Pardubice, Czechoslovakia

Pardubice, Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, today Czech Republic. Jews are mentioned in 1492. In 1662 Emperor Leopold expelled all Jews who had settled after 1618. In 1744 Maria Theresa expelled the Jews of Pardubice together with the rest of the Jews in the country. The hostility of the local population mostly against an economic background continued into the late 19th century. A synagogue was consecrated in 1880 and a new cemetery in 1883 with the Jewish population growing steadily from 378 in 1880 to 553 in 1910. The Schuetz family owned a large factory producing the city‘s famous honey cake (perniky). In 1930 518 Jews remained (total 28.846). The Nazis closed down the synagogue in October 1942. On 9 June 1942 they executed the Jewish journalist Ota Kafka and on 5 December 1942 they deported 650 Jews from Pardubice and its environs to the Theresienstadt ghetto together with Jews from Trutnov assembled in the city. Another 606 were deported on 9 December. Nearly all were sent to Auschwitz in 1943.