. *

A

Healthy and" Happy Passover

bition of Jewish textiles anywhere
in Europe," Ms. Potter said.
Earlier, she sketched in the
background of Jewish history in
the Czech Republic, from the ear-
ly beginnings in the Middle Ages
to the flowering of this communi-
ty as one of the most prominent
in Europe. Then, during the Holo-
caust, almost all of Jews of
Prague, who then numbered
about 35,000, perished.
But in this museum we saw
concrete examples of Czech Jew-
ish life, such as the yellow hat
Jews wore whenever they left the
walls of the ancient Jewish ghet-
to.
"This was to show they were
protected by the king," our guide
explained, noting that the hat be-
came the official symbol of the
Prague Jewish community in the
14th century.
Another stop on our tour was
the Pinkas Synagogue on Siroka
Street. This restored, early-15th
century synagogue, with vaulted
ceiling and tile floors, has been
made into a memorial for all the
Czech Jews who died in the Holo-
caust. There are 77,927 names,
listed alphabetically and includ-
ing birth and death dates, along
with the victim's hometown, in-
scribed on all the walls.
"Some people are in tears when
they see this," our guide said. Of-
ten, visitors had relatives who
were victims.
Our next stop was the Old Jew-
ish Cemetery in Prague. (There's
also a New Jewish Cemetery in
eastern Prague, where author
Franz Kafka and his parents are
buried.) On a grassy, tree-lined
area, we saw thousands of tomb-
stones. Because space was scarce,
graves had to be placed on top of
each other, layer by layer. Crowd-
ed together, they seemed to tilt
and lean on others, making a
jumble of weathered tombstones.
In all, about 12,000 tombstones
are in this cemetery, which is one
of the most visited sites in Prague.
Next we visited the Ceremoni-
al House, adjacent to the ceme-
tery. Inside, paintings covered all
the walls. They were created in
secret by children and adults in-
terred in the Terezin concentra-
tion camp not far from Prague.
Especially poignant were the
children's crayon drawings: but-
terflies and flowers. And on each,
a neatly printed label indicated
the name of the artist, date of
birth, and date of death at
Terezin. Only a rare view bore the
date of the child's liberation.
Outside, we made a quick stop
at the impressive and ornate fa-
cade of the Moorish-style Span-
ish synagogue across Parizska
Street.
One site was not on the tour,
but it was just a short walk to the
Old-New Synagogue across from
the Town Hall, a building with
steeply peaked roof decorated
with brick gables.

PRAGUE page 128

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