History of the Jews in Czechoslovakia
Historical demographics
| Historical Czechoslovakian Jewish population (using post-WWII borders) |
|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|
| 1921 | 261,001 | — |
|---|
| 1930 | 254,288 | −2.6% |
|---|
| 1945 | 42,000 | −83.5% |
|---|
| 1951 | 17,000 | −59.5% |
|---|
| 1960 | 16,000 | −5.9% |
|---|
| 1970 | 14,000 | −12.5% |
|---|
| 1980 | 9,000 | −35.7% |
|---|
| 1990 | 8,000 | −11.1% |
|---|
| 2000 | 6,700 | −16.2% |
|---|
| 2010 | 6,500 | −3.0% |
|---|
Source:
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table 1. Jewish population by religion in Czechoslovakia[4][5]
| |
1921, # |
1921,% |
1930, # |
1930,% |
| Bohemia |
79,777 |
1.19 |
76,301 |
1.07 |
| Moravia |
37,989 |
1.09 |
41,250 |
1.16 |
| Silesia |
7,317 |
1.09 |
(with Moravia) |
(with Moravia) |
| Slovakia |
135,918 |
4.53 |
136,737 |
4.11 |
| Carpatho Russia |
93,341 |
15.39 |
102,542 |
14.14 |
| Total |
354,342 |
2.6 |
356,830 |
2.42 |
Table 2. Declared Nationality of Jews in Czechoslovakia[4]
| Ethnonationality |
1921,% |
1930,% |
| Jewish |
53.62 |
57.20 |
| Czechoslovak |
21.84 |
24.52 |
| German |
14.26 |
12.28 |
| Hungarian |
8.45 |
4.71 |
| Others |
1.83 |
1.29 |
Holocaust
For the Czechs of the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, German occupation was a period of brutal oppression. The Jewish population of Bohemia and Moravia (117,551 according to the 1930 census) was virtually annihilated. Many Jews emigrated after 1939; approximately 78,000 were killed. By 1945, some 14,000 Jews remained alive in the Czech lands.[6]
Approximately 144,000 Jews were sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp. Most inmates were Czech Jews. About a quarter of the inmates (33,000) died in Theresienstadt, mostly because of the deadly conditions (hunger, stress, and disease, especially the typhus epidemic at the very end of war). About 88,000 were deported to Auschwitz and other extermination camps. When the war finished, there were a mere 17,247 survivors. There were 15,000 children living in the children's home inside the camp; only 93 of those children survived.
Czech National Archives
The Czech National Archives have digitized (in 2011) all volumes of the Registers of Births, Marriages (1784-1949), and deaths of Jewish communities (except of those who need substantial preservation and restoration).
In accordance with the Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths Act (N.301/2000 Coll.) only entries older than 100 years from the last entry in the Births Registers and 75 years from the last entry in the Marriages and Deaths Registers will be made accessible. The restriction does not apply to the Jewish control registers owing to the time range of entries.[7]
References
Bibliography
- Lenni Brenner, Zionism in the Age of the Dictators. A Reappraisal. (16. The Jewish Parties of Eastern Europe, Czechoslovakia – 2.4 Per Cent of an Empire), 1983
- Kateřina Čapková, «Czechs, Germans, Jews? National identities of Bohemian Jews, 1867–1938», 2005
- Kateřina Čapková, «Specific Features of Zionism in the Czech Lands in the Interwar Period», Judaica Bohemiae 38 (2002): 106–159
- Kateřina Čapková, "Židovská Strana", in: YIVO Encyclopaedia, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2010
- Marie Crhová, “Jewish Politics in Central Europe: The Case of the Jewish Party in Interwar Czechoslovakia,” Jewish Studies at the Central European University 2 (1999–2001)
- Crhová, Marie (2000). "Židovské strany v Československu v letech 1918–1938". In Pavel Marek et al. Přehled politického stranictví na území českých zemí a Československa v letech 1861–1998. Olomouc: Katedra politologie a evropských studií FFUP. pp. 250–253. ISBN 80-86200-25-6.
- Ludmila Nesládková, «The Professional and Social Characteristic of the Jewish Population in the First Czechoslovak Republic», Demografie, 2008, 50 (1), p. 1–14
See also
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| | Officially recognized | |
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| | Other | |
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