History of the Jews in Prague

Early history The first reference to a Jewish community in Prague is in a report by Jewish traveler Ibrahim ibn Yaqub from 965 CE which mentions Jewish merchants at Prague markets. By the end of the 11th century, a Jewish community had been fully established in Prague. In the aftermath of this pogrom, many Prague Jews fled to Poland and Hungary. During the Habsburg reign, however, the Jewish people were expelled twice, in 1542 and 1561, the community strengthening on each return. From 1564 to 1612, the reigns of Maximilian II and Rudolf II were a 'golden age' for the Jews in Prague. By the early 1700s, the Jews accounted for about a quarter of Prague's population with more Jewish people living in Prague than anywhere else in the world. This 'golden age' ended with Empress Maria Theresa's succession to the throne, and Jews were expelled from Prague once again from 1745 to 1748. Following the Communist takeover in 1945, Jewish life was stifled and most of Prague's Jews kept their identity a secret. By 1949, when Jewish emigration to Israel was forbidden, around 2,500 of Prague's Jews had emigrated to Israel. The situation worsened following the failure of the Prague Spring and the resulting Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, following which 3,400 Jews fled the country. In 2022, the Federation of Jewish Communities estimated that there are between 3,000 and 5,000 Jews in the Czech Republic, of which 1,600 live in Prague. ==Jewish Quarter and Ghetto==

(Obřadní síň) in U starého hřbitova Street, Prague Known as Židovské město in Czech (and later Judenstadt in German), the ghetto was the center of Jewish mysticism. From 1522 to 1541, the population of the ghetto almost doubled due to an influx of Jews expelled from Moravia, German lands (of the Holy Roman Empire), Austria and Spain. The ghetto grew in area because laws were introduced allowing the Jews to build homes on land next to the ghetto. ==Synagogues==

in Prague's Jewish Quarter. The oldest Jewish house of worship in Prague, the Old School Synagogue is no longer standing. It was replaced by the 'Great' or 'New School' in 1270. As the Jewish community grew and more synagogues were built, this medieval gothic building became known as the Old New Synagogue (or Altneuschul). During the Jewish Renaissance in Prague, beginning in the sixteenth century, four major synagogues were built and completed. The Pinkas Synagogue was completed in 1479 and showcases Renaissance design in its architecture. The author Franz Kafka attended services at the Pinkas Synagogue in the twentieth century. Completed in 1568, the High Synagogue (so dubbed because the worship space is on the second floor) stood and still stands next to the Jewish Town Hall and served the seniors of the Jewish Quarter. In 1591, Rudolph II allowed the building of the Maisel Synagogue, named for its benefactor Mordecai Maisel. The Synagogue suffered multiple fires. The Klausen Synagogue, located on land also donated by Maisel and built in the Baroque style, opened in 1694. During the 1945 bombing of Prague in World War II, the (opened 1896), the largest Jewish house of prayer in the city, was destroyed. Two more landmark synagogues still stand in Prague: the Spanish Synagogue, built in 1868 on the site of the Old School Synagogue, and the Jerusalem Synagogue, dedicated in 1906. The former was built in the Moorish style, while the design of the latter combines Moorish elements with Art Nouveau. More synagogues were built in the suburbs of Prague: in Michle (opened in around 1730), Uhřiněves (1848), Košíře (1849), Libeň (1858), Karlín (1861), Smíchov (consecrated 1863, reconstructed 1931) and Bubny (1899). These synagogues are no longer active. ==Flags of the Jews of Prague==

Charles IV gave the Jews of Prague the honour of a flag in 1357. The red flag includes a yellow Magen David (Star of David), often considered to be the first use of a Magen David to represent a Jewish community. In 1648, Ferdinand III gave the Jewish community a flag for their assistance in fighting Swedish attackers during the Thirty Years' War. == See also ==