Brno, Czechoslovakia

Brno Moravia, Czechoslovakia. A Jewish Community existed in the first half of the 13th century. In 1254, King Prmeysl Otakar of Bohemia granted the Jews a wide ranging charter. A new charter which Charles IV issued in 1345, encouraged further Jewish settlement, particularly of Jewish refugees from Germany and helped increase the Jewish population to 600-800 in the late 14th century. In 1454, the Jews were expelled at the instigation of Franciscan zealot John of Caspistrano and were not allowed to return officially until the late 19th century. However Jewish life was reestablished in the mid 17th century. The edict of tolerance (Toleranzpatent) issued by Joseph II in 1782 only partially removed Jewish disabilities but Jews were now able to participate in the city’s economic life. In 1797, 12 Jews resided in the city and 113 in its suburbs; by 1848, there were 27 in the city and 418 in the suburbs. Subsequently the Jewish population grew rapidly, to 2,230 (total 50,000) in 1857, with a great synagogue constructed in 1855. Additional synagogues were opened in 1883 (by Galician Jews) and in 1906 (by Liberal circles, introducing an organ and mixed choir). Jewish industrialists were responsible for the city’s being called the Manchester of the east. With the Jewish population growing to 8,238 in 1900, the community became the largest in Moravia. In 1919, a Jewish high school, the only one in Bohemia and Moravia, was added to the educational system (244 students in 1937-38). Zionist activity became extensive, with the Czechoslovakian Maccabiah games held in the city in 1919. Jews were also active in public life, with Dr. Ludwig Czech serving as minister in the Czechoslovakian government in 1929-1938. Few of the city’s 12,000 Jews succeeded in fleeing the Nazis. Three hundred were seized in the streets in March 1939 and sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp. 1939-1941, the Jews were systematically stripped of their civil rights and their property was confiscated. Mass deportations began on 26 November, when 1,000 Jews were sent to the Minsk ghetto. Another 2,000 were sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto on 2 and 5 December, and from there mostly to Auschwitz, as were 7,002 Jews in eight transports between 28 January and 27 May 1942. Only 674 survived. About 800 from mixed marriages or of partial Jewish origin were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto in the beginning of 1945 via Prague.