Josefov

The Jewish Quarter [Josefov] was quite intriguing today. We walked through this area of Prague and began to understand a little more of the history of the Jews, especially during WWII.

One of the most impressive sights in Josefov was the Old Jewish Cemetery, a former Jewish ghetto. This cemetery was used from 1439 to 1787 and it is the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in Europe. The Nazis made it a policy to destroy Jewish cemeteries, but Hitler ordered that this one be left intact, since he was planning to build a Jewish museum in Prague after all the Jews in Europe had been exterminated.

There are more than 100,000 Jews buried in this small plot, the graves being layered 12 deep in some places. This is not unusual for European cemeteries where space is at a premium. In the Old Jewish Cemetery, there are around 12,000 tombstones, crowded closely together with almost no grass between them.

We also entered the Pinkas Synagogue that is now one of the memorials to the 77, 297 Jewish Czechoslovak victims of the Holocaust. Their names are inscribed on the walls. There is also a collection of paintings and drawings by children held in the Terezín Concentration Camp during WWII.




The day wasn't all serious as we did take time to go out for our first authentic Czech meal [we have been eating mainly Czech food, just not the completely ethnic style].

We ate in a restaurant that had formerly housed a wine cellar - stones and bricks everywhere! I ate a spicy goulash with a variety of dumplings and potato pancakes while Fred sampled the tenderloin with whipped cream and cranberries. Both were very good, even if they were served with tons of gravy.