Smetanovy sady 80/5

Identity of Pilsen Jews

We start our walk at the Old Synagogue by thinking about the Jewish identity.

The acquisition of civil liberties brought a new generation of Jews in Bohemia a hitherto unknown question: what is Jewish about their lives? Previously, everything was clear, isolation and persecution clearly defined the boundaries of their existence. Now, anti-Jewish laws had been repealed and the role of religion has receded into the background in the modern world.

Some Jews professed their affiliation with the German-speaking culture, some, in particular rural, Jews considered themselves part of the Czech nation and took part in the struggle for Czech national sovereignty. Others began to regard their Jewishness as a sign of an independent Jewish nation that, like the Czech nation, deserved its own nation state, and became Zionists.

Pictured: Rita Münzerová aged 4 and a half years.