The Remarkable Journey of the Czech Holocaust Memorial Scrolls

When Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939, he established the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. There were 118,310 people designated as Jews according to the Nuremberg Laws. After the start of Jewish deportations from the towns of Moravia and Bohemia, fearful that their deserted synagogues would be looted, a group of Jews at the Jewish Museum in occupied Prague submitted a plan to the Nazis to save the precious objects in the synagogues by bringing them to the museum to be catalogued and preserved. We will never know the real reason the Nazis agreed to this plan, but transport companies were given permission to carry Jewish goods. Torah Scrolls, religious treasures in gold, silver and textiles, along with historic archives and thousands of books from over 100 synagogues were sent to Prague. In the newly-named Central Jewish Museum, the nearly 100,000 items eventually received were catalogued and distributed for safekeeping, filling over 40 warehouses and other buildings in Prague and elsewhere.

After the defeat of Germany, Czechoslovakia was free but was also a country with few Jews, most of whom were in Prague, where even the pre-war population of 54,000 Jews was less than 8,000 by 1947. Many more left over the coming years. Nevertheless, over 50 congregations were established. Unfortunately, on February 27, 1948, after less than three years of Czech freedom, the Communists staged a coup and took over the government, and the country was once again under a dictatorship. The revival of Jewish life was stifled and the Prague Jewish Museum came under government control. The hundreds of Torah scrolls that had been stored in the Michle Synagogue, in the suburb of Prague, became state property.

Rescued Scrolls at the Westminster Synagogue

The identification plaque on one of Beth Am’s Czech Torahs

The Story of the Westminster Czech Torah Scrolls

Video Description

In the early 1960’s, Eric Estorick, an American art dealer living in London, made many visits to Prague to buy works for his gallery. He got to know government authorities, and on a visit in 1963, when he expressed interest in a catalogue of Hebraica, he was asked by a state official if he would like to buy some Torah Scrolls. At the Michle Synagogue he saw wooden racks holding about 1800 Scrolls, in seriously damp conditions. He returned to London and contacted a fellow American, Rabbi Harold Reinhart, of the Westminster Synagogue. One of the congregants, Ralph Yablon, offered to put up the money to buy the Scrolls. An expert was sent to Prague to verify their authenticity and report on their condition, after which an offer was made for the purchase. Two trucks crammed with 1564 Torah Scrolls arrived at the Westminster Synagogue in February and March of 1964. 

The Memorial Scrolls Trust is Established 

After months of sorting, examining and cataloguing each Scroll, the task of distributing them began, with the goal of getting the Scrolls back into the life of Jewish congregations across the world. The Memorial Scrolls Trust, based at Westminster Synagogue in London, was established to carry out this task. 

While Scrolls have been sent to synagogues and Jewish institutions around the world, they are never offered for sale; they are only given on “permanent loan.” Most synagogues are granted only one, but  Beth Am is honored to be the home of three.  Through the efforts of Rabbi Waintrop,  z”l, , we received one from the town of Tábor in 1973 and another from the town of Louny.  Our third Scroll, affectionately known as “The Little Torah of Svetlá,” was a gift from the Temple Beth Torah Confirmation Class of 1982 to Rabbi Frank and their synagogue.  It came to Beth Am when our two synagogues became one in 2004.  The Czech memorial Torahs bear a special brass plaque so they can always be identified as the remnants of a vanished Jewish community in Czechoslovakia.

David Brand - The MST Sofer