The Jewish Quarter

Eighty-five percent of  Czech Republic citizens identify themselves as atheists so it may seem uncharacteristic that one of the major tourist sections of Prague is Josefov, the Jewish Quarter.  The area has a dark history beginning with Jews being forced into the ghetto in the 10th century.  Over the next centuries, the noblemen who sat in the diet in Prague Castle made, and once in a while lifted,  rules forcing the Jews to convert or leave and limiting the professions they could enter.  Priests blamed the Jews for the Black Plague and sent congregants to kill residents of the ghetto and burn their homes.  

At the beginning of the 20th century, Jews were 4% of the population and integrated into much of the city’s activities.  Then came the 1930s.  The reason for why the area was spared is one of nightmares.  The Germans chose Josefov to become a “memorial to the annihilated race.”  While killing 78,000 Czech Jews, the Nazis collected ritual objects of Jewish history and worship and brought them to display in the synagogues in Prague.  The Germans did not fulfill their goal of annihilation but their successors, the Communists, were only slightly better in their treatment of Jews.  Today the country has about 10,000 Jews.

Our tour guide, a Holocaust and property rights major and not Jewish, was outstanding.  Her explanations provided historical facts mixed with occasional irony.  After her overview, we returned to visit the Jewish Museum (yes, there is a museum made of former synagogues), a synagogue and a cemetery.   

 
The Old-New Synagogue, the Spanish Synagogue (both 13th century), and the Maisel Synagogue no longer offer religious services but instead display historical and religious items looted from Bavaria and Moravia. 

 

The Pinkas Synagogue has a painful display.  On the walls is the “Memorial of the 77,297,” the names of Czechoslovakians  exterminated by the Nazis.  Upstairs they had displays of art drawn by children in the show camp of Terezin (where the Nazis pretended the people in the camps led a comfortable life).

 

The exit from the synagogue leads to the small cemetery (Jews could not acquire more land) where so many Jews died during pogroms in the 15-18th centuries that graves were stacked twelve deep.  The stones are crowded and lean upon each other.

 
Within the quarter are monuments to famous residents, Franz Kafka, Max Broad, and Albert Einstein.  This statue is dedicated to Kafka.

A survivor who has relocated to Australia owns a home where 263 of her family members were arrested and slaughtered.  She survived as a worker in the camp but was sterilized.  She has refused to sell the building and wants it to remain as a deteriorating monument to what was done to the residents.

 The Starnova Syngogue, built in 1270, is the oldest continuously functioning synagogue in Czechslovakia.  It is of orthodox denomination.  A second synagogue outside the quarter is less strict in its observance.





 

We had a tasty lunch at King Solomon’s, a kosher restaurant, and for dinner enjoyed our only Asian meal of the trip.

 

On our last day of the trip, we braved the chill to enjoy the sites of this lovely city.  Charles Bridge is for pedestrians only.  Darkened religious statues tower over the souvenir vendors that line the bridge.  The walk was lovely but would have been even better on a sunny day.

Our last stop on this eastern European trip was at a museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts.  The small exhibit halls are filled with an eclectic collection of glassware, vintage clothing, clocks, inlaid furniture and more.  Displays mix works from the middle ages with those of the early 1900s, providing such odd combinations as a bench from the 1500s with a glass ball from 1922.

Steve and Rita turned in early to prepare for a too early morning flight while Jerry and Anna Lee found a very good Italian restaurant.

We all enjoyed a wonderful and educational trip and have many more stories to share if you are interested.  

Prague continued

This city is what one pictures a classic European city should look like.  The buildings are painted in faded shades of pinks, blues and greens.  Dark frescos cover three and four story brown buildings.  Statues of saints, cherubs, and noted persons are on ledges, corners, doorposts, and windows.  An unadorned building looks naked against all the ornate decorations.  And the cold, grey day failed to dampen our eagerness to explore the winding lanes and see the sites.

Our choices of touring are antique cars, horse-drawn carriages, segways, various forms of bicycles and the ubiquitous Hop On, Hop Off bus.  We chose the last and took it all the way around the old city deciding what we wanted to see in depth.  Among the landmark buildings is the “Fred and Ginger house,” designed by Frank Gehry and also known by various dancing names.

We decided to visit the 9th century Prague Castle complex, seat of kings, priests and presidents.  Three of the giant stained glass windows in  St. Vita Cathedral are by Alberto Mucha.

 
We added a new word to our vocabulary, defenestrate, meaning to throw your enemy out the window.  This is a fairly common action in the history of the Czech Republic and has had such consequences as the Thirty Years War.  This silver coffin with red canopy honors St. John, a defenestrated martyr who tried to reform the church.

 

Among the large rooms in the castle is the diet where officials sat on red benches deciding issues relating to taxes, the military, borders, citizenship and religion.

The Basilica of St. George is small in comparison to other churches we have visited.


 

The Rosenburg Palace was used by the Noble Ladies Institute as a home for unmarried women who were under strict rules of behavior such as wearing black clothing and regular attendance at the opera.

Jerry and Anna Lee found a cute museum to visit, a Toy Museum filled with displays of 19th and 20th century Czech toys for Christmas, doll houses, and toy soldiers.



 
It is easy to find places to eat in Prague, though most of them are either traditional Czech food or Italian.  We did find a good Asian/Czech fusion restaurant.  Menus are consistent at  Czech restaurants, shnitzel, many forms of pork, goulash, and salmon.   We found the food good but a bit repetitive.  Gelato and pastry shops abound.  Sadly, the American export of McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King can be found too often.  


In case you were wondering, Prague is just as beautiful at night as it is during the day.

Prague, Day One

Our river cruise has ended and the four of us are spending four days in Prague.  Our hotel in on St. Wenceslas Square which is really a wide street that leads to Old Town Square.  When we arrived the Taste of Czech Food was right outside the hotel, so we indulged in local food, sausage sandwiches and a chicken kabob sandwich.

 

Prague’s signature site is the 15th century Astronomical Clock that hourly has the apostles appear and a skeleton and saint ring in the time present the signs of the zodiac and the phases of the moon. 

 
Buskers entertain the huge crowds the rest of the time.  We enjoyed watching this woman make giant bubbles.

Traditional Czech food is available on every block.  Our weinerschnitzel under the heating lamps of the patio of Hotel U was typical.   Concerts are another characteristic of the town.  Churches, synagogues, and concert halls have one and two performances a day.  Most last one hour and are inexpensive.  We went to St. Nicholas Church for an excellent organ concert and not as good brass quartet.  The acoustics made the quartet sound out of synch.  The church itself is quite beautiful but very cold.  We sat bundled in our coats for the performance. 

If we have more time, we will find more concerts to attend.

Nurmberg

The cruise director told Jerry that one of the best tours offered on this trip was to the Nazi Parade Grounds and museum.  Having seen many photos and movies showing the area over the years, this peaked his interest and he decided to give it a try.   Well worth it.  The tour started with a drive down the parade grounds which consisted of a marble road two kilometers long which was supposed to be used for displays of military strength.  It was never finished.

From there we were taken to the ”Zeppelinfeld”, the Nazi rally grounds where Hitler spoke on several occasions.  

Even though the Nazi flags and symbols have long since been destroyed, the very presence on the grounds was chilling.  Lines were drawn on the ground so that only pure Germans could enter, no Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies or other undesirables were allowed.   The guide explained that the rally lasted for up to a week and, during that time, each member of the family went with their own age groups so that parents and children were never together.  The idea was that no one could discuss what was presented with other members of their family and no one could question the statements were made.  It was proper to simply believe what you were being told.  She also told us about the evening programs where Nazi flags were lit by firelight and the feeling was one of invincibility.  Fortunately, although designed to last for a thousand years, the grounds are now nothing but a ruin.  Interestingly, this structure, on which six Nazi flags were placed, was actually a bathroom.  There were dozens of these that surrounded the parade grounds.

 
We then went to the document center which was housed in a mammoth building designed by Hitler to be used once a year when he spoke to the party big wigs.  The building was so big that they were able to drive our tour bus inside of it and around in a circle. 

Again, it was never finished and is little more than a ruin itself.  The spot in the center was to ba a balcony where Hitler planned to speak.  The document center however has been converted to a multi media museum depicting the rise of the National Socialist movement from its inception the defeat of Germany in 1945. 

An excellent film deals with the trials at the conclusion of the war showing actual cross examination of the principals who denied any knowledge of what went on in the concentration camps.  One Nazi testified, “Yes, people died, but not because of any concerted action by the government.”  Two women, neither of them Jewish, had to leave the museum because they were so moved by what they learned.

We were then taken around the remainder of the city for a brief tour including the courtroom where the war crimes trials took place. This is the exterior of the building where the trials took place.  The large windows on the second floor are for the courtroom.

We then drove past two Jewish cemeteries which had been well maintained by the Nazis for later use as a museum.  The city center is really beautiful and helped lift the spirits of those who attended this depressing part of the tour.

 While Jerry went on his tour, Rita, Steve and Anna Lee took a brief tour of the city.  This Bavarian city is the original home of gingerbread and small sausages, neither of which we sampled.  Typical of eastern European towns, it was surrounded by a city wall that still stands a thousand years later.  The sandstone blocks retain the tung holes used to lift them in place.

The central square is filled with stalls overflowing with colorful products.  Above the square stands the 14th century limestone castle.  A model of the old city is labeled in braille.

On one side of the square stands Our Lady Church.  On the floor of the front area is a six-pointed Jewish star memorializing the synagogue that stood there.  The synagogue and Jewish section of town was destroyed in a pogrom in 1349.

During the trip, Rita decided to develop a new skill and wanted to show off what she learned about napkin folding.  Here she shows off her "dead chicken"

 

 We are now on our way to Prague.

Regensburg

 Prior to our arrival in Regensburg, we extended our cruise with a trip through the gorgeous Danube Gorge.   This is the last natural stretch of the river. The autumn colored trees alternate with vertical limestone cliffs in the narrowest and deepest passage along the river.  Formations have such names as Napoleon’s Suitcase.  Across from a cave monastery hides a pirates lair.

 
Our floating on the river ended at the Weltensburg Abbey where the altar is filled with a metal sculpture of St. George slaying the dragon.  The ceiling is an optical illusion, appearing like a dome yet actually flat.  Plump cherubim hang from cotton puff clouds.

The monastery is known for its delicious beer served with a giant pretzel.

On the walk back to the bus we saw a stone monument erected by the small town in memorial to three U.S soldiers killed while on a training exercise on the river.


Our last stop was the neo-classical pantheon Liberation Hall celebrating the German victory over Napoleon in 1563.  Statues and columns in multiples of eighteen honor the provinces of Germany.
                 

             
Back in Regensburg, we wandered the town visiting the cathedral and its crypt with bones from 1272.

On the sidewalk of a narrow side street were five small bronze plaques with the names of five Jews and their deportation date.  On Rita and Steve’s tour they saw a similar plaque in honor of Oscar Schindler.

The ship gave us vouchers for a notable little establishment, a sausage shop where Jerry relished the small hot dogs mit beer.

 Our last stop was a visit to a cuckoo clock shop for an explanation of the many parts that make these so delightful.  There are three different mechanisms for the cuckoo, music and clock.  These clocks are handmade and rather pricey so we are not bringing one home.