Jews in the Czech Republic

Scene from a Nazi documentary filmed in the Theresienstadt ghetto during the summer of 1944 (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

August 5, 2019, 11:51 pm

74 years since liberation, a visit to Theresienstadt finds an eerie ghost town

Unique in the Nazi empire, Theresienstadt was both a way-station to Auschwitz for Jews and a well-planned show camp to deceive diplomats about the Holocaust

By Matt Lebovic

A visitor looks at the collection of drawings at the Jewish Museum in Prague, Czech Republic, Jan. 24, 2019, made by Jewish children who passed through the Terezin Ghetto during WWII (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

January 26, 2019, 5:55 pm

Dreams of Theresienstadt children on display in drawings exhibit

Artwork at Prague’s Jewish Museum was saved by Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, who taught secret art classes at Nazi camp and hid the drawings before she was sent to a death camp

By AP

Norm Eisen, left, meeting Vaclav Havel in Prague. (Forum 2000/via JTA)

September 24, 2018, 8:54 am

Trump critic’s book about Prague is a metaphor for Jewish anti-authoritarianism

Former US ambassador Norm Eisen’s ‘The Last Palace’ is an ode to his mother’s homeland and the historic estate he occupied for 3 years, and a grave warning on illiberal democracy

By Ron Kampeas

David Maxa delivers a sermon during Shabbat services at Prague’s Spanish Synagogue during the European Union of Progressive Judaism’s biennial, April 2018. (Courtesy of Maxa/via JTA)

September 23, 2018, 10:15 pm

A new Torah scroll symbolizes a Liberal Jewish revival in the Czech Republic

A relic originating in the country is being returned after having spent the last several decades at a Reform synagogue in London

By Margarita Gokun Silver

Joseph Stalin in July, 1941. (Public domain)

From the WebApril 8, 2018, 11:53 am

Lost footage uncovered of Stalin’s anti-Semitic show trial

Film found in Czech Republic shows Jewish communist leader accused of supporting Zionism, forced to confess and request death penalty, The Guardian reports

Tourists stand or walk across the pavement of the pedestrian zone at Wenceslas Square in Prague on March 15, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Michal CIZEK)

March 25, 2018, 9:46 am

Prague pedestrians tread unaware on Jewish gravestones

Communist-built pavement in Czech capital used slabs with Hebrew inscriptions taken from derelict cemetery; despite many complaints by Jewish community, issue was never resolved

By Jan MARCHAL

People watch as photographs of Czech Jews who were killed by the Nazis during World War II are projected on the outer wall of a Jewish bath at the Pinkas Synagogue in Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, Oct. 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

October 17, 2017, 5:21 am

Faces of Holocaust victims projected on Prague synagogue

Inside, the Pinkas Synagogue walls bear the names of almost 80,000 Jewish victims murdered by Nazis

By AP

Holocaust survivor George Brady (YouTube screenshot)

October 23, 2016, 8:27 pm

Holocaust survivor denied Czech award in government spat

President Zeman nixes medal for George Brady after his nephew, a cabinet minister, meets with the Dalai Lama against leader’s wishes

By TOI staff and AFP

Cans of Zyklon B on display at Auschwitz. (photo credit: CC BY Jaysmark, Flickr)

October 6, 2016, 9:59 pm

Czech kids’ volleyball team named for poison used by Nazis

Jewish leaders, Freedom Fighters group protest choice of ‘Cyklon B’ for team that played in Prague tournament

By JTA

Alex Schapiro studying for his bar mitzvah at the Spanish Synagogue of Prague in 2016. (Courtesy of Andrew H. Schapiro via JTA)

August 26, 2016, 7:00 pm

US envoy’s son has bar mitzvah at his ancestors’ shul in Prague

Alex Schapiro performs Jewish rite of passage at Spanish Synagogue, where his relatives prayed before they fled the Nazis

By JTA

A bus in the Czech Republic advertising the Nazi death camp Auschwitz as fun holiday destination that was originally made as a film prop seen on the website of the Auto Xaver bus company on August 16, 2016. (autoxaver.com)

August 16, 2016, 8:58 pm

Uproar over ‘satirical’ Czech bus advertising Auschwitz vacations

Old movie prop promoting the Nazi death camp as fun holiday destination decried by local Holocaust survivors, Jewish leaders

By TOI staff

Katie Ledecky celebrating winning gold and setting a new world record in the Women’s 400-meter freestyle final on day two of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Aug. 7, 2016. (Al Bello/Getty Images via JTA)

August 9, 2016, 1:20 am

Gold medalist swimmer inspired by her Jewish history

Katie Ledecky says her grandmother’s stories of family’s losses during the Holocaust have driven her to succeed

By Gabe Friedman

File: Czech President Milos Zeman, right, and his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin put stones on the memorial during a remembrance ceremony for the victims at the former Nazi concentration camp of Terezin, October 22, 2015. (AFP/Michal Cizek)

May 17, 2016, 4:41 am

Czech Jews call Terezin memorial addresses nationalist, xenophobic

Community groups says speeches at Sunday commemoration in former concentration camp demonized foreigners, refugees

By JTA

The Old New synagogue in Prague, Czech Republic (CC-BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia/Øyvind Holmstad)

April 5, 2016, 11:20 pm

Czechs to up security of ‘threatened’ Jewish institutions

New official position created to handle coordination between the community and the government

By AFP

Illustrative photo of a Torah scroll (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)

January 19, 2016, 9:15 pm

Brno Jewish community unveils new Torah scroll

Ceremony marks completion of year-long renovation of the synagogue in the Czech Republic’s second largest city

By JTA