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NEWSLETTER 2003/4
PINKAS
SYNAGOGUE REOPENED
The Pinkas Synagogue, which is one of the best preserved monuments of
Prague’s former Jewish town, has reopened to the public after being
closed for 14 months. At the end of the 1950s the Pinkas was converted
into a unique memorial to the victims of the Holocaust from Bohemia
and Moravia, but it remained closed from 1968 until the end of the Communist
regime in November 1989. It was renovated in the following years, as
were the almost 80,000 names of Shoah victims which are hand-written
on the synagogue walls. Of all the heritage - protected Jewish buildings
in Prague, it was the Pinkas Synagogue that suffered the most damage
in last year's floods. (see Newsletter 3/2002).
A team of experts working under climatologist Jan Červenák was put together
to preserve the synagogue. The first priority was to make the building
stable. Then, the rooms were repeatedly cleaned and disinfected, and
a constant temperature was maintained in order to prevent further deterioration
of the damaged features.
In
accordance with the recommendations of experts, checks on the state
of damaged inscriptions were carried out by Michaela Poková, an artist
involved in the renovation of the inscriptions in the 1990s. Despite
all effort, however, the inscriptions in several areas were
destroyed and will have to be renovated gradually. Renovation work on
the building was completed on 12 September 2003 and repair of the inscriptions
is due for completion in April 2004.
The reconstruction project was supervised by the Jewish Museum in Pra-
gue and funded by various sources. The bulk of the costs was covered
by the Kooperativa a. s. insurance company (with which the Museum was
insured), as mediated by Aura Lloyd s. r. o. The remai-ning costs were
covered by several international grants and the Museum’s own resources.
Major financial contributions towards the reconstruction of the Pinkas
Synagogue were received from a number of sponsors from the Czech Republic
and abroad and from international organizations, most notably: The World
Monuments Fund (USA) this project was made possible, in part, by a grant
from the WORLD MONUMENTS FUND Jewish Heritage Grant Program, the Hon.
Ronald S. Lauder, and The Ronald 
S.
Lauder Foundation; the Czech-German fund Future Fund (Czech Republic
- Germany); Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg (Germany); The American Distribution
Com-mittee (USA); The American Friends of the Czech Republic (USA);
The American Jewish Committee (USA); The Project Judaica Foun-dation,
USA; The EZRA Foundation (Slovakia). The total cost of the reconstruction
amounted to k 7.8 million.
On the first floor of the synagogue, the permanent exhibition “Children
Drawings from Terezín 1942-44” from the Museum’s collections also reopened.
Among the Jewish inmates in Terezín, more than 10,000 were under the
age of 15 at the time of their incarceration. The Museum’s collection
includes more than 4,000 original drawings made by these children. In
the opening section of the display is a newly installed text about the
Art in Extreme Situations programme which is held at a workshop organized
by the Museum’s Education and Culture Centre.
RENOVATION OF THE STAR ON THE PINKAS SYNAGOGUE
As part of the extensive Pinkas renovation project following last year’s
floods, an improvement was also made to the synagogue exterior. A Star
of David was placed above what used to be the main entrance to the synagogue
vestibule (from the former Malá Pinkas Lane), which it had previously
adorned for centuries. It is not known when the Star of David was originally
placed
on the faćade above the entrance to the Pinkas Synagogue. It is possible
that this occurred during the extension of the vestibule and the women’s
gallery by the ghetto architect Judah Zoref de Herz before 1622, but
it was probably added later, most likely in the eighteenth century.
In any case, a star above the synagogue entrance is evident in all the
earliest illustrations of the synagogue dating from the nineteenth century.
The star remainedin the Pinkas Synagogue after the ghetto recon- struction
and the demolition of surrounding houses until the 1950s, when it was
removed as part of the ongoing building of the memorial to the victims
of the Holocaust from Bohemia and Moravia. After many years, the Star
of David has now returned to its original place, once again adorning
the second oldest synagogue in Prague.
LONG-LOST FACES
In October 2003, a remarkable exhibition opened at the Robert Guttmann
Gallery of the Jewish Museum in Prague. Entitled Long-lost Faces - Recollections
of Holocaust Victims in Documents and Photographs, this show marks the
culmination of a successful project, “Help Search for Neighbours who
Disappeared”, which was initiated and launched in December 2001 (see
Newsletter 1/2002). The Museum contacted the public through a series
of media appeals for assistance in the search for mementos, photographs,
documents and other material that recall the lives and fates of Bohe-mian
and Moravian Jews before the Second World War. Our aim was to bring
today’s and future generations closer to those who became victims of
one of the greatest atrocities in the history of mankind.
The
response from the public was greater than we had imagined. In the course
of two years, we were contacted by more than 500 people, including a
few from abroad, who provided about 3,000 different documents and objects.
Some documents were donated, others were made available to copy. In
this way the Museum acquired not only official documents, such as public
notices, bulletins and administrative forms from the period of the Nazi
occupation, but also a wide range of personal items - such as portraits,
family and school photographs, personal documents, birth and wedding
certificates, reports, identification cards, passports and membership
cards, as well as official and illegal correspondence from home, Terezín
and other Nazi camps and ghettos. Other valuable sources for illustrating
the everyday lives of Jewish inmates include diaries, crapbooks, poems
and personal narratives. There is also a completely separate group of
small items which were made in concentration camps, such as toys and
gifts.
The exhibition highlights a selection of material that effectively records
the variety of the newly acquired documents relating to the Nazi genocide
of the Jews. The material in its entirety was transferred to the care
of the Museum’s Holocaust Department, whose staff have set about the
task of researching, inventorying and storing it in archive and photo
collections. This has produced a new collection that will constitute
an important source for historians.
The exhibition was curated by Jana Šplíchalová and Anita Franková and
runs from 16 October 2003 until 15 January 2004. It has enjoyed widespread
public interest and will later travel across the Czech Republic and
abroad.
EXHIBITION
OF JEWISH FESTIVALS AND HISTORY IN NÁCHOD
The Regional Museum of Náchod in north-eastern Bohemia has followed
the Děčín Syna-gogue as the next venue for our travelling exhibition
“Jewish Traditions and Customs” and “History of the Jewish in Bohemia
and Moravia”. (See Newsletter 3/2003.) Náchod, which lies on the old
road from Prague to Krakow, used to have a very old and important Jewish
community.
In the new regional museum, both sections of the travelling exhibition
were supplemented by original material that was provided by the Náchod
Museum and loaned from local citizens. The most valuable of such items
included drawings by the local artist O. Šafář, dating from the 1950s
and 60s. These works depict in detail the old Náchod Jewish Quarter,
including an old baroque synagogue. Šafář also provided early photographs
of the former ghetto which was destroyed during the second world war
and demolished in the 1960s. Also remarkable
were documents of several major Jewish textile works in Náchod and its
surroundings (such as the Mautner spinning factory), of which there
were once several dozen here. The more recent history was enlivened
by numerous photos of Jewish citizens from Náchod who were engaged by
the English and Soviet armies in action against the Nazis, and photos
of members of well-known local families who were executed during the
Shoah. This part of the exhibition was rounded off with a display of
complete lists com- prising information on all the Shoah victims from
the Náchod district.
The second part of the exhibition was supplemented by extant ritual
items from the collection of the Regional Mu-seum of Náchod - in particular,
Holy Ark decorations from the Náchod Syna-gogue, two curtains and several
Torah mantles, candelabra and mezuzot. The most remarkable Jewish items
in the collection of the Náchod Museum are two well-preserved leather
water skins, previously used by Jewish firemen; bearing the inscription
“Kehila kedoshah Na-chod” (The Holy Community of Náchod) and dating
from 1781, they were probably used
as a symbol of the Jewish firemen of Náchod.
Next year, this travelling exhibition will be on display in Moravia,
the first venue being in the Museum of Local History in Šumperk.
LECTURE SERIES THE JEWISH MINORITY IN 1930S
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Since October 2003 the Museum’s Education and Culture Centre has been
hosting a series of lectures on the Jewish minority in 1930s Czechoslovakia,
which follows on from last year’s lecture series that focused on the
1920s. This series has been put together in association with several
major experts. Dr. Blanka Soukupová, CSc. From the Faculty of Humanistic
Studies at Charles University, focused, among other things, on the Czech
Jewish movement and anti-Semitism. Dr. Kate-řina Čapková covered the
history of Zionism, Dr. Ludmila Nesládková dealt with the socio-demographic
characteristics of the Jewish minority, and Dr. Peter Salner, a leading
researcher, will be reporting on the situation in Slovakia. The entire
programme, including annotations of individual lectures, is available
on the Muse-um’s website and will be published at a later date.
UNVEILING
OF A MEMORIAL PLAQUE FOR JOSEF POLÁK IN KOŠICE
On 29 October 2003, as part of the Czech Days in Slovakia, a memorial
plaque was un-veiled on the historic building of the Eastern Slovakian
Museum in Košice for Josef Polák (1886-1945), the important Czech Jewish
art historian, museologist, preservationist and
educationalist. In 1919-1938, Polák was director of the above museum
which, at the time, was becoming a lively centre of cultural life with
a number of interesting exhibitions on traditional and modern art. Polák’s
ample experience bore fruit in 1942-44, when he became one of the leading
figures at the Jewish Central Museum in Prague. He perished in 1945,
probably in Auschwitz. The unveiling of the plaque was attended by the
Consul General of the Czech Republic in Slovakia, Vítězslav Pivoňka,
and the director of the Slovak national Museum, Dr. Peter Maráky. In
connection with the unveiling of the plaque, the Jewish Museum in Prague
financially contributed to the publication of an illustrated leaflet
on the life and work of Josef Polák.
IS HANUKKAH YOUR HOLIDAY?
On 7 December 2003, an event entitled “Is Hanukkah your Holiday?” was
held in the Jerusalem Synagogue in Prague. Its aim was to bring Hanukkah
closer to all those who have Jewish roots but are not actively involved
in Jewish life. This event, which was widely advertised several weeks
in advance, provided a wealth of interesting information on the Festi-val
of Lights, which has been celebrated for over two millennia. Attention
was placed on the historical background of the festival and related
customs in a loosely based and clear form. Chil- dren from the Prague
Lauder Jewish schools sang Hanukkah songs and it candles in the special
Hanukkah candelabrum - the Hanukki-yah. The event was initiated by the
conservative Jewish society Bejt Praha and supported by the Jewish Museum
in Prague in association with the Jewish Community in Prague and the
Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic
NEW
PUBLICATIONS THE GOLEM IN RELIGION, SCIENCE AND ART
The Czech-Spanish publication, The Golem in Religion, Science and Art,
comprises ten papers by renowned Czech and Argentine authors. These
papers were given at a seminar which was held as part of the Golem 2002-5763
project at the Museum’s Education and Culture Centre in October last
year (See Newsletter 4/2002). The aim of this
seminar was to connect various scientific disciplines by means of the
Golem theme, and this is reflected in each paper. The historical development
and basic interpretation of the Golem theme is summed up by Leo Pavlát.
The Golem of Rabbi Loew and the possible meanings and interpretations
of its creation are dealt with by Vladimír Sadek. The perspective of
traditional Judaism on the creation of golems is put forward by the
Chief Rabbi of Prague Ephraim Karol Sidon. Psychological aspects of
the golem phenomenon are brought to our attention by the Argentine Rabbi
Abraham Skorka. The Golem’s place in the world of myths, and also of
genetics and informatics, is explored by Zdeněk Neubauer. A large part
of the publication is focused on illustrations of the Golem
in art.
Maria Kodama de Borges stresses the major influence of the Kabala on
the work of her husband Jorge Luis Borges, whose poem The Golem was
one of the inspirations for the whole project. The Golem in Czech literature
is the topic of Ladislava Hájková’s paper.
The texts on the Golem in Czech art (by Arno Pařík) and the Golem myth
in cinematography (by Blažena Urgošíková) are both richly illustrated.
The publication ends with a witty overview of Golem stories and behind-the-scenes
insights into the making of Pavel Šmok’s ballet “The Golem”. A select
bibliography and filmography is provided for those interested in further
study and each paper has a résumé in English. The publication is 268
pages long and has 16 pages of illustrations. It is available at all
the Museum’s retail areas and on the inter-net at:
www.jewishmuseum.cz/shop.
PROMINENT
VISITS
- Delegation of the Israeli Kneset led by speaker Reuven Rivlin
- The wives of ambassadors to the Czech Republic
- The Dutch Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ida L. van Veldhuizen-Rothenbücher
- Tova Pinto, Director of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Delegation
for Central and Eastern Europe
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