| Annual
Reports 2003 1.
Introduction
2. Profile of the Jewish Museum in Prague
3. 2002 attendance statistics
4. New exhibitions
5. Contacts and collaboration in the Czech Republic and
abroad
6. Specialist and research work
7. Educational activities
8. Cultural activities
9. Publications and retail activities
10. Archives and documentation
11. Collections
12. Library
13. Computer network
14. Technical and construction projects
15. Prominent visits
16. Sponsors’ donations
17. Donations provided by the JMP
Attachments: information about economy JMP
In its eighth year as an independent
institution, the Jewish Museum in Prague focused on further developing
all areas of its activity. At the same time, however, it had to continue
dealing with the restoration of damage caused by the devastating floods
of August 2002. Worst affected were the Pinkas Synagogue and the two newly
refurbished buildings which have served as the Museum’s administrative
and specialised centre since 2001. In total, direct flood damage to the
Museum’s real estate amounted to CZK 15.9 million, while damage to movable
assets and supplies has been put at CZK 6.3 million. The administrative
and specialised centre was brought back into full operation in the first
half of 2003, but the Pinkas Synagogue, which houses the memorial to the
victims of the Shoah from Bohemia and Moravia, could not be opened to
the public until October 2003. A certain amount of minor restoration work
on the synagogue is set to continue until March 2004. On account of our
due insurance coverage, the support of numerous donors, additional investments
and the professionalism of the Museum’s specialist staff, we managed to
return all the flood-damaged buildings to their original state, as well
as making a number of improvements. The work and supplies that have been
completed will make it possible to prevent further damage in case of future
flooding and, at the same time, will ensure greater security for visitors.
For most of the year tourism remained stagnant, as it has been since the
terrorist attacks on America in September 2001. The Museum’s economic
results were adversely affected by the strengthening of the Czech crown
against the dollar and euro, as well as by ever-increasing operating costs
as a result of the general economic situation of the country. We have
confronted these trends in part by staff cuts through reorganisation,
and in part by an economic program that has affected all areas of the
Museum’s activity. Overall, our retained earnings, together with insurance
coverage of direct and indirect flood-related damage, were sufficient
for the Museum to carry out its mission in 2003 without having to make
any major restrictions. The Museum’s achievements in 2003, for which all
of its employees deserve credit, are detailed in the following report.
On 31 December 2003, the Museum had records of 135 full-time employees.
In the course of the year, the Museum employed the services of 125 people
on a part-time or specific contractual basis.
a) Properties managed
by the JMP
- Office complex, U Staré školy
1, 3, Prague 1: Museum administration, specialist workplaces, depositories,
Library, Reference Centre, café, Robert Guttmann Gallery
- Maisel Synagogue: in the main nave, the permanent exhibition The History
of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia –
I. From the First
Settlements until Emancipation. 145 originals and facsimiles on display
- Pinkas Synagogue: in the main nave, the Memorial to the Victims of the
Nazi Genocide of Bohemian and Moravian Jews; in the gallery, the permanent
exhibition Children’s Drawings from Terezín. 238 originals and facsimiles
on display.
- Klausen Synagogue: in the main nave, the permanent exhibition Jewish
Customs and Traditions – I. The Synagogue and Festivals; in the gallery,
the permanent exhibition Jewish Customs and Traditions – II. The Course
of Life. 474 originals and facsimiles on display. The JMP Reservation
Centre is also located on the premises.
- Ceremonial Hall: Continuation of the permanent exhibition Jewish Customs
and Traditions – II. The Course of Life. 140 originals and facsimiles
on display
- Spanish Synagogue: in the main nave and gallery, the exhibition The
History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia –
II. From Emancipation
to the Present. 535 originals and facsimiles on display
- Spanish Synagogue – Winter Prayer Hall: permanent exhibition Synagogue
Silver from Bohemia and Moravia. 193 objects on display
- Robert Guttmann Gallery: exhibition venue for temporary shows
- Education and Culture Centre of the JMP, Maiselova 15, Prague 1
- Old Jewish Cemetery, dating from the 15th-18th century
- Jewish Cemetery in Fibichova Street, Žižkov, dating from the 17th-18th
century
- Former synagogue in Smíchov, dating from the 1930s – future JMP archive
centre
- Main textile depository, housed in a 19th century rural synagogue
- Synagogue in Brandýs nad Labem, dating from the 19th century – future
storage area for part of the JMP Library
b) Services provided by the JMP
- Tours of the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Jewish Cemetery in Žižkov, and
five permanent exhibitions in historic buildings
- Tours of temporary exhibitions in the Robert Guttmann Gallery
- Special lectures and tours organized by the Education and Culture Centre
of the JMP
- Seminars on Jewish themes
- Cultural programmes on Jewish themes at the Education and Culture Centre
of the JMP
- Access to basic Judaic literature and special software in the Reference
Centre
- Use of the ORT computer room, which is focused on Jewish subject matter,
with access to the Internet and special software
- Specialized library services for professionals and the general public
- Consultation for professionals and the general public on issues related
to the history of Bohemian and Moravian Jews
- Consultation for professionals and the general public on issues related
to the persecution of Bohemian and Moravian Jews during the Second World
War
- Historical illustrated materials available for reproduction
- Own publications and publicity material
- Advanced booking via the JMP Reservation Centre
- Guided visits
- Audio-guides (in association with Gallery Service, s.r.o.)
| Attendance
figures for the year 2003 |
Month |
Total
number of visitors |
|
Foreign
visitors |
Czech visitors
|
|
|
|
Adults |
Children |
Adults |
Children |
Jan. |
13
701 |
|
10
300 |
2
999 |
92
|
310 |
Feb. |
15
419 |
|
9
825 |
5
011 |
79 |
504 |
Mar. |
37
352 |
|
18
304 |
17
080 |
131 |
1
837 |
Apr. |
53
768 |
|
31
194 |
20
315 |
299 |
1
960 |
May |
55
339 |
|
40
478 |
11
978 |
369 |
2
514 |
Jun. |
45
892 |
|
33
545 |
10
134 |
251 |
1
962 |
Jul. |
56
348 |
|
39
867 |
15
860 |
283 |
338 |
Aug. |
71
358 |
|
55
198 |
15
499 |
334 |
327
|
Sep.
|
57
111 |
|
42
778 |
10
697 |
246 |
3
390 |
Oct. |
48
892 |
|
35 446 |
9
960 |
235 |
3
251 |
Nov. |
31
965 |
|
23
314 |
7
019 |
236 |
1
396 |
Dec. |
30
309 |
|
22
926 |
6
155 |
127 |
1
101 |
TOTAL
|
517
454 |
|
363
175 |
132
707 |
2
682 |
18
890 |
a) Permanent exhibitions
- Pinkas Synagogue
After undergoing repairs and reconstruction, necessitated by flood damage
in August 2002, the memorial to the victims of the Shoah from Bohemia
and Moravia was reopened to the public on 1 October 2003.
The permanent exhibition A Children’s Story – Children’s Drawings from
Terezín, 1942-1944 was reinstalled on the first floor of the synagogue.
An informative text about the programme Art in Extreme Situations (organized
by the Education and Culture Centre of the JMP) was added to the introductory
part of the exhibition.
b) Temporary exhibitions
Robert Guttmann Gallery:
- Michal Singer – Paintings from 1999-2002, 7 November – 26 January 2003
(curator A. Pařík in association with the collection department)
- Mountain of Mountains. Aleš Veselý’s Desert Projects, 12 February –
6 April 2003 (curator M. Hájková)
- Silenced Tones – The Life and Work of the Czech Jewish Composers Gideon
Klein and Egon Ledeč, 16 April – 15 June 2003 (curators A. Franková, J.
Šplíchalová)
- Adolf Kohn. Painter of the Prague Ghetto, 26 June – 26 September 2003
(curator A. Pařík)
- Long-lost Faces - Recollections of Holocaust Victims in Documents and
Photographs, 16 October – 23 January 2004 (curators A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
c) JMP exhibitions
outside Prague, involvement in exhibitions organized by other institutions
(loans and consultation)
Czech Republic
- For Dignity and Adornment – Synagogue Textile Treasures from Bohemia
and Moravia, an exhibition of synagogue textiles from the JMP’s collection,
held in the Imperial Stables, Prague Castle, 26 March – 23 June. The largest
ever presentation of synagogue textiles from the JMP’s collection ever
to be held. (E. Kosáková, L. Kybalová, D. Veselská, H. Votočková, V. Nauschová,
M. Kropáčková, J. Stankiewicz, depository administration)
- Děčín Synagogue: JMP panel-based travelling exhibitions Jewish Customs
and Traditions and History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia, 16 July
– 28 October 2003 (curator A. Pařík)
- Regional Museum of Náchod: JMP panel-based travelling exhibitions Jewish
Customs and Traditions and History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia,
6 November – 30 November 2003 (curator A. Pařík)
- Úštěk Synagogue: exhibitions Synagogue Reconstruction, History of the
Jewish Community in Úštěk and History of the Jewish Education in Bohemia
and Moravia, opening 10 September 2003 (curator A. Pařík, cooperation
V. Hamáčková)
- Regional Museum of K.A.Polánek in Žatec – loan of 8 silver items for
a temporary exhibition
- National gallery in Prague – loan of two Max Ernst paintings for an
exhibition at the Trade Fair Palace, Prague
- Museum of Český Ráj in Turnov – loan of 21 items for the exhibition
Neighbours Who Disappeared
- Higher Technical School of Graphic Art, Prague and Graphic Art School
Secondary Industrial School of Graphic Art, Prague – loan of metal items
(restored by students as part of their specialised practice for assessment
in school-leaving examinations)
- McCann Erickson Praha advertising agency – loan of a Hanukkah lamp to
be photographed in a Beit Praha advertising campaign
- Terezín Memorial – Ghetto Museum: document searches and securing the
production of copies for a flood-damaged exhibition (A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
- Inmates from the Czech Lands in Auschwitz: document searches and securing
the production of copies for a flood-damaged exhibition for the Państwowe
Museum in Auschwitz, at the request of the Terezín Memorial (J. Šplíchalová)
- A Year of Memories of Jewish Neighbours in Jičín project and the exhibition
Neighbours Who Disappeared: preparation of background material, searches
in the JMP’s database of Shoah victims and in the JMP’s collection of
testimonies from Shoah surivors (P. Kořínková)
II. Abroad
- Virginia Holocaust Museum, Richmond, VA, USA – loan of facsimiles of
children’s drawings for a new permanent exhibition
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, USA – loan
of 15 original children’s drawings for a temporary exhibition
- Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, USA – loan for the exhibition
Friedl Dicker Brandeis (Vienna 1898 – Auschwitz 1944) (1 March 2003 –
31 August 2004)
- Historisches Museum Saar, Saarbrücken, Germany – loan of five original
children’s drawings for the exhibition Bilder als Zeugen (23 November
2003 – 22 February 2004)
- Pascal Huyhn, selection of material and consultation for the exhibition
Le nazisme et la musique v Cite de la Musique, Paris (A. Franková, J.
Šplíchalová)
The JMP worked with 50 foreign and 99 local political, administrative,
cultural, academic and educational institutions:
I. Czech Republic
- Adolf Kašpar Memorial, Loštice
- Association of Museums and Galleries in the Czech Republic
- Arma Bohemiae, history society
- Bashevi Association, Jičín
- Beit Praha
- Břeclav City Museum and Gallery
- Brno City House of Art
- Brno City Museum
- Bruntál Museum
- Černovice Memorial Civic Association
- Česká palička Civic Association, Prague
- Český Kras Museum in Beroun
- Cheb Art Gallery
- Cheb Museum
- Comenius Museum in Přerov
- Commission for the Registration of Manuscripts of the Czech Academy
of Sciences, Prague
- District Museum of Mělník
- District Museum of the Orlické Mountains, Rychnov nad Kněžnou
- District Museum of Prague-East, Brandýs nad Labem
- District Museum of Příbram
- Dobruška Municipal Museum
- Eastern Bohemian Museum in Pardubice
- Embassy of the State of Israel in the Czech Republic
- Ethnographic Society of the Czech Republic
- Faculty of Nuclear Engineering, Czech Technical University, Prague
- Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic
- Fra Publishing House, Prague
- Gideon Klein Foundation
- Gallery Cyrany, Heřmanův Městec
- Hallmark Office of Prague
- Hans Krása Foundation, Terezín
- Hazkara Civic Association, Ústí nad Labem
- Heřmanův Městec Municipal Authority
- Higher Technical School of Graphic Art, Prague
- Holešov Municipal Cultural Centre
- ICOM, CEICOM
- Institute for Contemporary History at the Czech Academy of Sciences,
Prague
- Institute of Folk Culture in Strážnice
- Institute of Restoration and Conservation Techniques, Litomyšl
- Institute of the Terezín Initiative, Prague
- Jewish Community of Brno
- Jewish Community of Děčín
- Jewish Community of Karlovy Vary
- Jewish Community of Liberec
- Jewish Community of Olomouc
- Jewish Community of Ostrava
- Jewish Community of Pilsen
- Jewish Community of Prague
- Jewish Community of Teplice
- Jewish Community of Ústí nad Labem
- Krnov Synagogue Civic Association
- Kynšperk nad Ohří Friend Club
- Liberec District Art Gallery
- Lukavec Municipal Authority
- Matana a.s., Prague
- McCann Erickson Praha, advertising agency
- Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic
- Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Department for the Protection
of the Cultural Heritage of Museums and Galleries
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
- Ministry of the Interior Archives, Prague
- Moravian Gallery in Brno
- Moravian Land Archive in Brno
- Moravian Provincial Museum in Brno – Ethnographic Institute
- Mudroněk Municipal Museum of Local History, Říčany nr. Prague
- Museum of Central Bohemia in Roztoky
- Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague
- Museum of Dr. A. Hrdlička, Humpolec
- Museum of Local History in Olomouc
- Náchod District Museum
- NAGA advertising agency, Prague
- National Gallery in Prague
- National Heritage Institute, Central Office, Prague
- National Heritage Institute, specialized workplace in Prague
- National Heritage Institute, specialized workplace in Pilsen
- National Heritage Institute, specialized workplace in Ústí nad Labem
- National Library of the Czech Republic
- National Museum in Prague
- National Museum Archives, Prague
- New York University, Prague
- North Bohemian Museum in Liberec
- Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees – Czech Section, Prague
- Podbořany Municipal Authority
- Podještědí Museum of Karolína Světlá, Český Dub
- Polabí Museum in Poděbrady, Regional Museum of Nymburk Section
- Polná Museum
- Post-Office Museum, Prague
- Prague Castle Administration
- Prague City Archives
- Prague City Gallery
- Prague City Museum
- Prague Institute for the Care of Historic Monuments
- Provincial Museum of Silesia in Opava
- Red Cross Rescue Service, Prague
- Regional Museum in Kolín
- Regional Museum of Mikulov
- Regional Museum of K.A.Polánek, Žatec
- Regional Museum of Vysočina, Jihlava, Polná Section
- Road and Railway Museum, Velké Meziříčí
- School of Chemical Technology, Institute of Metal Materials and Corrosion
Engineering, Prague
- Secondary Industrial School of Applied Art and Higher Technical School
in Turnov
- Shalom Civic Association in Bečov nad Teplou
- South Bohemian Museum in České Budějovice
- State Central Archive, Prague
- State District Archive in Cheb
- State District Archive in Kroměříž
- State District Archive in Přerov
- State District Archive in Rychnov nad Kněžnou
- State District Archive in Svitavy, Litomyšl
- State District Archive in Tachov
- State Institute for the Care of Historic Monuments, Pilsen
- State Regional Archive in Litoměřice
- State Regional Archive in Litoměřice, Žitenice branch
- State Regional Archive in Prague
- Tachov District Museum
- Terezín Memorial
- Tovačov Castle Museum
- Třebíč Municipal Cultural Centre
- Třebíč Municipality
- Třešť Museum
- University of Southern Bohemian in České Budějovice
- Vamberk Lace Museum
- Walachian Open-Air Museum, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm
- West Moravian Museum in Třebíč
- Žamberk City Museum
Abroad
- Aktion Sühnezeichen, Bayerische
Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlosser, Nymphenburg, Germany
- Aktion Sühnezeichen, Dresden, Germany
- American Joint Distribution Committee, USA
- Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
- Beit Theresienstadt, Israel
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem, Israel
- Czech and Slovak Jewish Communities Archive, New York, USA
- Dokumentačné centrum českej kultúry, Martin, Slovakia
- Gedenkstätte Bergen – Belsen, Germany
- Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- Historisches Museum Saar, Saarbrücken, Germany
- Hitachdut Yotzei Czechoslovakia in Israel, Israel
- Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg, Germany
- Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Imperial War Museum, London, UK
- Institut für Buchrestaurierung, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München,
Germany
- Institut für die Geschichte der deutschen Juden, Hamburg, Germany
- Institut für Geschichte der Juden in Österreich, St. Pölten, Austria
- Institut für Kulturgeschichte der Textilien, Universität Dortmund, Germany
- Institut für Zeitgeschichte der Universität, Vienna
- Institute of Jewish Studies, Bratislava, Slovakia
- Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, Jewish National and University
Library, Jerusalem, Israel
- International Council of Museums, Paris, France
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
- Israel Postal Authority, Philatelic Service, Tel Aviv-Yaffo
- Jewish Heritage Council, New York, USA
- Jewish Museum London, UK
- Jewish Museum New York, USA
- Jewish National and University Library, Department of restoration and
conservation, Jerusalem, Israel
- Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, USA
- Jüdisches Museum, Berlin, Germany
- Jüdisches Museum, Vienna, Austria
- Mahon Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, Israel
- Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum, Miyazaki, Japan
- Münchener Stadtmuseum, München, Germany
- Musée d´Art et d´Histoire du Judaisme, Paris, France
- Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, France
- Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria
- Museum of Art, Ehime, Japan
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo, Japan
- Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, USA
- Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg, Germany
- Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art, Okayama, Japan
- Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France
- Państwowe Museum w Ośwęcimiu, Poland
- Polski Institut Historyczny, Warszawa, Poland
- Project Judaica Foundation Inc., Washington, USA
- Saitama Hall, Saitama, Japan
- Shalem Center, Jerusalem, Israel
- Simon Wiesenthal Center – Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles, USA
- Skirball Cultural Center Los Angeles, USA
- Společnost pro vědy a umění / Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences,
Rockville, USA
- Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Germany
- Stiftung Neue Synagoge – Centrum Judaicum, Berlin, Germany
- Stiftung Topographie des Terrors Berlin, Germany
- Synagogue Art Research, Jerusalem, Israel (B. and R. Dorfmanovi)
- Štátny archív v Košiciach, Slovakia
- Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
- Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, Japan
- Torah Scroll Centre, London, UK
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC, USA
- University of San Francisco
- Virginia Holocaust Museum, Richmond, VA, USA
- Vlastivedné múzeum Prešov, Slovakia
- Východoslovenské múzeum v Košiciach, Slovakia
- William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, Atlanta, USA
- Yad Vashem, Israel
a) Preparation of new exhibitions
- Preparatory work for the exhibition Transports from the Protectorate
of Bohemia and Moravia in 1942 to the East – study of archive documents,
photograph searches (J. Šplíchalová)
- Preparation of the exhibition Emil Orlik – Portraits, Studies, Sketches
at the Robert Guttmann, preparation of the catalogue and press material
(A. Pařík)
- Preparation of the exhibition Jews and Sport at the Děčín Synagogue
(A. Pařík, Collection Department)
- Material searches and preparation of the concept for the exhibition
Alexander Brandeis and Adolf Wiesner (A. Pařík)
b) Material for
local and foreign institutions and researchers
- Cooperation with genealogists and local historians – preparation of
literature searches and provision of consultation (A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
- Prof. David Bloch (Israel). Consultation, selection and preparation
of material relating to Terezín music (K. Svobodová)
- Drawing up of comments regarding the proposed text of Atlas of Czech
History, Vol. II., published by Kartografie Praha (A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
- Sofia Pantouvaki: Creativity in Defiance of Tyranny – Children’s Artistic
Creation in Theresienstadt, Central Saint College of Art & Design,
The London Institute. Consultation and securing the production of copies
of photographs (P. Kořínková, J. Šplíchalová)
- Beate Meyer, Institut für Geschichte der deutschen Juden, Hamburg. Expert
consultation on the theme Members of the Terezín Council of Elders from
the Ranks of German Jews (J. Šplíchalová )
- Background material for a speech by Deputy Prime Minister P. Rychetský
on the occasion of the laying of wreaths at a memorial plaque for deported
Jews, as part of the Nine Gates project, June 2003 (A. Franková)
- Photograph searches and production for the publication Acta Theresiania,
Vol. 1, 2003, Daily Orders of the Council of Elders and Notifications
of the Jewish Self-Government, Terezín, 1941-1945
- Photograph searches and production for Terezín Studies and Documents,
2003 (J. Šplíchalová )
- Securing the production of photographs of a window in the Spanish Synagogue
donated by Mr. And Mrs. Pereles. Data identification and searches relating
to the fate of the family of Judit Pereles from the UK (K. Svobodová)
- Background material searches for an article on a performance of Verdi’s
Requiem in the Terezín ghetto – Šmorancová, Rider Reagest Publishing House,
Prague (A. Franková)
- The Re--emigration of Former Ravensbrück Inmates to Eastern Europe:
Freie Universität Berlin, Dr. Christa Schikorra. Selection of 31 testimonies
from the JMP’s collection of testimonies from Shoah survivors, securing
the production of CD copies (P. Kořínková)
- Terezín – Those who Survived: Milenia Jadran Gallery project, art photographer
Jadran Šetlík. Selection of photographs of selected survivors, contact
arrangements (P. Kořínková)
- The Structure of Women’s Behaviour in Terezín, Anna Hájková, Institute
of the Terezín Initiative. Background material searches, consultation
(P. Kořínková)
- Nicholas Winton. Assessment of seminar work (A. Franková)
- School debates on the Holocaust, securing the production of photographs
for the Terezín Initiative (K. Svobodová )
- Friedl Dickers Brandeis. Material searches and securing the production
of copies of archive documents for research by A. M. Versantvoort, University
of Nijmegen, Holland (A. Franková, K. Svobodová)
- Family History, Daniela Torsh, Australia. Background material searches
(K. Svobodová)
· Lost Neighbours – Litomyšl. Consultation with Litomyšl school children
and their teacher, data searches relating to Shoah victims, proof-reading
of a text prepared for publication (A. Franková)
c) Research activities
I. Department of Jewish
Studies
Research topics:
- Judaica in the Archives of the Czech Republic – Archive of the Ministry
of the Interior, State Central Archive in Prague, Moravian Provincial
Archive in Brno, State District Archive in Tachov, State District Archive
in Česká Lípa, State District Archive in Kroměříž (V. Hamáčková, D. Polakovič,
A. Putík)
- Epigraphs – synagogues and Jewish cemeteries (V. Hamáčková)
- Demography of the Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia, archive
research (J. Fiedler)
- Bibliography and reference aids for the history of Jews in the Czech
lands – setting up of a comprehensive bibliographic database with records
from the earliest times until 1918 (D. Polakovič)
- Hakhmei Bohemiya u-Moraviya: biographical and bibliographical database
of personages – rabbis, darshanim and authors of Hebrew books, dating
from the 12th–20th centuries (D. Polakovič)
- Social history of the Prague Jewish Community in the 17th and 18th centuries
(A. Putík)
- The Sabbatanian movement in Bohemia (A. Putík)
- The internal policy of the Prague Jewish community in the 17th and 18th
centuries (A. Putík)
II. Collections Department
Research topics:
- History of the Jewish Museum in Prague, 1906 – 2006 (M.Veselská)
- Josef Polák (1886-1945) (M.Veselská)
- Moravian synagogue textiles, 1640 – 1940, in the context of European
textile Judaica (D. Veselská)
- Lace – special features of use in the Jewish cultural milieu (D. Veselská)
- Identification of Brno producers of spice boxes (J. Kuntoš)
- A.B. Baecher silver (J. Kuntoš)
- Jewish Artists’ Presence in Contemporary Visual Art; in 2003, this experimental
project, which aims to present the work of contemporary artists at the
Robert Guttmann Gallery, included the exhibition Mountain of Mountains.
Aleš Veselý’s Desert Projects (M. Hájková)
n Jewish artists, patrons and collectors in the Czech art world, 1867
– 1939. (M. Hájková)
III. Holocaust Department
Research topics:
- History of the Holocaust of Bohemian and Moravian Jews. Study of specialist
literature and archive sources for consultations, literature searches,
lectures and publications (A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
- The lives and works of musicians Egon Ledeč and Gideon Klein (A. Franková,
J. Šplíchalová)
IV. Library
Research topics:
- Provenance of the JMP book collection. Addition of biographical and
topographical information to the database in connection with a retrospective
inspection of the collection with the aim of ascertaining original ownership
(A. Braunová)
- Description of Hebrew printed books from the collections of the District
Museum in v Louny (A. Braunová)
- Jewish literature, manuscripts and printed books in Bohemia and Moravia
(O. Sixtová)
- Genizah as a source for the history of Jewish communities in Bohemia
and Moravia (O. Sixtová)
a) The Education
and Culture Centre (ECC) of the JMP
I. Educational programmes for Czech schools (elementary and high
schools, universities, in-service education for teachers)
- 6,460 people took part in the Centre’s Prague-based programmes, 466
in programmes outside Prague. The Workshop art and drama project involved
the participation of 1,170 school children.
§
- 493 visitors from Germany, USA, Holland, Russia and Spain took part
in educational programmes at the Centre.
III. Retraining courses
for tour guides
- Retraining courses were attended by 62 tour guides.
IV. Seminars
- Two three-day seminars on How to Teach about the Holocaust, were held
in association with Terezín Memorial and attended by 103 teachers.
- A series of educational seminars (launched in 2001) for teachers on
Jewish History, Traditions and Culture and Education for Tolerance continued.
It was held in association with pedagogical centres (Ústí nad Labem, Central
Bohemia, Brno, Hradec Králová, Pardubice), the Centre for School Services
in Most and Jablonec nad Nisou, and Jewish communities outside Prague
(Děčín) and was attended by 60 teachers.
V. Projects
- The Neighbours Who Disappeared project continued. This project, which
is intended for elementary and high school pupils, focuses on compiling
testimonies from Holocaust survivors and witnesses. It involves (among
other things) preparing a history of Jewish settlement in a particular
region or drawing up a report on the condition of local Jewish monuments.
The project is co-ordinated and promoted by the ECC, which prepares the
results for publication and, in cooperation with other groups, for film
stories. In 2003, the first four exhibition panels with information on
the results of the project were translated into English and prepared for
production. As part of this project, the Zámecká Elementary School in
Litomyšl put together the project’s first separate regional publication
and an exhibition panel commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. Thanks
to the cooperation of the Hidden Children organization and a grant from
the national Fund for Holocaust Victims, the exhibition was accompanied
by a catalogue (2,000 copies) and a publication of the work of the Litomyšl
children (500 copies). The exhibition was subsequently on display at nine
other venues and was featured in the Schola Pragensis exhibition in Prague.
Participants of the Neighbours Who Disappeared project presented their
work at an international seminar of the European Association of Shoah
Survivors and an international seminar for teachers at the Terezín Memorial,
where the exhibition is on permanent display and has been seen by more
than 2,000 visitors. The Neighbours Who Disappeared project involves over
100 collectives and individual persons from Bohemia and Moravia, as well
as the active participation of several non-profit organizations, museums
and municipal cultural facilities and libraries.
- The travelling exhibitions Anne Frank – Legacy for the Present and A
Children’s Story – Children’s Drawings from the Terezín Ghetto continued.
These exhibitions, which are being co-held by the Anne Frank House in
Amsterdam and the JMP, were presented at the Municipal Library of Blansk
(15 January – 7 February 2003) and at the Litomyšl Museum and Gallery
(28 May- 29 June 2003) and were seen by 100 groups of school children.
- The Workshop art and drama project (launched in 2000) continued. Focusing
on Jewish festivals, traditions and customs, biblical stories, Jewish
history (with emphasis on the Holocaust period) and culture, this project
offers the following topics to children from all types of schools:
- Jewish Traditions and Customs (Pesach, Sabbath, Hanukkah, Purim);
- Research into Judaism;
- The Hebrew Alphabet;
- Noah’s Ark;
- Art in Extreme Situations;
- Aryeh, Your Guide to the Jewish Town (since 2003);
- The Ghetto that Disappeared (since 2003);
- The Holocaust in Documents (since 2003);
- Reflections – Perpetrators, Rescuers and Others (since 2003).
- Hana’s Suitcase (since 2003)
- Research into Judaism is
an interactive alternative to the lecture The Jewish Year. It involves
students working in small groups, each focusing on a separate topic from
Jewish life (Sabbath, Pesach, Jewish cuisine, birth and circumcision,
and the wedding). Use is made of various texts, pictures, photographs
and ritual objects and, at the end of the workshop, each group presents
the results of its work to the others.
- The Hebrew Alphabet focuses on the origin and development of the Hebrew
alphabet, the meaning of the Torah, its appearance, symbolic decorations
and basic rules of its production and writing. The practical part of the
project involves making a scroll, writing in Hebrew script and quizzes.
- Noah’s Ark involves children looking for animals among the exhibits
in the Klausen Synagogue and on tombstone reliefs in the Old Jewish Cemetery.
In the practical part of the project, children draw stories and are set
various individual tasks.
- Art in Extreme Situations is inspired by the example of children from
the Terezín ghetto who were helped by adults to come to terms with the
harsh life of the ghetto through art. This project includes a tour of
the exhibition of Terezín children’s drawings at the Pinkas Synagogue,
which is conducted by a person who was incarcerated in Terezín as a child.
After the tour, the students are encouraged to express their feelings
of racial and religious intolerance through art.
- Since April 2003, Aryeh has offered the youngest visitors a tour of
the JMP with the use of a new workbook Aryeh, Your Guide to the Jewish
Town. The cartoon guide to the Jewish sites of Prague is Aryeh the lion
cub, whose picture can also be seen on exhibits that are related to various
tasks in the workbook which the children have to solve.
- A new project, The Ghetto that Disappeared, focuses on a history of
houses that have either disappeared or are still standing in the Josefov
district of Prague and is intended mainly for children who attend school
in the centre of Prague. Working on their own, the children are given
the task of tracing the history of houses that either no longer exist
in the reconstructed area or have changed in the course of time. The project
may results in small exhibitions at schools or to various cultural events.
- The Holocaust in Documents is a new project with interactive programmes
for elementary and high schools. It involves five work groups analysing
documents connected with five stages of the Holocaust and was launched
in association with the House of the Wannsee Conference.
- The project Reflections – Perpetrators, Rescuers and Others was launched
in association with the London Imperial War Museum. Participants try to
determine the above groups on the basis of photographs and specific stories.
- Another new project Hana’s Suitcase offers an overview of basic information
of the anti-Jewish measures that were introduced during the Nazi occupation,
with particular emphasis on the impact they had on children. It is based
on the particular story of Hana Brady, which was recounted by Karen Levin
in the book of the same name. The book has been published in Czech by
Portál with the financial support of the JMP.
- Launched in April 2003, Sunday Workshops are special programmes on selected
topics that are intended for children (from youth centres, special-interest
clubs, etc.) accompanied by their parents or other adults, and also for
schools.
VI. Activities of the
ORT centre
- The JMP website was given a new graphic presentation and the content
was extended and supplemented on an ongoing basis.
- A website for the Neighbours Who Disappeared project was launched.
- The services of the ORT computer centre were used by 1,277 visitors.
Assistance was provided in the use of special software programs based
on Jewish themes (e.g. Encyclopaedia Judaica) and in data processing.
VII. Library and videotapes
The Library was open to the public three times a week and offered the
use of reference books and videotapes.
- Total number of reference books – 2,719; acquisitions – 430.
- Total number of films and documentaries on videotape – 211; total number
of ECC lectures on videotape – 367; acquisitions – 40 films and documentaries,
56 ECC lectures.
VIII. Participation
in conferences, symposia, discussions, lectures
- The ECC continued its series of thematic lectures connected with a tour
of the JMP’s permanent exhibitions and a viewing of specific objects and
historical documents related to the Jewish past, together with occasional
film screenings. The series is intended for children from elementary,
high and higher technical schools and university students. It comprises
seven core lectures:
- The Jewish Religion, Culture, Tradition and Art, Biblical History
- The History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia
- Important Jewish personages in art and science in the context of Czech
culture
- Contemporary Israel
- History of anti-Semitism, persecution, Shoah, racism and xenophobia
- The Persecution of Jews in the Second World War
- Rescuers and Rescued (personal narratives of Shoah survivors, accompanied
by film screenings).
- Participation in the international seminar How to Teach about the Holocaust
at the Terezín memorial, 20-23 November 2003 (M. Vančurová, M. Zahradníková,
K. Kofroňová). The EEC presented the projects The Hebrew Alphabet, Reactions
and Neighbours who Disappeared.
- Two 2-day seminars were prepared for pedagogical staff at the Ministry
of the Interior on History of the Jews, Manifestations of Anti-Semitism
in Czech Society and The Holocaust of Czech Jews during the Second World
War.
- ECC Director Dr. Miloš Pojar gave a series of lectures for students
at the Charles University Faculty of Social Sciences (Specific Problems
from the Modern History of the State of Israel) and for the New York University
in Prague (Modern History of Central European Jewry). Dr. Pojar also organized
a further 21 lectures on the history and the present-day situation of
Czech Jews, the State of Israel, and the Middle East situation for various
groups from the Czech Republic and abroad.
- Dr. M. Pojar and Dr. L. Pavlát took part in the conference Proyecto
Golem 2003 - 5764 which was held in Buenos Aires in association with the
Argentine Embassy in Prague. Dr. Pojar’s lecture was entitled The Czech
Kingdom and Prague during the Reign of Emperor and King Rudolfa II (1576–1611),
L. Pavlát’s lecture was entitled The Jewish and non-Jewish Golem.
- As part of the EEC’s activities, Dr. L. Pavlát gave 8 lectures on Jewish
traditions and customs, anti-Semitism and the history of Jews in Bohemia
and Moravia (also for the Palacký University in Olomouc, the Society of
Christians and Jews, and various state-run, Jewish and Christian organizations).
- 11 lectures were given at the EEC by specialist JMP staff (D. Veselská,
A. Putík, M. Hájková, J. Kuntoš, A. Pařík).
IX. Preparation of
publications
- Workbook for the project Aryeh - Aryeh, Your Guide to the Jewish Town
I. (M. Tesařová)
- Workbook for the project Aryeh - Aryeh, Your Guide to the Jewish Town
II. (M. Tesařová)
- Collection of EEC lectures The Jewish Minority in the 1920s (M. Zahradníková)
- Collection of essays The Golem in Religion, Science and Art (M. Pojar,
D. Grosman
b) Department of
Jewish Studies
I. Participation in
conferences, symposia, discussions, lectures
- Conference Jews and Moravia, Kroměříž, November 2003. Lectures Synagogue
Textiles in Archive Sources (V. Hamáčková) and Maharal and Moravia (D.
Polakovič)
- The Messianic Movement in Bohemia (A. Putík on the occasion of the signing
of a contract between the JMP and the Institut für Geschichte der Juden
in Austria, 30 January 2003
II. Media cooperation,
publications and reviews
- The Jewish Community in Kardašova Řečice, in Our Days were Fulfilled.
From the History of the Jews in Southern Bohemia (J. Fiedler)
- Jewish houses in Vodňany in the 2nd quarter of the 19th century, in
Our Days were Fulfilled. From the History of the Jews in Southern Bohemia
(J. Fiedler)
- On the establishment of Jewish cemeteries in Vodňany and Protivín, in
Our Days were Fulfilled. From the History of the Jews in Southern Bohemia
(J. Fiedler)
- Essays on Jewish communities in the 6th volume of the Karel Kuča’ encyclopaedia
Města a městečka v Čechách, na Moravě a ve Slezsku [Cities and Towns in
Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia] (published by Libri) (J. Fiedler)
- Assessment of student theses and reviews (J. Fiedler)
- ‘Professor Vladimír Sadek: Bibliography of Works’ for Judaica Bohemiae
XXXIX (D. Polakovič)
- "Vypočujte si pesničku peknú..." Staršia jidiš poézia v Prahe
v 17.-18. storočí and jej predstavitelia [Old Yiddish poetry in Prague
in the 17th-18th centuries and its representatives], in: Acta Universitatis
Carolinae - Philosophica et Historica 2, 2001 (D. Polakovič)
- ‘Prague Jews and Yehudah Hasid’ /2/, in Judaica Bohemiae XXXIX (A. Putík)
- ‘Historie z barokní Prahy’ [A Story from Baroque Prague. Rabbi Moses
Mendels, Rabbi Lipman Heller and Jacob Bashevi], Židovská ročenka (Jewish
Yearbook) 5764. 2003/2004 (A. Putík)
III. Preparation of publications
- Judaica Bohemiae, XXXVIII / 2002 (edited by A. Putík)
- Textiles from Bohemian and Moravian Synagogues from the Collections
of the Jewish Museum in Prague (English copy edited by A. Putík, maps
designed by J. Fiedler)
c) Holocaust Department
I. Participation in conferences, symposia, discussions and lectures
- Terezín Initiative meeting, 3 March 2003 (A. Franková)
- The Holocaust and Genocide in the Twentieth Century, Berlin, 12 –15
March 2003 (J. Šplíchalová)
- OSZE – Konferenz zu Anti-Semitisms, Vienna, 19 – 20 June 2003 (J. Šplíchalová)
- Jahrestagung der AG Jüdische Sammlungen Berlin, 9 – 12 September 2003
(J. Šplíchalová)
- Brundibár in Terezín after 60 Years, Terezín, 23 September 2003 (A.
Franková)
- Jews in Eastern Europe, National Library in Prague, 20 May 2003 (A.
Franková)
- The Genocide of Romas in the Period of the Second World War, Prague,
27 May 2003 (P. Kořínková)
- Holocaust Denial – Nine Gates Festival, 23 June 2003 (K. Svobodová)
II. Media cooperation,
publications and reviews
- Preparation of background material for a text on Bedřich Weiss for the
CD In Defiance of Fate (A. Franková)
- Journalist Karsten Peters (Hamburg), Erinnerungen deutschsprachigen
Tschechen und Slowaken, (A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
- Background material searches and arrangements for the screening of the
documentary film Nebát se strachu [Don’t Be Afraid of Fear] on a Czech
voluntary help project in Terezín and on Dr. Karel Rašek – Czech Television
(ČT 2) (A. Franková)
- Document and photograph searches for the documentary film Terezín, Milan
Television, directed by Jan Ronca (A. Franková, J. Šplíchalová)
- Background material searches for the DVD Hans Krása, Brundibár, Mirka
Havrdová, Unlimited Media, s.r.o. (J. Šplíchalová)
III. Study visits
- Study of archive materials in the Bundesarchiv in Berlin, in cooperation
with the Institute of the Terezín Initiative and the Terezín Memorial
(J. Šplíchalová)
- Study stay in the Jelínek Vizovice company archive (A. Franková )
- Aš, 1918 – 1948 – No Comment, consultation with the exhibition authors
(A. Franková).
d) Collections
Department
I. Participation in conferences, symposia, discussions and lectures
- Commentated tours for the exhibition For Dignity and Adornment for Prague
Information Service, Society of Friends of the Museum of Decorative Arts,
and the general public (D. Veselská)
- The Innocent Eye: On a Teacher and Her Pupils, lecture and workshop
for the opening of an exhibition of children’s drawings from Terezín,
Holocaust Museum and Learning Center, St. Louis, MO, USA, 7 – 8 April
2003 (M. Hájková)
- National Colloquium on Legislation, organized by AMG (Association of
Museums and Galleries), Brno, 9 –10 September 2003 (E. Kosáková, H. Mlsová)
- 12th seminar of restorers and historians, organized by the State Central
Archive in Prague, 7-8 October 2003 (M. Kropáčková, J. Stankiewicz)
- Conference The Contribution of Czechs to the Preservation of the Cultural
Heritage of Slovakia, paper on Dr. Josef Polák, organized by the Documentary
Centre of Czech Culture in Martin, Slovakia, 23 October 2003 (M.Veselská)
- Unveiling of a memorial plaque for Dr. Josef Polák, Košice, 29 October
2003 (preparation of background material for a leaflet, speech – M.Veselská)
- International conference The Lost Heritage of Cultural Assets, organized
by the Institute for Modern History at the Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic – Centre for the Documentation of Property Transfers of
the Cultural Assets of Victims of the Second World War, Brno, 20-21 November
2003 (M.Veselská)
- Museums in the Process of Transformation, organized by AMG, Brno, 24
– 26 November 2003 (D. Veselská)
- Study stay in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 11–13 November
2003, preparation of the exhibtion Lacework from the Collections of the
Jewish Museum in Prague (D. Veselská)
- Continued study in the specialized course Care of the Cultural Legacy
of the Past, Institute for Art History, Philosophy Faculty of Charles
University, Prague (D. Veselská)
- Seminar for conservation experts and restorers, organized by AMG (P.
Veselý, M. Jarešová)
- Seminar for metal restorers, organized by AMG and the Turnov Secondary
School of Applied Arts and Higher Technical School (M. Jarešová)
II. Media cooperation,
publications and reviews
- Textile Treasures from Bohemian and Moravian Synagogues, article for
Ateliér magazine, 12/2003 (D. Veselská)
- A shot for an early morning Czech Television show for the exhibition
For Dignity and Adornment (D. Veselská)
- Article Brno Jewish Silver from the collections of the Jewish Museum
in Prague, Rovnost daily newspaper, October 2003 (J. Kuntoš)
- Training of lecturers and guides in the production techniques of items
in the collections, EEC, May 2003 (J. Kuntoš)
- Securing and supervision of expert restoration work in the metal restoration
workshop undertaken by 6 students of secondary technical schools, expert
consultation and participation in school-leaving examinations (M. Jarešová,
P. Veselý)
- Preparation of a concept and background material for the Dictionary
of Judaica (E. Kosáková, D.Veselská, J.Kuntoš, M.Veselská).
e) Library
I. Participation in conferences, symposia, discussions and lectures
The Post-War History of the Book Collection of the Jewish Museum in Prague,
a paper given at the international conference Raub und Restitution in
Bibliotheken in Vienna (23-24 April 2003, A. Braunová)
f) Exhibition,
Publicity and Public Relations Department
I. Participation in conferences
and symposia
Lecture Restitution in the JMP (L. Pavlát) - delivered by A. Pařík at
the annual meeting of the Association of European Jewish Museums in Berlin
(16–18 November 2003)
II. Media cooperation,
publications and reviews
- Regular cooperation with
the press, radio and television stations – current affairs, news, cultural
programmes, radio broadcasts of the Jewish Community of Prague Shalom
Aleykhem, brief interviews for Czech Radio and Czech Television in connection
with the opening of exhibitions at the Robert Guttmann Gallery and the
reopening of the Pinkas Synagogue (L. Pavlát, J. Smékalová, A. Pařík,
A.Franková, J. Šplíchalová, M. Hájková, E. Kosáková, M. Pojar, M. Vančurová).
- Completion (in September) of an annual advertising campaign on Radio
Classic FM (L. Pavlát, A. Pařík, M. Hájková, A. Franková)
- Czech Television filming at the Robert Guttmann Gallery – Adolf Kohn.
Painter of the Prague Ghetto
- Press conferences for individual exhibitions at the Robert Guttmann
Gallery and subsequent articles in the press
- Interview about the JMP and the Jewish community in Bohemia and Moravia
(L.Pavlát, Radiožurnál, 4.1. 2003)
- Discussion on anti-Semitism in Europe – Czech Section of BBC Radio L.
Pavlát, 18 November 2003)
- Regular contributions on Jewish themes to Thought for the Day on the
BBC Czech Section’s early morning show (L. Pavlát)
- Participation in the television programme Vertical (L. Pavlát, 30.12
2003)
- Series of 7 radio programmes on Jewish prayer – for Radio Vltava (L.
Pavlát, September – December 2003)
- Reviews of Jewish topics in textbooks for elementary and high schools
for the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic and for various publishers
(L. Pavlát)
- Advertisements:
- Regular features in the periodicals Overview of Cultural Programmes,
Czech Culture, Prague, the Heart of Europe
- Occasional features in the Catalogue of Museums and Galleries, New Books,
Book World, various periodicals for the exhibition Long-lost Faces
III. Preparation of
publications
- Textiles from Bohemian and Moravian Synagogues from the Collections
of the Jewish Museum in Prague (L. Kybalová, A. Putík, M. Veselská, D.
Veselská, H. Votočková, V. Nauschová, M.Scheibová, M. Hamáčková, P. Kliment,
D. Cabanová, H. Vašková; edited by E. Kosáková and A. Putík). This publication
won a prize in the competition The Most Beautiful Books 2003 (held by
the Czech Ministry of Culture in association with the Museum of Czech
Literature”) in the category of scientific literature.
- Synagogue texiles CD – in Czech, English, French, German, Italian and
Spanish (D. Veselská, M. Veselská)
- Film about the JMP and its synagogue textiles, directed by I. Pavlásková
- For Dignity and Adornment – exhibition leaflet in Czech and English
(D.Veselská)
- Prague Jewish Cemeteries – guide (A. Pařík, V. Hamáčková, D. Cabanová,
P. Kliment)
- CD In Defiance of Fate. Fritz Weiss and His Arrangements – recordings
from 1940-1941
- A. Veselý. Mountain of Mountains, exhibition catalogue (M. Hájková)
- Adolf Kohn – exhibition leaflet (A. Pařík)
- Adolf Kohn. Painter of the Prague Ghetto, exhibition catalogue (A. Pařík)
- Silenced Tones – exhibition leaflet (J. Šplíchalová, A. Franková)
- Long-lost Faces – exhibition leaflet (J. Šplíchalová, A. Franková)
- Contributions to the JMP quarterly Newsletter on exhibitions and reconstruction
projects
- Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Bohemia and Moravia on the Internet
(containing about a fifth of the thousand envisaged entries, which are
begin supplemented on an ongoing basis (J. Fiedler, H. Vašková)
IV. Permission to use
JMP material
76 permissions were issued for use of books, magazines, promotion and
study purposes – 57 for foreign clients, 19 for local clients.
V. Grant applications
for support of JMP activities
The JMP filed a total of 12 grant applications in 2003 – five with organizations
abroad, seven with organizations in the Czech Republic. Four grants, amounting
to about CZK 370,000, were accepted. These are earmarked for the JMP’s
activities in 2004, when they will be provided.
a) Cultural events at the Education and Culture Centre (ECC)
of the JMP
The ECC organized a total of 100 cultural programmes and events, 54 of
which were lectures, either part of series or on separate topics. The
lecture series included: The World of Halakhah (development), European
Jewish Politicians of the Modern Era, The Jewish Minority in the Czechoslovak
Republic in the 1920s and The Jewish Minority in the Czechoslovak Republic
in the 1930s. Among the lecturers were Chief Rabbi Ephraim Karol Sidon,
academics and guests from abroad. The ECC also hosted five concerts and
recitals, three book presentations: Není spravedlnosti na zemi [ There
is no Justice on Earth] by O. Stránský, Hanin kufřík [Hana’s Suitcase]
by K. Levinová and Hledání identity – [Search for Identity] by K. Jančaříková),
as well as the presentation of the publication Golem in náboženství, vědě
and umění [The Golem in Religion, Science and Art], four evenings with
authors, four opening shows and eleven lectures organized by Beit Praha.
In association with the National Film Archive, five films were screened
at the Ponrepo Cinema.
In May the EEC hosted a seminar on Shalom Aleichem, at which four lectures
were given.
b) JMP participation in trade fairs
- 9th Book World International Trade Fair in Prague, 24–27 April 2003,
at which the JMP’s new publications were on display.
- 8th Trade Fair of Museums of the Czech Republic in Třebíč, 28–30 May
2003, at which the JMP’s publications (old and new) were on separate display.
c) Programmes in
the Spanish Synagogue
The Spanish Synagogue hosted 22 concerts of classical music organized
by the AGADA agency (Music Heritage of the Jewish Culture) and 69 concerts
organized by Opera Ars Magna (song recitals Jewels of the Jewish Masters
in Old Prague). Running until September, there was also a production here
of the musical Golem by Hamutal Ben Zeev- Ephron and Shlomo Gronich, which
was organized by the Israeli agency Golem Theater Ltd.
The Arco Diva Agency completed
its second series of concerts for season-ticket holders, Prague Musical
Evenings in the Spanish Synagogue, in April 2002 and launched its third
series in October. During this series, the guitarist Lubomír Brabec presented
a number of celebrated guests – pianist Martin Kasík, cellist Jiří Hošek,
violinist Pavel Šporcl, harpist Kateřina Englichová, organist and harpsichordist
Jaroslav Tůma and flautist Žofie Vokálková.
In 2003 guitarist Lubomír Brabec
completed the third series of classical music concerts for season-ticket
holders, Lubomír Brabec Presents Prague Musical Evenings in the Spanish
Synagogue. Among his celebrated guests were violinist J. Svěcený, baritone
I. Kusnier, tenor Š. Margita, violist J. Hosprová and the Kubín Quartet.
The fourth series was launched in October, with major guests including
guitarists P. Janda and L. Andršt , clarinettist L. Peterková and pianist
J. Tůma. The Spanish Synagogue also hosted other concerts organized by
the JMP.
Religious services of Beit Praha were also held in the Spanish Synagogue.
a) JMP publications and souvenirs, promotional material
- New publications:
- Catalogue of synagogue textiles Textiles from Bohemian and Moravian
Synagogues from the Collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague (1,500
copies in English)
- Judaica Bohemiae XXXIX / 2003 (500 copies)
- Pražské židovské hřbitovy / Prague Jewish Cemeteries / Prager jüdische
Friedhöfe (3,000 copies)
- Project workbook Aryeh, Your Guide to the Jewish Town I. (2,000 copies)
- Project workbook Aryeh, Your Guide to the Jewish Town II. (2,000 copies)
- Collection of lectures The Golem in Religion, Science and Art (Czech-Spanish,
2,000 copies)
- Collection of essays The Jewish Minority in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s
(1,500 copies)
- CD Synagogue Textiles (Czech-German-French-Spanish-Italian, 1,000 copies)
- CD In Defiance of Fate. Fritz Weiss and His Arrangements (2,000 copies)
- A. Veselý. Mountain of Mountains, exhibition catalogue (Czech-English-Hebrew,
1,000 copies)
- Large leaflets for the exhibition For Dignity and Adornment (1,500 copies
in Czech, 3,000 copies in English).
- For Dignity and Adornment - film about the JMP and its synagogue textiles,
directed by I. Pavlásková (50 copies in Czech, 50 copies in English)
- Reprints:
- Jewish Prague, 2nd edition (English - 3,000 copies)
- Prague Synagogues CD, 2nd issue (Czech-German-French-Spanish-Italian,
500 copies)
- Souvenirs:
- Postcards of items in the collections (14 x 2,000 copies, 1 x 4,000
copies)
- Quartet playing cards (Czech-English, 1,000 copies)
- Postcards (8 kinds, 8,000 copies)
- Terezín children’s drawings in frames (500 copies)
- Replicas of items in the collections: Kiddush cups in two versions (2
x 50 copies)
- Promotion:
- Exhibition leaflets: Adolf Kohn. Painter of the Prague Ghetto (300 copies
in Czech, 500 copies in English), Silenced Tones (Czech-English, 1,000
copies), Long-lost Faces (Czech-English, 1,000 copies, 500 reprints) Synagogue
Silver from Bohemia and Moravia (Czech, 1,000 copies)
- Exhibition invitations: Adolf Kohn. Painter of the Prague Ghetto (500
copies), A. Veselý. Hora hor (500 copies), Long-lost Faces (800 copies),
Silenced Tones (500 copies), JMP travelling exhibition panels Jewish Customs
and Traditions and History of the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia (500 copies)
- Robert Guttmann Gallery leaflets: Adolf Kohn. Painter of the Prague
Ghetto – 2,400 copies in Czech, 4,800 copies in English; Long-lost Faces
(2,400 copies in Czech, 4,800 copies in English); Silenced Tones (2,400
copies in Czech, 4,800 copies in English); A. Veselý. Hora hor (2,00 copies
in Czech, 4,000 copies in English)
- Other leaflets: The Jewish cemetery in Fibichova Street (English, 2,000
copies)
- JMP leaflets with admission tickets (100,000 copies in Italian, 50,000
copies in German, 70,000 copies in Czech, 50,000 copies in English, 50,000
copies in Russian, 50,000 copies in Spanish, 50,000 copies in French)
- JMP Newsletter (Czech-English, 4 x 2,000 copies)
- New Year’s card (800 copies)
- Exhibition poster For Dignity and Adornment (200 copies)
- Metro poster for the exhibition Long-lost Faces (60 copies)
b) Retail outlets
on JMP premises
In 2003, the JMP let retail outlets in the Maisel, Klausen and Spanish
synagogues for the sale of publications and souvenirs connected with Jewish
subject-matter (to Relax Group)
c) Sale of JMP items via the Internet
There has been a marked increase in the sale of JMP items via the Internet.
This is due to the Museum’s gradually expanding directory of institutions
and individual persons who are regularly sent information on new JMP publications.
Demand for JMP items from the Czech Republic and abroad is now about the
same.
a) Archives and documentation of Jewish Communities (archivist
V. Hamáčková)
In addition to due care of
the JMP’s archive holdings and depositories, the following activities
were carried out:
- Provision of research services
– 138 research visits, 20 literature searches and replies to written queries,
and approximately 130 consultations (including by telephone)
- Continued stocktaking and digitization of the sheet music collection
- Continued stocktaking of archive books in the Jewish Community of Prague
Collection – selection of items for restoration, storage in protective
cases
- Stocktaking and cleaning of archive books, preparation for relocation
- Complete inventory and preparation of background material for incorporation
in the national Programme for Archive Records (PevA)
- Cooperation in connection with the preparation of a new archive building
project
b) Catalogue of
Jewish Communities (supervisor J. Fiedler)
Work on the preparation of an electronic encyclopaedia of Jewish communities
for the JMP website involved the following activities:
- Preparation of introductory pages and an alphabetic catalogue, systematic
work on the supplementing of encyclopaedic entries
- Preparation of literature searches and replies to queries from researchers
- Cooperation with the State Institute for the Care of Historic Monuments
in connection with a long-term grant project for the documentation of
Jewish sites in the Czech Republic.
c) Documentation
of Jewish cemeteries (V. Hamáčková, D. Polakovič, O. Sixtová)
- Work on a standard list of Hebrew forenames and surnames for documentation
of tombstone inscriptions
- Verification and correction of data stored in the computer database
d) History of
the Holocaust
- Terezín Archive collection:
Filing and inventory checks, including appropriate inventory adjustments
(inv. nos. 329b– 342j were processed – 8 box-files, comprising documents
on Terezín after liberation and the Jiří Vogel papers)
- Preparation of an inventory of the Terezín Archive collection: fair
copy of the parts that have been processed
- Acquisitions:
The Help Search for Neighbours Who Disappeared project (launched in 2001)
continued. The Holocaust department was contacted by about 300 persons,
from whom it received original and facsimile archive documents (family
correspondence, farewell letters written prior to deportation, letters
from the Terezín ghetto and concentration camps, illicit letters, personal
documents), photographs (school, family, portrait) and personal narratives
about Jewish families and communities. This involved carrying out data
searches, identifying persons and securing the production of copies of
loaned documents. The acquired materials were alphabetically sorted on
the basis of the donors’ names.
- Photography Collection:
- Basic sorting of a group of photographs relating to transports to eastern
Poland, concentration and labour camps in the Baltic States and the Riza
ghetto (assumed from the Institute of the Terezín Initiative and Lukáš
Přibyl)
- Testimonies from Holocaust
Survivors project:
- Gathering, sorting and transcribing of new testimonies and ongoing processing
of information into an electronic database (20 testimonies)
- Continued sorting of selected testimonies from the archive collections
and their processing into a database of testimonies (65 testimonies)
- Processing of earlier typewritten testimonies onto a computer program
- Gathering of documents from the pre-war and wartime lives of Holocaust
survivors, in connection with the Help Search for Neighbours Who Disappeared
project
- Ensuring the anonymity of testimonies from Holocaust survivors in compliance
with the Personal Data Protection Act.
- Copying of rare archive
documents:
- Scanning:
Persecution Documents Collection
inv. no. 79 – magazine Klepy (Gossip) no. 1, 6 – 22 (140 folios)
inv. no. 79 – diary of Hana Adlerová (252 folios)
Terezín Collection
inv. no. 308a – reader Sluníčko (Sun) (51 folios)
inv. no. 326 – poetry of Erika Taubeová (50 folios)
inv. no. 326 – literary work: Ast, Blum, Böhm, Brandejsová, Brod, Cohn-
Colm, Fischer, Fischl, Flach (109 folios)
- Restoration:
Persecution Documents Collection:
inv. no. 79 - Magazine Klepy (č. 1-22)
inv. no. 64/1 – correspondence z KT Osvětim (47 folios)
Terezín Collection :
inv. no. 326 – Böhm Zdeněk (8 fol)
inv. no. 326 – Brandejsová F.D. (17 folios)
inv. no. 326 – Fleischmann Karel (100 folios)
inv. no. 326 – Salus Wolfgang (12 folios)
inv. no. 326 – Taubeová Erika (60 folios)
inv. no. 326 – Utitz Emil (1 folios)
inv. no. 327 – Salus Wolfgang (2 folios)
Gideon Klein Papers:
inv. no. 6 –21 sheet music (297 folios)
- Provision of research services:
57 visits
- Literature searches and consultation in relation to:
Shelter for the children of emigrés in Prague and the Hermanns; Karel
Švenk’s play Poslední cyklista[The Last Cyclist]; children’s transports
to England – Nicolas Winton; visits of the International Red Cross Committee
to Terezín; family camp BIIb in Auschwitz ; transport to Baranoviči; Czech
voluntary help project in Terezín and MUDr. Raška; Crystal Night; Friedl
Dicker Brandeis; definitions of genocide, the Holocaust of Romas; the
escape of Vítězslav Lederer from Auschwitz; the question of Jewish emigration;
Terezín composers; literary work of children in Terezín.
- Routine correspondence: about 420 letters
- Pinkas Synagogue memorial to the victims of the Shoah from Bohemia and
Moravia:
- Continued gathering of background material for amendments and additions
to inscriptions
- Continued drawing up of computer lists with data on Shoah victims (individual
persons and groups) – about 200 lists (mostly in connection with the Help
Search for Neighbours Who Disappeared project).
- Preparation of background material for the building of memorials – to
Shoah victims from the Jewish communities of Kdyně, Stránčice, Předboř,
Říčany, Radošovice, Litomyšl, Hrádek u Sušice, and Úvaly.
a) Collections
Department
I. Art Collection (M.
Hájková)
- The art collection acquired
88 new works (17 purchases, 71 donations). Among the acquisitions were
paintings by Ludwig Blum (View of Jerusalem, 1924, oil on canvas, 41 x
60 cm), Robert Piesen (Portrait of Pavla Mautnerová, early 1950s, oil
on canvas, 87 x 92 cm), Alexander Jaksch (Selling of Milk in the Old Town,
1889, oil on canvas, 121.5 x 87 cm) and Adolf Kohn (Market on the Old
Town Square, ca. 1910, oil on cardboard, 31 x 36.5 cm) and Stanislav Feikl
(Masařská Street at Night, pre-1906, oil on cardboard, 34.5 x 40 cm).
The new acquisitions also included drawings by Bedřich Feigl, Benjamin
Levy and Emil Orlik – the Museum’s collection of Orlik drawings was significantly
expanded by a donation of 69 original portraits of participants of the
1918 Peace Conference of Brest-Litovsk, which Orlik had been commissioned
to make during the conference. These portraits were donated to the Jewish
Museum in Prague by the artist’s niece, Anita Bollag of New Jersey, through
the Washington-based Project Judaica Foundation. The JMP also acquired
11 prints by David Lang, Emil Orlik, Bedřich Feigl and Willy Nowak.
- Work continued on a long-term project for the restoration and conservation
of the art collection. In addition, work continued on the sorting of the
collection as part of preparations for the transfer of the collection
of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs to a new depository in
Smíchov. During 2003, the JMP restored 104 paintings from its collections,
namely artworks by Willy Nowak, Georg Jilovský, Adolf Wiesner, Max Oppenheimer,
Alfréd Justitz, Petr Kien, František Mořic Nágl, Frieda Salvendy, Fritz
Kausek, Egon Josef Kossuth, Eugen Spiro, Hella Guth, Gustav Boehm, Jaroslav
Herbst, B. Mordchin.
II. Paper Restoration
Workshop (M. Kropáčková, J. Stankiewicz)
- Cooperation in connection with the preparation of JMP exhibitions –
Robert Guttmann Gallery: preparation of paper items for the exhibition
Mountain of Mountains. Aleš Veselý’s Desert Projects and 20 original paper
items for the exhibition Silenced Tones.
- Cooperation in connection with the preparation of other exhibitions
– conservation and restoration of 15 children’s drawings, matting and
framing, drawing up of records on the condition of individual items for
a permanent exhibition at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington
D.C.,; 5 children’s drawings for an exhibition in Saarbücken, Germany;
securing and checking of air-conditioning requirements for the exhibition
of textiles at the Imperial Stables, Prague Castle; co-operation in connection
with the installation of an exhibition in Děčín Synagogue; matting and
installation of the founding deeds in the Jubilee (Jerusalem) Synagogue
in Prague.
- 53 pastels, drawings and prints were restored for the art collection.
- Preparation of facsimiles for ZMP exhibitions: Maisel Synagogue – 22
flat items in mat frames, 2 three-dimensional objects and treatment of
18 replica maps with mat frames; Klausen Synagogue – 2 book facsimiles;
Holešov Synagogue – five book facsimiles and two torah scrolls with mat
frames.
- 82 paper parchment plaques, 2 manuscripts, 11 paper cut-outs and 3 Esther
scrolls were restored for the JMP’s collection of manuscripts and early
printed books.
- For the JMP Library, 3 books were restored, 60 books were cleaning after
being disinfected at the National Library, and a block of 3 books was
conserved before being treated by an external bookbinder.
- The production of 301 special archive cardboard cases was secured for
the JMP’s Archive.
- The Jewish youth magazine Klepy z Českých Budějovic [Gossip from České
Budějovice] was restored for the Holocaust Department (22 issues).
- 50 mould-coated books from the JMP Library were cleaned.
- 159 books from the JMP Archive were cleaned in connection with the relocation
of the archive holdings to a new space in the Smíchov Synagogue (with
the help of temporary workers). After cleaning, the books were then placed
in protective cases in the Sepekov depository.
- 150 drawings and paintings on paper were cleaned and framed as part
of preparations for the new storage of the art collection in the Smíchov
Synagogue depository.
- Regular air-conditioning checks were carried out in the JMP’s depositories
and exhibitions.
III. Textile Collection
(D. Veselská)
- After four years in preparation, the JMP’s most ambitious exhibition
project to date, For Dignity and Adornment, was completed
- Work continued on a long-term project involving research into donation
inscriptions on textiles. About 500 inscriptions were transcribed and
stored.
- About 100 textile fragments were sorted and catalogued.
- Textiles from the Holocaust period were sorted – approx. 35 catalogue
items.
- Work continued on the specialized cataloguing of Jewish textiles outside
the JMP’s collection – textiles from regional museums in Polná, Třešt
and Český Dub.
- 14 research queries were dealt with.
IV. Textile Restoration
Workshop (H. Votočková, V. Nauschová)
- 81 textiles were restored and conserved.
- 51 textiles were set for external restoration.
- Necessary assistance was provided in connection with preparations for
the exhibition For Dignity and Adornment (expert inspections of all the
selected items, preparation of items to be exhibited, assistance in the
installation and re-installation of the exhibition, arrangements for transport
and storage.)
- The production of copies of textile items and completely new items was
secured for permanent exhibitions and for the requirements of Jewish communities.
- In cooperation with the collection curator, items were selected for
an exhibition of lace in 2004.
V. Metal Collection
(J. Kuntoš)
- The collection of Metal works and related collections were enlarged by
the acquisition of 16 acquisitions– 9 purchases, 2 donations, 5 items
from secondary shipments from Jewish communities.
- Work began on the preparation of background material for a major catalogue
of silver from the collections of the JMP, which will be published in
2006.
- The task of determining the makers of silver items of Viennese provenance
continued.
- Specialized research into Judaic objects in other collections with the
cataloguing of objects from the Polná Museum.
- 8 research queries were dealt with.
VI. Metal Restoration
Workshop (M. Jarešová, P. Veselý)
- 87 silver and brass objects from the collection were conserved and restored
for the JMP’s permanent exhibitions and loans for other exhibitions;
- 5 large brass and iron objects from the collection were treated by external
restorers.
- A piece of historical furniture was objects were selected for external
conservation and 1 piece of historical furniture was treated by external
restorers.
VII. Documentation
of the Collection Department (M. Veselská, H. Mlsová, I. Hacmacová, H.
Kopřivová)
- 22 loan agreements were prepared for exhibition purposes (3 for foreign
institutions, 19 for Czech institutions – including loans of liturgical
items to Jewish communities). 20 objects from the collection were loaned
to institutions abroad, 311 to institutions in the Czech Republic.
- 57 loan agreements and 56 work agreements with external restorers were
prepared.
- 9 agreements were prepared for the purchase of artworks.
- 195 items (386 objects from the collection) were recorded in the Acquisitions
Register – 31 purchases, 81 donations, 3 objects transferred from the
other departments of the JMP, and 271 from stocktaking of items in the
JMP’s depositories, from the gradual sorting of genizot finds and from
secondary shipments from Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia.
- The collections were enriched by donations from individual persons and
institutions: Werner Levý, Jan Grebler, Vladimír Poskočil, Eliška Brodová,
Alžběta Strnadová, Jiří Fiedler, Vladimír Říha, Marek Suchý, Jewish Community
in Prague and the Project Judaica Foundation Inc. Washington, USA.
- A component of the ZMP’s holdings was inventoried in accordance with
the Central Recording of Collections Act. In cooperation with the collection
curator, metalwork restorers and depository administration staff, a physical
inspection of 13 groups of items comprising 4,303 inventory numbers was
carried out.
- An audit of liturgical objects loaned to the Jewish Community in Prague
was completed. (M. Veselská).
- In cooperation with staff at the Collection Department, an ‘auxiliary
holding’ was established for the recording of objects that are newly produced
for exhibitions and liturgical purposes. In addition, background material
was prepared for a database for this holding. (M. Veselská).
- Background material was prepared for a CD with text and illustrated
documentation of three-dimensional objects from the Holocaust period.
((M. Veselská in cooperation with collection curators and depository staff).
- An overview of all the secondary shipments of objects from Jewish communities
between 1994-2003. (I. Hacmacová, H. Kopřivová)
- An audit of the records agenda pertaining to donations dating from 1994-2003
was completed. (H. Kopřivová)
- A database was prepared for all take-over records pertaining to the
objects that were assembled and sent to the Central Jewish Museum in 1942-1945.
(M. Veselská)
- A database of Judaic objects that were acquired by the Museum from other
institutions in 1950-1994 by means of transfer, exchange, financial agreement
or donation was prepared (M. Veselská)
- Lists of inventory numbers sorted by collection point were re-audited
on the basis of the above archive materials (M.Veselská, H. Mlsová, H.
Kopřivová)
- Worked continued on the scanning of the ‘German Catalogue’, a unique
source of information on items in the collections that were assembled
and sent to the museum in 1942-45. Scans of individual pages of the catalogue
will be assigned to cards of items in the JMP’s database system, which
will connect all sources of information on the Museum’s collections. 167
volumes out of a total of 203 were scanned by the end of 2003. At the
same time the catalogue was being scanned, it was also conserved, restored
and rebound. Work also continued on the transcription of the catalogue
entries using a text editor and on catalogue data comparison with the
main numerical card catalogue, as part of the level II stage of registration
of the ZMP’s holdings.
- Work continued on the transcription of data from the German Catalogue
into an Excel database – to date, half of all the catalogue entries have
been processed in this way. (H. Mlsová).
- Work continued on the transcription of data from acquisition registers
into a newly created Excel database – having already covered smaller sets
of objects in the collections, focus turned to drawings, paintings, prints
and artworks from the Holocaust period. (S. Hlaváčková).
- In association with JMP curators, work continued on the documentation
of Judaica in other museums in the Czceh Republic. Objects from the collections
of 5 regional museums visited in 2002 were expertly catalogued and documentation
of Judaica in the collections of the District Museum in Náchod was carried
out.
- 13 literature searches were prepared for external researchers. (M.Veselská)
VIII. Photography Archive
(F. Novák, D. Cabanová, J. Tatranský)
- Projects focused on the digitization of the JMP’s collections and archives,
photographic work connected with management of the collections:
- Digitization of the German Catalogue continued with the scanning of
22,500 inventory numbers.
- Digitization of the collection of synagogue textiles continued – 680
pictures (405 inventory numbers).
- Photo documentation of the collection of Torah binders (launched by
staff at the textile restoration workshop) was completed
- Work began on the systematic digitization of items in the collections
(ritual spice boxes) – 480 documentary pictures (240 inventory numbers)
- Digitization of the collection of paintings continued with the scanning
of illustrated documents – 760 pictures.
- 700 pictures were taken for the Holocaust Department.
- Photographic work in connection
with JMP publications and exhibitions:
- Preparations for print and inspection of the final form of print for
the publications Textilies from Bohemian and Moravian Synagogues and Prague
Jewish Cemeteries.
- 1,400 scans were taken as part of the digitization of earlier issues
of the periodical Judaica Bohemica.
- A new collection of items in the JMP’s collections was made.
- Photo-documentation of JMP
activities:
More than 500 pictures were taken in connection with the repair and reconstruction
of Pinkas and Smíchov synagogues and the documentation of prominent visits
to the Museum, exhibitions and their openings.
- In total, almost 30,000 pictures were passed on to the JMP photo archive
or otherwise used.
- The Photography Department proposed and commissioned the development
of a database system for the registration of commissions and archiving
of photographs. The basic component to this system was completed and brought
into use.
b) Department of Jewish Studies
I. Collection of Manuscripts and Rare Printed Books (O. Sixtová)
The following activities were undertaken, in addition to ongoing professional
care of the holdings (and dealing with queries and research requirements):
- Cleaning and restoration of selected items.
- Preparation and launch of early print cataloguing in the Aleph library
system.
- Cataloguing of manuscripts and single sheets in the JMP database.
II. Collection of written
material from genizot (O. Sixtová)
- Updating of the catalogue of finds
- Documentation of tombstones in the Luže Cemetery (as part of research
into genizot from the Luže Synagogue)
a) Statistics
Library
- Attendance:
researchers: 206
- Loans
total: 1,783
short-term (to JMP staff): 380
for reading in the study: 599
Reference Centre
- Attendance
individual visitors 1,516
group visits 9
The Library was open to the public two days in the week, the Reference
Centre on weekdays.
- Acquisitions:
- books: 1,513 titles (430 for the Education and Culture Centre, 80 for
the Reference Centre)
- periodicals: 6 titles (out of a total of 683) - CD-ROMs: 13 for the
Library, 39 for the Reference Centre, 10 for the Education and Culture
Centre
b) Participation in events
- Seminars
- Archives, Libraries and Museums in the Digital World, 2003. (Association
of Library and Information Professionals, Prague, 4 December)
- Libraries of the Present, 2003 (Czech Republic Library Association,
Seč u Chrudimi) Meeting of SUALEPH – Association of Aleph Users – (SUALEPH
Pilsen, 26-27 November)
- 14th ICAU meeting (ICAU, Vienna, Austria, 22–24 September)
- Seminar for Museum and Gallery Workers (Vysočiny Museum, Třebíč, 23–25
September)
- Conferences
- Inforum 2003 (School of Economics – Albertina Icome Praha, Prague)
- Raub und Restitution in Bibliotheken (Wiener Stadt- und Landesbibliothek,
Vienna, Austria, 23–24 April 2003)
- Lost Heritage of Cultural Assets: documentation, identification, restitution
and repatriation of cultural assets of Victims of the Second World War
(Center for the Documentation of Property Transfers of the Cultural Assets
of Victims of the Second World War, Brno, 20–21 November 2003)
c) Specialist visits and consultations
I. Czech Republic
- National Library, Prague, Department of Early Printed Books and Manuscripts,
Department of Periodicals
- National Library, Prague, Central Depository
- Library of the Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
- Prague City Library
- Library of the Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague
- Ztichlá klika, antiquarian bookshop and gallery, Prague
- Association of Librarians and IT group members, Prague
- Institute of Computer Technology, Charles University, Prague
- Institute of the Terezín Iniciative, Prague
- Higher Technical School of Information Services, Prague
- Regional Museum of Louny
- Rychov nad Kněžnou District Museum
- Ing. J. Červenákák – climatologist, Prague
- Ing. Z. Bláha – securing the production of compact shelves, Vraný
II. Abroad
- E. Grossberger – Committee for the Search of the Gora-Kalwaria Library,
New York
- Dr. G. Silagi – Monumenta Germaniae Historica, München
d) Service automation
- Aleph library system
20,859 entries were processed in the Aleph library system as at 31 December
2003 (new acquisitions in the catalogue module, earlier publications in
the catalogue module – retrospective cataloguing, records of Hebrew publications,
analytic records of selected periodicals)
- Work in the Acquisition, Cataloguing, Serials, Loans, OPAC modules for
the Internet
The Loans module was put into operation on 1 January 2003, the OPAC module
for the Internet on 1 April 2003. This enables library users to order
books and other services online.
- Internet
- Bibliographical data searches in Czech and foreign library catalogues
and in electronic databases.
- Factographic data searches for the requirements of JMP staff and library
visitors
- Participation in specialist electronic conferences (Library, KOMIG,
KATPOL, Old Prints, SUALEPH, Aleph-l)
e) Digitization of the Library holdings
- In association with the Photography Department, digital copies were
made of selected pages from 8 printed books for the production of facsimiles
for permanent exhibitions of the JMP in the Klausen, Třebíč and Holešov
synagogues.
g) Work on the
Library holdings
- On 8 October 2003, the retrospective
physical inspection of the Library holdings for the purpose of determining
original ownership was completed. Commencing on 2 May 2001, the findings
were checked and processed in a database. In total, over 80,000 books
and periodicals were checked and almost 34,000 records were stored in
an electronic database.
- Checks were carried out on the call-number series of the Library’s collections
(70.000-71.999), the JMP reference library (ED call-number series), the
reference library of the Holocaust Department (DS call-number series),
the reference library of the Reference Centre (RF call-number series),
the bibliographic reference library, and the reference libraries of individual
staff members. In addition, dissertations were reviewed.
- 187 books were registered in the Central Register of Collections.
- A register was made of periodicals that are stored in the depository
in Jáchymova Street.
- Checks on the contents of the holdings were carried out on an ongoing
basis and selected publications were discarded.
- Micro-biological checks and decontaminations were carried out on 117
volumes.
- 24 volumes were restored in cooperation with the restoration workshop.
- 185 protective cases for restored and treated volumes were made
- 54 volumes were repaired or restored externally.
- New bindings were made for 32 volumes
- A micro-biological investigation was carried out in the depositories
in the JMP office building and in the periodical depository in Jáchymova
Street.
a) General hardware
and software backup for PC users
- 10 new computers, including
operating systems and the same number of MS Office XP programs were purchased.
There are currently 74 computers in use.
- The backup power source was extended.
- A 1TB disk field was purchased and the use of disk space for data storage
was facilitated for users.
b) Local network
extension
The local computer network
was extended and now connects 72 computers.
c) Email and Internet
All employees connected to
the local computer network have access to electronic mail and the Internet.
Communication software gives users access to their mail boxes via the
Internet. An anti-virus program was installed on the electronic mail server.
In addition, access rights were set on the Internet server, in order,
as far as possible, to prevent Internet abuse.
d) Securing of
anti-virus checks
The anti-virus database and
anti-virus program were continually updated.
e) Telephone connections
A contract was signed with
GlobalTel a.s., with a view to securing cheaper telephone connections
(long-distance, international and mobile).
- A contract was concluded
with with Havel Voice a.s. for cheaper long-distance, international and
mobile connections.
- The telephone exchange was attached to an extended back-up source.
f) ALEPH library
system
A new server for ALEPH 500
was purchased and attached to the internal network.
In 2003 the JMP’s property
maintenance and building activities (secured by M. Lička and R. Šťastný)
were considerably influenced by the need to restore damage caused by the
floods of August 2002. Special attention continued to be focused on stepping
up security measures for visitors. All the JMP’s properties were fitted
with new luminescent security signs which facilitate orientation in case
of emergency. With the same goal in mind, emergency lighting was installed
in the publicly accessible parts of the buildings.
At the end of the year a security and fire safety audit was launched in
all workplaces of the Museum. A JMP crisis staff was set up as early as
January 2003 and evacuation teams for individual buildings were appointed
in case of danger to life, health or property on the premises of the JMP.
The necessary documentation was drawn up for the activities of this staff
and evacuation teams and facilities were installed in each building to
facilitate the immediate commencement of rescue work, particularly in
case of flooding.
a) Repairs and reconstruction
I. Office complex
The main task was to repair
the technical facilities and building elements in the basement that were
completely destroyed by flooding and to return the flood-damaged areas
to their original use. Work involved the following activities:
- Drying, moderate heating and anti-fungal measures
- Fitting and putting into operation of new gas boilers for central heating
and preparation of hot water, including new paintwork, pipes insulation
and new connections
- Putting into operation of a measurement and control system for the building’s
technical facilities
- Repair and putting into operation of new elevators
- Repair of the cooling system, including the supply of a new cooling
source
- Supply and fitting of new doors in all basement rooms
- New sanitation plaster, paint and ceramic cladding
- New plasterboard wall and partition structures
- Repair and inspection of electric installations
- Repair of damaged floors and coating of floor structures
- Repair of inspection sewage shafts, including the addition of closable
backflow valves for connections
- Rehabilitation of perimeter walls, including back-ventilation and drainage
in the outside pavements, thereby reducing underground dampness and directing
water into the sewage and waste water system.
- Installation of special emergency waterproof lighting in the basement
areas
- Repair and supplementing of damaged furniture and shelves in the basment
areas
- Modernization of the SMART elevator – installation of safety facilities
in cases of breakdowns
- Paintwork repairs in the lobby and throughout the first floor, including
the Robert Guttmann Gallery and reception area, as well as the relaxation
centre, guest rooms and staircase of building no. 153.
The textile restoration workshops
were provided with cooling air-conditioning to meet all operational requirements.
II. Maisel Synagogue
- Repair of electric continuous-flow
water heaters and optimizing of electric power consumption.
- New sanitation plaster in the basement and new electric installations.
- Alterations to the metal railings leading to the depository, to facilitate
easier handling of objects in the collections.
- Alterations to the facilities for draining off condensate from the dehumidifiers
in the depositories
- Installation of a wooden extendable staircase leading to the depository
- Complete cleaning of roof and loft areas
- Installation of emergency accumulation lighting on the escape routes
from the depository and the main exhibition
- Inspection and replacement of Art-sorb panels in the ‘vitrine safe’
III. Spanish Synagogue
- Repair of the base of seven
vitrines
- Replacement of the damaged parts of the coir carpet in the gallery
- Complete repair and putting into operation of the exchanger station,
including measurement and control system for the building’s technical
facilities
- Drying out of the basement, repair of plasterwork (including sanitation
plaster) and paintwork in the basement on the ground floor
- Installation of emergency accumulation lighting on the escape route
from the main exhibitions
IV. Klausen Synagogue
- Completion of repairs of
flood-damaged basements areas (sanitation plaster, new floor covering,
cloakroom door)
- Repair of plaster on the ground floor, together with painting
- Installation of new, more energy efficient lighting in the Reservation
Centre of the JMP
- Replacement of central heating radiators on the ground floor, treatment
of heating measurement and control facilities in the Reservation Centre.
- Installation of emergency accumulation lighting on the escape route
from the main exhibitions
V. Pinkas Synagogue
Of all the listed Jewish buildings,
the Pinkas Synagogue suffered the most damage in the flood of August 2002.
Work on the repair of the synagogue was launched immediately and continued
until September 2003. Due to the exceptional cultural and historical value
of the building, all repairs were subject to regular evaluation by a team
of leading external experts. The aim was to restore the damage caused
by the flood and, if possible, to remove any unsuitable changes that had
been made in previous reconstructions and, using historical documentation,
to bring the building back to its original architectural form. The concept
studies and subsequent phases of the project were consulted in detail
with employees of the National Heritage Institute and arrangements were
made for an archaeological investigation in the building. The repair of
the Pinkas Synagogue was undertaken by the tender winner KOPEX s.r.o.
and, following consultation with National Heritage Institute staff, was
put forward for the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage – Europa
Nostra Awards 2003.
The following activities were
carried out:
- Structural reinforcement by fitting and pre-stressing steel rods (lengthwise
and crosswise).
- Lowering of the floor in the nave and lobby by 25 cm to the original
level, thereby restoring the original spatial proportions, particularly
in relation to the central elements – the bimah and ark
- Installation of new underfloor heating, including a measurement and
control centre to assess external and internal conditions and to regulate
the newly installed ventilation system in the building
- Laying of a new floor. In the nave and lobby use was made of roughly
worked trachyte stone tiles. The flooring in the women’s section and on
the first floor are of burnt cotto arrotato tiles. In terms of shape and
material, the new wear layers were based on fragments of the original
tiles which were found during the archaeological investigation.
- Replacement of the original staircase by massive stone steps of trachyte
with stoneware details
- Replacement of the cladding of the gallery railings by massive trachyte
slabs
- Installation of a Star of David sculpture on the western façade of the
synagogue (on the basis of a preserved archive photograph)
- Replacement of metalwork elements (railings, back-ventilation) by hand-wrought
products in keeping with the character of the building
- Installation of a new wall lighting system and treatment of other lighting
fittings.
- Improvements to the acoustic system
- New design for the entrance area in the courtyard, including the installation
of a new turnstile
- Installation of a new signage panel on the ground floor and a sponsors’
panel in the courtyard.
VI. Ceremonial Hall
- Repair of damaged basement areas (cladding, plaster, urinals)
- Repair of branch drain line and connection of drain pipes to sewage
and water pipes.
- Installation of emergency accumulation lighting
- Special cleaning of brass chandeliers, walls, paintwork and other elements.
VII. Smíchov Synagogue
Work continued on the overall repair and reconstruction of the synagogue,
which was launched in 2002. After its completion, the synagogue will house
a depository of paintings and the JMP archive with a necessary office
and operational base.
A steel structure was built in the synagogue and the vast majority of
restoration work was completed in 2003. In addition, the fabric of the
extension was completed. The connected buildings were linked to the utilities
networks and a gas boiler, central heating, ventilation equipment and
elevators were installed. All building, fitting and restoration work is
set for completion in March 2004.
VIII. Jewish Museum Café
The café which is situated on the ground floor and in the basement of
the JMP office complex had to be closed as a result of last year’s floods.
After undergoing essential repairs, it reopened in March 2003, with a
new subtenant, NOSTRUM s.r.o. Outside seating was provided in the summer
months.
IX. Robert Guttmann
Gallery
The JMP’s art gallery, which is situated on the ground floor of the JMP
office complex, was able to reopen after its own technical facilities
had been repaired and put into operation. During the summer season, checks
were carried out on the efficiency of the Nickel overhead heating and
cooling system. The repairs that were carried out improved the microclimatic
conditions in the gallery and made for a more effective use of the exhibition
space.
X. Jáchymova 3, Prague
1
- Repair of the compact sliding shelves located in the basement which
were damaged by the floods in 2002.
- Repair of the skylight windows in the loft depository of the library
XI. Old Jewish Cemetery
- Repair of the load-bearing structures of the spacing channels that run
underground around the Pinkas Synagogue.
- Repair of damaged external rendering, including the facades of buildings
along which runs the tour route of the Old Jewish Cemetery.
- Drawing up of a detailed evaluation of the state of the trees, with
particular attention to visitor safety, and subsequent pruning.
XII. Jewish Cemetery
in Fibichova Street, Prague
- Repair of the new cemetery wall that was damaged by a falling tree.
- Installation of grating elements in the fence.
XIII. Brandýs nad Labem
Synagogue
- Digital survey of the building and surroundings as background material
for future project work on repairs and reconstruction.
- Roof repair
- Temporary fencing of the courtyard
XIV. Golčův Jeníkov
Synagogue
- Overhaul and repair of electric installations
b) Maintenance
- The investment and property
management departments ensured the operating conditions for the due running
of all fourteen buildings used by the JMP, including the necessary technical
facilities (transformer station, elevators, air-conditioning equipment,
cooling plant, measurement and control of the building’s technical facilities,
humidifiers and dehumidifiers, gas boilers, pressure vessels, platforms
for disabled access, relaxation centre equipment).
- Necessary repairs to walls, pipes, plumbing installations and lock fittings;
paintwork and coats.
- Regular maintenance of electric installations, cleaning and overhaul
of eaves and inlets
- Securing of the temporary use of 44 dehumidifiers during restoration
of flood damage
b) Technical supervision
of repairs and reconstructions (V. Hamáčková)
- Old Jewish Cemetery – restoration
of 53 tombstones
- Cemetery in Fibichova Street – restoration of 80 tombstones
c) Integrated security
system (H. Pojarová)
- Installation of an electric security system and an electric fire-safety
system in the newly acquired rooms of the JMP’s Education and Culture
Centre
- Installation of an electric security system in the inner blocks of the
Maisel and Spanish synagogues
- Installation of a back-up power source in the JMP office complex in
case of longer power cuts
- Installation of an acoustic warning signal in case of immediate danger
in the JMP office complex
- Overhaul of the electric fire-safety system in the JMP’s buildings in
and outside Prague
- Reinstallation of an electric security system and an electric fire-safety
system, installation of an electronic control system for entry to the
flooded basement areas of the JMP buildings after completion of building
work
- Installation of an electric fire-safety system in the Pinkas Synagogue
loft and installation of an electric security system for the windows and
doors of the Pinkas Synagogue
- Installation of new cameras in the Klausen Synagogue and the Old Jewish
Cemetery
- On the basis of a security project drawn up in cooperation with the
Jewish Community in Prague, Prague City Hall and the Czech Ministry of
the Interior, concrete barriers were installed in front of the JMP’s office
buildings, in front of the Spanish Synagogue and int he streets U Staré
školy and Jáchymova.
January
- Senator Tom Lantos, USA
February
- Film director Roman Polanski
April
- Israeli writer Amos Oz
- Yehiel Leket, Chairman of Keren Kayemeth Leisrael (Jewish
National Fund), Israel
June
- Jorge Telerman, Culture Secretary to the Municipal Assembly of Buenos
Aires, Argentina
- Peter A.Rafaeli, Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Philadelphia,
USA
- Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt, USA
- Zeev Kaftori, Israeli diplomat, Budapest
- Hans Nieroda, deputy of the Bavarian Government, Germany
July
- Douglas Greenberg, President of the Survivors of the Shoah Foundation,
USA
September
- Delegation of the Israeli Kneset led by the Speaker of the Senate, Reuven
Rivlin
October
- The wives of ambassadors to the Czech Republic
November
- The Dutch Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ida L.van Veldhuizen-Rothenbücher
December
- Tova Pinto, Director of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s delegation for
Central and Eastern Europe
a) From abroad
- Foundations and
institutions:
The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation (USA)
The American Friends of the Czech Republic (USA)
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (USA)
The World Monuments Fund (USA)
The Javne Fund (USA)
The American Jewish Comittee (USA)
Tsjechisch Centrum Den Haag (Holland)
Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit (Germany)
Nes Ammim (Germany)
The Strategic Hotel Capital (USA)
The Anne Frank House (Holland)
Cultural Link (Argentina)
- Individual persons:
Berry Jill K. (USA)
Bleistein Norman (Germany)
Fielden Evelyn (USA)
Friedman H. (USA)
Gregory H. (UK)
Hems V. (UK)
Herzl G. (USA)
King Eric (USA)
Müller E.R. (USA)
Munk Vladimír (USA)
Naftali Zvi Frankel (USA)
Passin Gregg H. (UK)
Raport E. (Canada)
Siegel Ned L. (USA)
Theimer Peter (Canada)
Zimer J. (Canada)
b) from the Czech
Republic
- Foundations and institutions:
The Africa Israel Investment Group – Evropa Sen
Aura Lloyd s.r.o.
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
Goethe Institut Prague
The Hotel Hilton Prague, Tourinvest
Kenvelo CZ, s.r.o.
Prague City Hall
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport
The Prague 1 Local Authority
The Jewish Museum in Prague Foundation
The Holocaust Victims Foundation
The Parliament of the Czech Republic
Rudolf Jelínek, a.s..
The Senate of the Czech Republic
Ukrývané dítě (Hidden Child) Foundation
The Embassy of the Argentine Republic
The Jewish Community in Prague
- Individual persons:
Ciencala Libor
Hubáčková Hana
Kubeša Milan
Páral Ivo
The JMP provided funds to the following groups for humanitarian purposes,
for preservation of the Jewish cultural heritage and for other activities
connected with Jewish themes and with the struggle against racism and
anti-Semitism:
The Czech Association in Slovakia and the regional organization of Košice
The Czech League of Freedom Fighters
The Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic
GAUDIA, a Prague civic association against cancer
The Jewish Community in Prague’s Lauder Elementary School Gur Arye
The MAMMA Foundation, Prague
The Civic Association of the Visually Impaired, Prague
The ZORA physical training association, Prague, for visually impaired
sportspeople
The Jewish Community in Prague
Prague, 15 January 2004 Leo Pavlát
Director of the Jewish Museum in Prague
| BALANCE
SHEET |
| (in
thousands of k ) |
| |
|
| As
of 31. Dec. 2002 |
As
of 31. Dec. 2003 |
| PERMANENT
ASSETS |
265
497 |
138
134 |
| Intangible
fixed assets |
729 |
786 |
| Tangible
fixed assets |
264
768 |
137
348 |
| Financial
investments |
0
|
0
|
| CURRENT
ASSETS |
135
797 |
147
291 |
| Inventories |
4
474 |
4
980 |
| Receivables |
5
270 |
12
919 |
| Financial
assets |
112
656 |
125
290 |
| OTHER
ASSETS |
13
397 |
4
102 |
| TOTAL
ASSETS |
401
294 |
285
425 |
| |
|
|
| OWN
SOURCES |
386
233 |
263
596 |
| Funds |
351
110 |
233
424 |
| Economic
results in current accounting period |
35
123 |
30
172 |
| EXTERNAL
RESOURCES |
15
061 |
21
829 |
| Short-term
commitments |
14
930 |
21
594 |
| Provisiones |
30
000 |
0
|
| OTHER
LIABILITIES |
131 |
235 |
| TOTAL
ASSETS |
401
294 |
285
425 |
| PROFIT
AND LOSS STATEMENT |
| (in
thousands of k ) |
| |
| |
As
of 31. Dec. 2002 |
As
of 31. Dec. 2003 |
| REVENUES
|
189
589 |
172
812 |
| Sales of
goods and services |
6
470 |
8
751 |
| Sales of
entrance fee |
95
206 |
120
792 |
| Subsidies
|
150 |
0 |
| Recognition
of provisions |
30
000 |
0 |
| Other revenues
|
57
763 |
43
269 |
| OPERATING
COSTS |
139
210 |
129
667 |
| Expenditures
on realized sales |
54
768 |
64
796 |
| Personnel
costs |
37
565 |
38
953 |
| Depreciation
|
15
687 |
12
170 |
| Other operating
costs and provisiones |
31
190 |
13
748 |
| INCOME
TAX |
15
256 |
12
973 |
| ECONOMIC
RESULT |
35
123 |
30
172 |
| Jewish
museum in Prague employee structure |
| |
In
2003, the Jewish museum in Prague had an average of 134 employees
(part-time workers consolidated). |
| |
| Museum management |
3 |
| Employed
experts |
62 |
| Building
protection |
57 |
| Support
and other activities |
12 |
|
Repairs
and reconstructions of buildings (in thousands of k ) |
| Building
|
1995-2002 |
2003 |
| Spanish
synagogue |
33
360 |
73 |
| Administration
and Research Centre |
2
956 |
0 |
| Maisel
synagogue |
17
037 |
0 |
| Pinkas
synagogue |
4
592 |
5
579 |
| Ceremonial
hall |
1
812 |
0 |
| Klausen
synagogue |
5
780 |
0 |
| Depository
of textiles |
2
157 |
45 |
| New
Administration and Research Centre |
87
723 |
5
562 |
| Education
and Culture Centre |
614 |
0 |
| Smíchov
synagogue |
13
256 |
644 |
| Synagogue
Brandýs |
696 |
16 |
| Jewish
Cemetery - Fibichova St. Prague 3 |
9
201 |
385 |
| Old
Jewish cemetery |
6
164 |
321 |
| Total |
185
348 |
12
625 |
|