Central Europe Holocaust Tour - Day 7

By Andrew Goldfarb

The seventh day of our trip marked our first full day in Prague. In the morning, Petr guided us into the Jewish Quarter of the city. As a Jew myself, this excursion was especially meaningful to me. First, in order to give us an idea of how prevalent the Jewish population is in the Czech Republic today, he gave us what I saw was an extremely disturbing statistic: whereas before the Holocaust the country had 120,000 Jews, after the Nazi’s enforcement of the “Final Solution,” only 1,500 Jews remain in the Czech Republic today.  After arriving in the Jewish Quarter Petr gave us a brief history of the Jews in Prague. For instance, in 1215 Pope Innocent accused Jews of killing Jesus, causing Jews to lose many rights, citizenship, and business in Prague. This greatly reminded me of the Chapter 5 reading of Bauer’s A History of the Holocaust, entitled “The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, 1933-1938.” This chapter lists the many policies that the Nazis made to also strip the Jews of their rights, citizenship, and participation in business.

On the tour, Petr took us to the Old Synagogue of Prague, the Jewish Museum, the Spanish Synagogue, and the only active synagogue left in the country. According to Petr, the only reason why these synagogues remain intact is because Hitler desired Prague to be a “Museum of the Extinct Race.” Since I was required to wear a yamaka at these sties, the experience was much more personal for me. Outside one of the synagogues, I noticed on the wall of a building an emblem of the ghetto, which is a Jewish star with a yellow hat in it. During the days of the Jewish ghetto, Petr explained, Jews were required to wear a yellow hat as a form of public humiliation. This reminded me of the Topography of Terror Museum in Berlin, which showed pictures of Jews being publicly humiliated by Nazis, who required Jews to wear signs around their necks.

After visiting all of the sits in the Jewish Quarter, including a 12-layered cemetery, we had time to eat in the Old Town Square and watch the Prague Astronomical Clock.  Then, Dr. Paces took the group to the Castle, which required that we walk up a very steep hill (not having run in about a week, I personally enjoyed the exercise). To my disappointment, however, the Castle’s main sites were closed, and we only had the opportunity to visit the Basilica of St. George and Golden Lane.

To conclude the evening of an incredibly meaningful day, the remaining hours were spent getting dinner at a pizzeria, sitting in the Old Town Square, and getting a drink in an unexpectedly overwhelming adventure to a bar by the Charles Bridge. Long story short, we caught a seemingly drugged-up woman try to pickpocket one of our group members, and, being the brave adults we are, we panicked and ran. Ah, good day.