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Published: July 14th 2009
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National Museum
At the beginning of Wenceslas Square, which isn't a square its a boulevard. Hi Everyone,
In the last two days in Prague I have wandered around lost, taken a free walking tour, and visited the Jewish Museum. Prague and the Czech Republic in general has undergone many changes in the last century. They went from Democracy at the end of WWI to Nazi occupation to Communist rule finally to being their own country again. Capitalism is alive and well in Prague. The are enough shopping centers, souvenir stands, and McDonald's to make any western tourist happy. As long as you stay away from the tourist centers the prices are about the equivalent to US prices. It is nice not to spend $3 dollars on a Diet Coke.
The Jewish Museum is actually a group of 7 synagogues. They are probably the only synagogues in the former Nazi territories that escaped destruction. It is said that Hitler allowed them to stand because he was going to make them a museum of 'a extinct race.' The highlights of the visit were the Holocaust memorial and the Jewish Cemetery. The memorial was three rooms in the Pinkas Synagogue covered floor to ceiling in the names of all the Jews from Prague that perished in the concentration camps.
Horse and buggy
It seems everywhere there are tourists there are horses and buggies. I don't understand this. What about the horse and buggy is distinctly Czech that you would pay 60 dollars for a ride? There was also a room hung with pictures of the children who lived at the concentration camp, Terezin. Terezin exists today about an hour outside of Prague as a memorial. At the time of the Nazis it was used a propaganda camp. The children would put on plays and things so the Nazis could film it and show the world they were doing nothing wrong. Most of the people interred at Terezin were sent to other camps, like Auschwitz, but about 25% died at Terezin from illness or disease caused by the living conditions.
One teacher that lived at the camps, Friedl Dicker Brandeis, organized art classes for the children and scrounged art supplies and paper for them to express their feelings in art. Before she was sent to Auschwitz she collected about 4,000 of the pictures in two suitcases which were found after the liberation. The pictures themselves were very interesting. Mostly of families and their life at the camp. There are some particularly sad pictures about life before the camp when they weren't allowed to go to school or play in parks. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but I took a picture of the
Charles statue
In front of the National Museum postcards I bought. They aren't very good photos, but maybe they can give you an idea of what the museum was about.
The Cemetery was also very interesting. The Jewish Quarter in Prague existed for hundreds of years before WWII. Jewish people were forced to live in this walled off community until about 1850 when they could finally live in other parts of the city. Around the beginning of the twentieth century the city decided to renovate the Jewish quarter and all but seven synagogues and the Jewish Cemetery were demolished. So the cemetery was used to bury about 600 years worth of people. Of course space was a big issue, and there are as many as 12 bodies buried in the same spot one on top of the other. Each person still has their own tomb stone, so there are tomb stones everywhere. I paid the 40Ck picture fee so I could take a picture of the cemetery. It is a very spooky place.
Still to come is a visit to the Dancing Houses (have to find them) and a tour of Prague Castle!
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Tom
non-member comment
I think that's Franz Kafka