Paris Street – Rebuilding The Prague Jewish Quarter Before you start this post be sure to read Why the Prague Jewish Ghetto Was Destroyed. That post explained the reasons for the demolition. This post starts in 1887 with the plan for the rebuilding of the Prague Jewish Quarter into what you see today. Of all … Read More
Franz Kafka Monument I’ve written about the sculptor Jaroslav Rona and I’ve written about Franz Kafka so what about a post that links them. People might be confused because there will be references to two different Franz Kafka monuments in Prague. If you are looking for the huge shining Franz Kafka head which rotates then … Read More
Prague Jewish Garden Not so fast, this is not some horticultural post about what grows in a Jewish garden. This relates to a cemetery close to Wenceslas Square that pre-dates the current Old Jewish Cemetery by 200 years and is recognised as the oldest Jewish burial ground in the country. In the mid-13th Century a … Read More
Famous Czechs – Franz Kafka As Franz Kafka lay on his death bed at the age of 40 on June 3rd 1924 he would scarcely have believed that less than half a Century later his name would be known around the world, his literary work appearing in more than 30 languages, his private letters and … Read More
Prague and INXS For those of us in our 50s who still remember INXS and have at least two CD copies of the album “Kick” then that period between 1987 and 1997 was pretty special. I remember watching the Never Tear Us Apart video on MTV in 1988 and I remember being in a hotel … Read More
The Terezin Ghetto Editors It’s December 1941 and the Nazis had begun the deportation of the Jewish community from all parts of the Protectorate (what Czech was called during WW2) to the new internment camp called the Terezin Ghetto. By the summer of 1942 conditions were getting worse with overcrowding and the Jewish Council in … Read More
The Prague Jewish Ghetto Destruction On this post I’ll seek to give you an overview of the timeline and decisions taken which eventually led to the destruction of the Prague Jewish Ghetto. Before the year 1437 Jewish citizens in Prague could live wherever they wanted and there is ample evidence to show that they had … Read More
The Old Jewish Ceremonial Hall in Prague, there’s more than one! This building in Josefov is strongly linked to something called Chevra Kadisha and I’ll explain more about them below. Both the Old Ceremonial Hall and the adjacent Klausen Synagogue deal with Jewish customs and traditions. The Old Jewish Ceremonial Hall story is described on … Read More
Prague Calvary The official title is the Statuary of the Holy Crucifix and Calvary. You may think this is just another statue on Charles Bridge. Actually you will find out that it was the original figure on the bridge, the most historic and the most religiously divisive. We’re talking legends and blasphemy. There are two … Read More
SS Patria Disaster A trans-Atlantic liner called the SS Patria sank on 25th November 1940 at the port of Haifa in what was then Palestine. You’re thinking what the hell as this got to do with Prague? Well for me it all started with a photo. In 2015 I was preparing to start my Walking … Read More