Prague: reconstructed synagogue and memorial

[DanK]

Much of the Jewish quarter of Prague was spared destruction during WWII, even though most Czech Jews were murdered. The Jewish Museum in Prague now encompasses a number of synagogues, a historic cemetery, and artifacts. This is the restored Pinkas synagogue:



At the bottom, you can see what appears to be text on the wall. All of the walls in this building are covered with a listing of Czech Jews murdered during the war, organized by their residence. Here's a snapshot of part of one:



Part of my family came from Bohemia, but I have no information about them. The museum has a computerized listing of everyone listed on the walls, and it showed half a dozen people with my last name.

A technical detail: I shot these with an old 12-MPX Lumix LX-100. I had to boost ISO by 2 stops, which generates noise with that sensor. I only did a quick edit in LR, but for the first, I applied LR's AI-based noise reduction. Worked quite well, I think.

[Manfred M]

You are quite right. Downtown Prague survived the war relatively unscathed, but unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Jewish population.

I was most intrigued by the old Jewish cemetery when we visited that city. Did you have a chance to visit it?

[DanK]

Manfred,

Yes, I did visit the cemetery, but none of the photos I took there are very good. It was left intact. A contrast is the cemetery in Frankfurt, which is is a mix of intact gravestones and gravestones broken up to be used for paving.

Apparently, Hitler had the notion of creating a "Museum of an Extinct People" in Prague, so they left much of the Jewish quarter intact and shipped stolen Jewish artifacts from elsewhere to Prague.

The Pinkas synagogue dates to the 16th century and is, I think, the second oldest surviving in Prague. A much newer, larger, and more ornate one is the "Spanish" synagogue:



Dan