Ghetto

The first Jewish communities in Prague were established as commercial settlements in the Prague suburbs, not as ghettos. During the First Crusade in 1096, the Jewish population, which was described as the originators of Christ's suffering, was subjected to terror, from which most of them fled to Poland or Hungary. Despite the gradual return of some of the refugees, the original Jewish settlements disappeared and the Jewish quarter moved across the river to the Old Town, with another Jewish settlement in the New Town. y\In 1215, the Council ordered the separation of the unbaptized Jewish population from the Christian population.

The first ghetto, the enclosed Jewish town of that name, was established in Venice by decree of the Venetian Senate on 29 March 1516. It decreed that all Jews there must live together in a closed and guarded part of the city, separate from the Christians. The ghetto came into being at a time when Venice, a cosmopolitan centre of international trade, was becoming suspicious of all inhabitants different from the Venetians, such as Greeks, Turks, Armenians and Persians, who were also concentrated in their own districts, ostensibly for their own safety. The ghetto was fenced off and closed at night.

The Pope of Rome followed the Venetian move in 1555, establishing a ghetto in Rome and issuing a decree stripping the Jews of all rights. He required the same step of the rulers of all Christian countries. Escalating oppression, which included the compulsory attendance of all Jews at lectures on Christianity or the abduction and secret baptism of their children, were part of the effort to baptize all Jews. Indeed, the resentment against Jews at the time was motivated purely by religion - if Jews were persuaded to convert to Christianity, they became full members of society.

The Prague ghetto was abolished after the revolution of 1848. Under the name of Josefov it was annexed to the city of Prague as its fifth district.