Fri. June 19--Prague: The morning began with a walking tour of the
Jewish Quarter and its synagogues and the Jewish Cemetery. The oldest synagogue
was built in the tenth century and is the only one still used for services; the
others are now museums. Prague had a Jewish population of 120,000 before the
war and their systematic extermination. Now there are about 1800 and the small,
old synagogue is plenty of room for them. In the Pinkas Synagogue we saw the walls full of tiny hand
printed lists of the names and dates for the many who died.
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| Jewish Quarter in Prague |
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| Interesting clock on the City Hall in Jewish Quarter |
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| Pinkas Synagogue |
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| Name after name after name.... |
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| ...on every wall for room after room after room. |
Then we went through
the cemetery where bodies have been buried for several centuries so people are
stacked 12 deep and the old stones are piled together. It was very sobering.
We
strolled down the Street of Paris, the most expensive part of Prague with its
beautiful Art Nouveau apartment buildings that were built around the turn of
last century and visited the Spanish Synagogue (so named for its interior
decorations, not for its nationality). The Old Town Square was a short walk
away but the group got smaller and smaller as we made our way there because it
was lunchtime.
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| Pařížská (Paris) Street connecting the Jewish quarter to Old Town |
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| Beautiful Spanish Synagogue is now a museum |
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| Tyne Church on Old Town Square |
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| Streets of Old Town |
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| St. Nicholas Church on Old Town Square |
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| Astronomical Clock |
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| Buildings on Old Town Square |
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Enjoying a Trdelnik: Dough wrapped on a fat metal rod and cooked over a fire,
then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar from the stand in the background |
Ross, Pat, Marv and I stayed for the whole tour and then hustled
back to the hotel. We picked up the lunches we had packed and met our Gray Line
Bus for a trip we had lined up ahead of time to Terezin, about an hour away.
Terezin was built as a military post in 1789, to stand between the Prussian and
Habsburg empires. It consists of the big and the small fortifications. The
smaller was used as a prison and the larger was barracks and homes for troops.
Both are well fortified and surrounded by walls and moats. During WWII the
Nazis put political prisoners in the prison far exceeding its capacity and
known for its inhumane conditions. Jews from all over were brought or death
marched to the larger fortification which became a village sized ghetto. A
propaganda film was made there promoting it as a Jewish sanctuary where it was
self-governed and a generally happy place to stay. After it was made every actor
was taken to Auschwitz and immediately gassed. Terezin became a sort of
way-station where Jews were gathered and registered and then sent on to
Concentration Camps. Many died in Terezin as sickness and lack of sanitation
and supplies overwhelmed the growing masses. Dissidents were sent to the
prison, where conditions were even worse. It was very chilling and not exactly
enjoyable, but it was an important trip to make.
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| Building we saw from the bus as we rode to Terezin |
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| Castle District on the hill as we left Prague for Terezin |
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| Countryside driving to Terezin |
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| Cemetery/Memorial outside the gates of the smaller fortification |
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| Large and small fortifications of Terezin with photos from the area |
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| Work shall make you free |
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| Bunks in one building of the prison |
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| Sinks installed to impress the Red Cross inspectors but never plumbed with water |
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There are many yards of passageway within the wall of the
fortification of the prison. We followed this one for a long way. |
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| Memorial Statue |
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| The streets of the larger, village-like fortification of Terezin |
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| Wall of pictures in the stairway of the village Museum |
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| Cemetery/Memorial at the Crematorium in Terezin |
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| Crematorium maintained as a Memorial |
Back at the hotel we rested
and cleaned up and then walked over to the Czech restaurant across the street
for a traditional dinner of duck, sausage, two kinds of cabbage, and dumplings.
It was yummy and filling. When it got dark Marv and I again ventured out, this
time walking all the way back to Old Town Square to mingle with the boisterous
and energetic crowds of people.
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Na zdraví !
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| Czech Good Eatin'!! |
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