education, which were in Rhineland and Spain. This is why scholars from French and Rhineland yeshivas occasionally came to the Czech lands to teach new students. Among the most known scholars who stayed in the Czech lands were Yitzhak ha-Lavan, Petachya ben Jacob, and Yitzhak ben Moshe.
It is interesting that Hebrew literature from this time included parts written in the Czech language, such as the oldest surviving Hebrew manuscript in the Czech lands, the so-called Cheb Bible). This can mean, that Jewish people might have used the Czech language to communicate not just with Slavic people but amongst themselves. Tombstones from this time, also have often Czech names.
At the same time, the Hebrew and German language was also likely commonly used.
The Luxembourg Times – Charles IV
The Luxembourg dynasty brought greater stability to Jews in the Czech lands. The King Charles IV, who was also a Roman Emperor, allowed towns outside the Czech lands to organize anti-Jewish pogroms, but he protected Czech Jews.
There was a large wave of Jewish pogroms that ravaged Western Europe in the late 1340s and early 1350s, which were also associated with the spread of the plague. This fortunately largely bypassed the Czech lands, with a few exceptions, such as Znojmo (1338), Prague (1349), and Cheb (1350).
The reasons for Charles’s protection were primarily economic, so although Jews were protected from physical attacks, they were pressured into cancelling Christian debts. Jews also frequently became victims of crime, and restrictions from previous centuries were not lifted.
Wenceslas IV
During the reign of Wenceslas IV, the living situation of Jews in Prague worsened again. At that time, there was about 750 Jews living in Prague.
Although Wenceslas was sometimes called a ‘philo-Semite’ (a supporter of Jews and Judaism) the reality was that in 1385 he cancelled all debts owed to Jewish creditors and had many of them arrested.
During Easter of 1389 a major pogrom took place in Prague, which was described in detail by the Prague rabbi and poet Avigdor Kara in his diary. This happened in the king’s absence and the perpetrators were never punished.
Hussite War Times
Initially, some Jews felt sympathy towards the Hussite movement, and the Hussite revolution indeed initially weakened feudal social bonds and relaxed some restrictions concerning Jews.
However, Jews soon became disillusioned – in the early 1420s, the Hussites initiated several pogroms, and over the next decade, Jews were told to leave several different towns, because the previous Statuta Ludaeorum document was not guaranteed at that time.
After the end of the Hussite wars, the situation became a little more stable, but Jews couldn’t be certain of protection from being told to leave towns or from pogroms, which erupted particularly during times of anarchy (e.g., in 1448 during the capture of Prague by George of Poděbrady or during the Prague coup in 1483).
The Jagiellonian Era
In the first half of the 16th century, Jews found themselves caught in the conflict between the king, the towns, and the nobility. The nobility, such as in Mikulov town, provided the most tolerable conditions for Jews. While Jews had previously lived mainly in royal towns, during this period they began to move to the countryside and to towns under the authority of the nobility (especially in Moravia). The nobility willingly provided employment and protection to enterprising Jewish families, which allowed them to compete more effectively with the royal towns.
During the reign of the Jagiellonians, the situation improved only slightly. Royal power was weakened, and the monarch struggled to regain his regal rights, including authority over the Jews. As a result, Jews were often required to pay various fees twice, both to the town and to the king.
On top of that, the prohibition of usury (loans with high rates of interest), which had previously applied to Christians, was increasingly violated, which reduced the demand for Jewish loans. Jews tried to find a different way of earning money, for example by learning traditional crafts, but this made them competitors to Christian craftsmen, leading to increased tension between Christians and Jews and resulting in Jews being expelled from towns once again.
The Habsburg Era Reign of Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Habsburg became the Czech king in 1526 and the living conditions for the Jewish community started to improve. In 1527, Ferdinand confirmed their privileges, and over the next 15 years, the number of Jews in Prague doubled.
The nobility also protected the Jews, but in the towns, Jews posed dangerous competition to the craft guilds, which struggled to cope with the development of foreign trade and technological progress. In contrast, Jews since they couldn’t be part of the craft guilds, didn’t need to follow any guild rules and were much quicker in adapting to new technologies and ways of trading. As a result, the town’s representatives continually tried to persuade the king to expel the Jews.
And unfortunately, this did start to happen. Initially, Jews were told to leave individual towns, such as in 1522, Jews were expelled from Opava, and in 1535 from Hlubčice.
In 1541, Jews were accused of causing the fire in Malá Strana (Lesser Town) and Hradčany and also being spies for the Turks. These accusations were likely made up, but they led to the banishment of Jews from the Czech lands. In Moravia and Silesia, the nobility had no interest in expelling the Jews and they refused to follow the king’s order. This meant, that Jewish communities leaving Bohemia settled mainly in these regions instead of moving completely to a different country.
Situation after the Nobility Uprising in 1547
After the defeat of the Nobility Uprising in 1547, the balance of power between the king, the nobility, and the towns changed significantly and the towns lost their power. As a result, they could not afford to protest against Ferdinand’s 1545 decision, which allowed Jews to return to Bohemia after being banished a few years back.
In 1557, the town’s representatives accused the Jews of exporting silver and managed to get the King to pass another law for Jews’ expulsion from Bohemia, but this time nothing happened because of bureaucratic delays.
Political stability during Rudolf II reign
During the reign of Maximilian II, the situation slightly improved as he confirmed more Jewish privileges in 1567. But, the true development of the Jewish community happened under the reign of his son, Rudolf II, who ignored the town representatives’s complaints against the Jews and finally, the community had long-awaited stability.
Rudolf II started to use the financial services of Mordechai Maisel, who in return financed many buildings in the Jewish ghetto (Jewish Town Hall, High Synagogue, Maisel Synagogue).
Jewish communities experienced a golden age not only materially but also spiritually. There were many important scholars such as Maharal, Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, historiographer David Gans, and Kabbalist Isaiah Horowitz who worked in the Czech lands and shared their knowledge with the Jewish communities. In 1527, the Gersonides family started a Hebrew printing press in Prague.
Thirty Years’ War
During the Thirty Years’ War, Jews sided with the Habsburgs, as they could not be sure of the support from the nobility. The Habsburgs borrowed large sums of money from the Jews to conduct the war and in exchange they provided relative safety and lifted some restrictions, for example expanding freedoms in crafts and allowing settlement throughout the country. But the high loans made the Jews poorer, and risky financial dealings led to the downfall of many Jewish merchants, such as Jacob Bassevi.
Like the rest of the population, Jews endured the hardships of the war and took part in the defense of Prague against the Swedes in 1648. Many Jews were killed in the towns, which were captured by Swedes during the Thirty Years’ War, for example in Kroměříž.
The Period of Official Anti-Semitism
Unfavourable conditions in Bohemia led some Jews to move outside the country, such as to Austrian Silesia. After the Thirty Years war, Jewish loans were no longer as needed as before and the Jewish privileges were again disregarded by the Czech nobility.
The economic situation was further worsened by the influx of refugees from Halic area (split in today’s Poland & Ukraine), where Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s pogroms and subsequent Swedish-Russian wars had raged.
This is why in 1650, the Bohemian Nobility Assembly once again revoked Jewish privileges, and in 1681, they persuaded the Bohemian king Leopold I to expel Jews from places where they had not lived before 1657. Although this essentially recognized the status quo, it also prevented the expansion of Jewish settlements.
In Moravia, the situation was a bit better. When Jews were expelled from Vienna in 1670 for alleged collaboration with the Turks, they found a safe haven in Kroměříž with Bishop Karl II of Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn, who invited them to settle in the town.
Charles VI reign
The situation worsened further under Charles VI, who issued the Translocation Rescript in 1726, demanding the re-inforcement of Jewish ghettos, and the Familiants Law, which stated the maximum number of Jewish families allowed in the country and in each town and also rules, such as that only first-born sons are able to marry legally and have children.
From the history of individual towns I have visited over the years, I know that this rule was ignored, although people knew they could get in to trouble because of that. Although officially other sons couldn’t get married they often had partners and children. This was done with full support from the Jewish community and the local rabbi, who saw them as husband and wife regardless of the official rule.
Hard times during Maria Theresa Reign
Much harsher measures were enforced by the Bohemian Empress Maria Theresa, who in 1744 expelled Jews from Bohemia due to alleged collaboration with the enemy during the war with Prussia and the Prussian occupation of Prague. A year later she passed the same law for Jewish communities in Moravia and Silesia as well.
However, after most of the Jews left Prague, the city experienced a significant economic decline and the remaining Jews were not pushed out. Officially, Jews were allowed to return in 1748 under the so-called tolerance tax law, which basically meant they had to pay to come back. Ten years later, Empress Maria Theresa re-introduced the medieval law of compulsory wearing of distinctive markings, such as the yellow badge.
The Enlightenment Period – Josef II
Judaism started to get reformed and this also influenced the building style of synagogues, which was influenced by the Moorish style. A great example is the Spanish Synagogue in Prague built in 1868.
The Jewish living conditions have improved during the Joseph II reign. In 1781, he abolished serfdom (compulsory work for local nobility, which prevented people from moving away) and the requirement for Jews to wear distinctive markings, and allowed Jews access to university education.
This wasn’t done to grant Jews freedom but to incorporate them into the wider population and to make them part of the Czech kingdom. This is why at the same time, Josef II also limited the powers of Jewish self-government, required Jews to adopt German first names and surnames (because the state officials found Hebrew names difficult to understand), and continued with the cap on Jewish numbers in each location and also kept the tolerance tax.
These changes prompted many Jews to assimilate as they wanted to achieve the same status as Christians. At the same time, ideas of the Haskalah began to appear from Germany, responding to assimilationism and wanting to highlight the value of Judaism, even at the cost of abandoning many traditional customs.
The result of the clash between the Haskalah and traditional Judaism was the emergence of Reform Judaism, which wanted to adapt Judaism to the demands of modern times without compromising the foundations of the Jewish faith.
Assimilation of Jewish Communities
Changes within the Jewish community continued into the 19th century. The rise of nationalism had a significant impact, leading Jews to split between two ideological movements.
On one hand, people who wanted assimilation favoured integration with German or Czech culture and became Germans or Czechs with Israeli faith. On the other hand, Zionists emphasized the national and cultural distinctiveness of Jews and were strongly against assimilation. Both movements established their own associations (Zionist, Czech-Jewish, or German-Jewish).
After the revolution of 1848, Jews gained freedom of movement, settlement, and marriage. The numerus clausus (capping of the total number of Jews in each location) was abolished, and Jews were no longer required to pay the tolerance tax.
In 1867, these changes were confirmed by the constitution, which granted Jews the same rights as other citizens of the country. For the first time in a long time, Jews could move to previously restricted areas, and the number of Jewish communities increased. So much so, that by 1890, another law was passed to regulate the establishment and functioning of Jewish communities.
The rise of anti-semitism in 19/20th century
The rise of nationalism, however, not only led to Zionism but also to anti-Semitism, which, unlike religious anti-Judaism, was motivated by the idea of the nation and national struggle—the Jewish nation was seen as a competitor to other nations.
Nationalist propaganda against the Jewish nation surfaced very clearly in 1899 during the Hilsner case trial. In this incident, Leopold Hilsner, a Jew from Polná was wrongly accused of ritual murder, which started a hysterical wave of anti-Semitism.
The future Czech President Tomáš Masaryk publicly and categorically rejected this accusation and voluntarily engaged in the process as Hilsner’s advocate. Despite having no real evidence, Hilsner was convicted and spent 18 years in prison. He was released from prison by the last king of Bohemia – Karel I, but the real killer was never found.
Anti-Semitism also reflected resentment towards successful Jewish entrepreneurs who founded many large factories (e.g., Kolben – ČKD; Rothschild – OKD; Waldes – Koh-i-noor; Fürth – SOLO Sušice; Bloch – Porcelánka Dubí; Löwy Moser – Moser; Petschek, Bondy, and others) and significantly contributed to the economic prosperity of Czechoslovakia. At the same time, verbal attacks on Jews were used as a means of political struggle and to gain voters’ support.
Political situation during the First Czech Republic 1918
The establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic was met with mixed feelings by the Jewish community. Some welcomed the new state, while others were quite cautious.
This hesitation was influenced by the last pogrom on the Czech territory, which happened in Holešov on December 3–4, 1918. During this pogrom, 50 Jewish households and businesses were systematically looted, and some were set on fire.
The pogrom was initiated by newly returned soldiers of the Czechoslovak Army, who were later joined by the residents of Holešov. During the looting, soldiers shot and killed two people, Heřman Grünbaum and Hugo Gretzer, who were trying to defend their property.
At the end a positive approach won and Jews started to actively participate in the political and economic life of the new Czechoslovakia.
In an effort to weaken the German nationality, Jews were allowed to register as “Jewish nationality,” and they even founded the Jewish Party, which won several seats in parliament in the elections of 1929 and 1935. Many Jewish sports clubs (e.g., Maccabi) and Zionist associations were also established at that time.
Jews maintained their economic influence and were instrumental in the founding and development of many companies that still operate today (Avia, ČKD, Slezan, SOLO Sušice, Moser, etc.).
Many Czech and German-speaking writers and poets emerged from the assimilationist circles, such as Karel Poláček, Jiří Langer, Egon Hostovský, Jiří Orten, Franz Kafka, Max Brod, Egon Erwin Kisch, as well as painter Robert Guttmann and sculptor Otto Gutfreund, composers Hans Krása and Pavel Haas, the brother of the more famous actor Hugo Haas.
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The events before the beginning of the 2WW and the Holocaust
In addition to the economic crisis in the 1930s, the Jewish community was also affected by events in Germany, where Nazi Germany was established in 1933 and five years later annexed the sovereign territory of Austria.
Many Jews from these countries sought refuge in Czechoslovakia. Only a few Czechoslovak Jews took these warning signs seriously and left the country. During the Second Republic, some anti-Jewish measures were adopted, such as the exclusion of Jewish members from the law association and the medical chamber, practically forcing them to stop practising their professions.
After the establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, Jews were gradually and systematically excluded from economic and social life. All Jewish matters were overseen by the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, which initially tried to force Jews to emigrate abroad but later changed its strategy to prepare for the implementation of the so-called “Final Solution to the Jewish Question.”
The Central Office forced the Prague Jewish Religious Community to obediently carry out Nazi orders and participate in the deportation of Jews, among other places, to the Terezin (Theresienstadt) concentration camp. These deportations began in the autumn of 1941, and by early 1943, only about 3,000 Jews remained free.
From Theresienstadt, Jews were deported to German-occupied territories of the Soviet Union or Poland. However, Theresienstadt held a special status among concentration camps because it was portrayed as an ideal Jewish settlement offering protection and stability. The Nazis invited several Red Cross delegations to come and visit the camp, but of course, they made sure that everything was prepared in advance, including clean clothes for the children, toys and food – it was all for the show for one day only.
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Before the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was forced on the Czech population, over 120,000 Jews lived in the republic. About 30,000 Jews managed to emigrate, but the vast majority of the others were deported to Terezin.
The exact number of Czech Jewish victims of the Holocaust is not known, but at least 80,000 Jews were killed during that time. Many Jews actively participated in the resistance during the war and formed a significant part of the Czechoslovak foreign army. In some units of the foreign corps in the USSR, Jews made up to 70%.
Situation after 1945 and Communist times
After a brief period of relaxation during the Prague Spring, many Jews emigrated immediately following the Soviet occupation in 1968. Those who remained faced a new wave of persecution.
During the operations conducted by the State Security in the 1970s and 1980s, named Asanace and Pavouk, many Jews were “offered” the option to emigrate from Czechoslovakia, which most accepted. Despite the persecution from state authorities, the Jewish communities managed to maintain their religious life.
The Velvet Revolution and life after 1989
The Velvet Revolution and the change in the social system in 1989 had a positive impact on the lives of Jewish communities in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.
Some people have returned back from exile and there were also descendants of assimilated Jews from the first post-war generation who came back. Today, approximately 4,000 people of Jewish faith live in the Czech Republic.
In 1991, the previously communist-controlled Council of Jewish Religious Communities was transformed into the Federation of Jewish Communities (FŽO), which is currently made up of ten Jewish communities in the Czech Republic.
Services are held in four synagogues in Prague (the Spanish, Jerusalem, Old-New, and High Synagogues), as well as in Brno, Plzeň, Liberec, Teplice, Děčín, Olomouc, Ostrava, and occasionally in the newly renovated synagogue in Krnov. In Prague, there are several kosher restaurants, and since 2014, the only kosher hotel in Central Europe. Education is provided at the Jewish elementary school and high school in Prague.
Current times
The numbers are not quite complete as for example in 2021 around 500 people are direct members of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, but another 1500 people listed themselves as having a Jewish faith. In comparison, there are an estimated 15,000–20,000 people of Jewish origin living in the Czech Republic, which might again mean that people don’t want to declare their links to Judaism or they decided to leave the Jewish community altogether.
Jewish communities can once again freely engage in religious and cultural activities, including the presentation of Israeli culture in the Czech Republic, which was effectively boycotted during the communist regime.
Institutions have also been established to help promote the understanding of Jewish history and culture in the Czech lands, such as the Jewish Museum in Prague (which includes the Archive of the Jewish Museum in Prague) and the Terezín Initiative.
Since 2008, Stolpersteine – brass tiles with the names of deceised Jewish people and placed in the pavement in front of the houses where they lived (also known in Czech as “stones of the disappeared,”) have been installed in cities across the Czech Republic (including Brno, České Budějovice, Kolín, Kroměříž, Nymburk, Neratovice, Milovice, Mladá Boleslav, Olomouc, Ostrava, Prague, Teplice, Třeboň, Liberec, Žatec, Jindřichův Hradec, and Mělník) as a special remembrance of Holocaust victims.
This blog post was originally written on 21 October 2024 and last updated on 21 October 2024
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