Historical Context: Jews in Prague
The history of Jews in Prague dates back to the ninth century when traveling Jewish merchants came to sell and gather new wares. By the late tenth century, Jewish families had settled in the region and a “Jewish Town” began to thrive on the right bank of the Vltava River. In the twelfth century, backed by Christian claims that Jews were unclean and immoral, the city’s authorities began persecuting Jews and forced them to live apart from Christians. The Jewish Town consequently became an enclosed ghetto on the site of today’s Josefov (7).
From the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, the Jews of Prague experienced a “Golden Age,” so named because Jews were generally more accepted in society due to a series of tolerant rulers (8). By the end of this period, there were more Jews in Prague than elsewhere in Europe, and at one time, Jews constituted a quarter of Prague’s total population (9). During the Golden Age, the Maisel, Pinkas, and Klausen synagogues were constructed, and the Old Jewish Cemetery was also in use. These historic sites are all administered by the JMP.
Another significant turning point in the history of Prague’s Jews began on March 15, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Czech lands and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Between 1942 and 1945, the Nazis rounded up and deported tens of thousands of Czech Jews. They were taken to the concentration camps Theresienstadt—a transit camp just outside of Prague—and Auschwitz in Poland. At the start of World War II, an estimated 92,000 Jews lived in the protectorate, but by May 1945, 78,000—over two-thirds—had died in the Holocaust (10).
According to the European Jewish Congress, approximately 1,500 Jews live in Prague today, though exact numbers are likely much higher (11). The Jewish population in Prague may be significantly smaller than in previous eras, but Jewish art, architecture, and history continue to permeate the city.
