Grundzüge christlicher und jüdischer Geschichte in Böhmen und Mähren. ONLINE-Vortrag von Tanja Krombach

In the organizer's words:

Preparatory program for the joint study trip with the Gesellschaft für Christlich-Jüdische Zusammenarbeit Düsseldorf e. V.

Online event! - Registration required!
Open to all interested parties!

The history of Christianity and Judaism in the Bohemian-Moravian region began almost simultaneously. In the 9th century, Western Church missionaries from the dioceses of Passau and Regensburg (both founded in 739), which at the time were on the periphery of the Frankish Empire, came to Bohemia. At around the same time, emissaries of the Eastern Church "Slavic apostles" Cyril (around 826-869) and Methodius (around 815-885) were active in the Moravian region. Only a little later is there evidence of the presence of Jewish merchants in the region, namely from the second half of the 10th century. In 973, the Bishopric of Prague was founded in collaboration with the Bohemian Duke Boleslav II (?-999) and Emperor Otto I (912-973). Almost 100 years later at the latest, there was a permanent Jewish settlement in the Bohemian episcopal and capital city.

Christianity was of central importance under all subsequent rulers of Bohemia and Moravia, but at the same time Judaism was also of exceptional importance for centuries. For a time, the Jewish community in Prague developed into the largest Jewish community in Europe - a position it maintained until the 18th century despite recurring severe hardship and discrimination from various rulers and parts of the non-Jewish population. In addition to the large Prague community, other urban communities had formed in Bohemia and Moravia in the meantime; there was also rural Jewry to a limited extent.

The outstanding importance of Bohemian and Moravian Jewry until the 19th and early 20th centuries is also made clear by the large number of Jewish personalities who shaped art and culture in the region and often far beyond. The Prague literary scene at the beginning of the 20th century would be hard to imagine without Franz Kafka (1883-1924), Max Brod (1884-1968), Franz Werfel (1890-1945) and many others. Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) and Karl Kraus (1874-1936) also came from Bohemian-Moravian Jewry. It was not until the murderous persecution by the Nazi regime in Czechoslovakia, which had been occupied since 1938/39, that the important history of Judaism in the region largely came to an end.

Tanja Krombach, who has a degree in Slavic and German studies, is an expert on the historical and cultural landscape of Bohemia and Moravia. She has worked for the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe in Potsdam for many years and has been its deputy director since 2014.

The event will take place online as a video conference.

To receive the access data, please register
please send a short e-mail to: "sekretariatg-h-hde.

In cooperation with: Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation Düsseldorf e. V.