Christmas Eve in the Jewish Quarter of Prague

This morning was spent in visiting the Jewish Quarter of Prague. A mixed history, there, the Jews were numerous but yet very much not welcomed in Bohemian life. Starting at the Spanish Synagogue...a more recent (19th-century) building, it was greatly influenced by Moorish precepts in its architecture and decorations. The gold! The elaborate motifs! Absolutely splendid. The two stories also housed small displays of artifacts from earlier Jewish experiences in Prague, as well as some cases exploring the life of those incarcerated at Terezin during World War II. Shockingly (though unsurprisingly, sadly), there were official “racial mixing” charts which “rationally and reasonably” explained exactly how much Jewish blood would be considered acceptable. There was a heart-wrenching postcard (written in German, curiously) from Terezin that said essentially, “My dearest brother, I hope that this finds you and your wife in good health. I have been in the hospital the past few days and am most unwell. My very warm wishes to you all. From your loving brother. P.S. Uncle Otto is dead.” Just the matter-of-fact nature of the death of a relative and knowing the context that it was written by someone in a concentration camp made it terribly difficult.

Moving on, we had only a short time because the museums/synagogues would be closing early. Next stop, the Jewish cemetery and other associated buildings. The first building was a synagogue converted to a memorial to those Czech victims who died in the camps. Stunningly simple, the walls were whitewashed, and individual names, birth dates, and death dates were painted in a draftsman’s hand in fairly small font. The names took up all the walls of two levels of this synagogue. The simplicity and the enormity of it were astonishing. In the upper floor, a side room contained some of the artwork of the children of Terazin. Testament to the life that they were led to believe was “normal and happy” in order to protect them, the art depicts conditions that should never be normal for anyone: crammed bunks, group showers, and so on. I didn’t know this, but Terezin was originally soldiers’ barracks designed for 3000 soldiers. During its use as an internment camp, it housed 60,000 people.

The Jewish cemetery was extraordinary because it is a compaction of a much larger area. As the nearby land was taken for housing and other buildings, the remains (and memorial stones) were moved into the remaining cemetery land. This meant that there were stones upon stones. In some areas, trees had grown in such a way that they incorporated stones into their own structures.

We then went into another building that housed information on the Jewish Burial Society. It took some doing to piece together the information from the placards, but it seems as though the burial society was more hospice/financial support for the dying and/or bereaved than undertakers. However, the society also managed body preparation and took an important role in the funeral. Since their work was mostly a rather difficult task from the emotional standpoint, it was imperative in the society that they hold at least one joyful banquet a year! For this banquet, they had special china, silver place settings, and so on.

Lunchtime! Or, rather, AFTER lunch time, meaning that finding a place for 7 to sit down was impossible. We elected to go with street food at the hotel, with the plan of reserving dinner at a “decent” restaurant. In the end, even that turned out to be difficult, since those who did take reservations were already booked and those that didn’t, well, didn’t. After more people watching, we met up at the astronomical clock in time to see it do all its action! A wonderful sight! It was time to do a little Christmas shopping for some, and time to admire more buildings for others. An early dinner (to ensure we had a place to go!), which was delicious as it happened, and back to the hotel to play cards and wait for midnight Mass!

Love,

Alexandra