Holocaust Memorial Torah Scroll #494

Temple Mount Sinai in El Paso, Texas is privileged to house Czech Memorial Torah Scroll #494.  Written in 1750, it is believed to be one of the Torahs from the town of České Budějovice, now in the Czech Republic, but once the capital of South Bohemia and a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

České Budějovice was founded as a “royal town” by King Premysl Otakar II in 1265.  In the 14^th Century, it became an important center of trade and crafts.  Jews lived in the city since this time and in the 15^th century the Jewish population was already quite populous.  The Jewish quarter was composed of 13 houses and a Gothic-style synagogue.  In 1505, the local Jews were accused of ritual murder and about 25 of them were burned at the stake.  Children were taken from their parents and in 1506, 23 Jewish children were forcibly baptized.  The remaining Jews were expelled from the city and only one family was allowed to live in České Budějovice prior to 1848.

Jews returned to České Budějovice in 1859 and a Jewish cemetery was founded in 1866, where around 100 gravestones have been preserved.  In 1880, the Jewish population numbered 969 individuals, or 6% of the total population of České Budějovice.  This population peaked in 1898 (the very year Temple Mount Sinai was founded), when 1972 Jews lived in the city.

Following the Nazi invasion and occupation of České Budějovice in 1939, the Nuremberg laws were applied to Jews living in the city, and they were gradually ousted from public life.  The large Neo-Gothic synagogue, built in 1888, was blown up by the Nazi’s in 1942.  Most of the local Jews (909 individuals) were deported to Terezin and further east in transport Akb on April 18, 1942.  The Terezin records tell us that 578 of them perished.

Jewish children were prohibited from visiting sports grounds and swimming pools and were banned from all leisure time activities.  After September of 1940, they were also barred from attending public schools and educating themselves.  The children of České Budějovice were lucky enough, though, to be allowed to meet on the property of landlord Vorisek.  In their free time, they wrote the local magazine Klepy, or “Gossip.”

The Jewish Museum of Prague learned of the magazine Klepy, when former resident and Holocaust survivor Jan Freud visited his homeland to tell his story to local youth and brought several copies of the publication with him.  Students worked with Freud to publish “The Underground Reporters,” a book about Klepy and the Jewish youth who wrote the magazine.  In 2006, students from České Budějovice visited Israel where they recorded many interviews with eyewitnesses, which are currently being processed into coherent texts.