HITLER’S “MUSEUM OF
AN EXTINCT RACE”
Hitler wanted to create a “memory” of the Jewish people
It was to hold items belonging to the Jews
Josefov (The Jewish Quarter), was the Prague Ghetto during that
1852, the Ghetto was abolished and made a district
1938: Became Hitler’s target for annexation
During WWII Czechoslovakia didn’t exsist, leaving separate states
of Protectorate Bohemia, Slovak Republic, and Moravia of the Third
1940: Jews were forbidden to withdraw more than 1,500 crowns a
week, no interest was allowed to be earned,
Gold, silver, platinum and jewellery were sold at discount to
Hadega (special company dealing in Jewish property).
Jews were excluded from the movie and theatre industries.
Restricted to the back of the second car on Prague trams
Excluded from hotels (except Fiser and Star).
1941, The Jews were forced out of their apartments and moved to
Slowly but surely, the Jews were leaving Prague, and moved to
The Jewish Museum: exhibits in four old Synagogues and the
The Old Jewish Cemetery (included) extends from Pinkas Synagogue
to the rear of the Ceremonial Hall and the Klausen Synagogue.
The Jewish Museum has collections of Jewish art, textiles and silver in
the world; 40,000 exhibits and 100,000 books.
Everything was gathered from Bohemia and Moravia
Dr. Stein proposed to the Germans to set up a museum to hold
what the Nazis confiscated in Bohemia and Moravia.
Nazis approved the project
1942: the Central Jewish Museum was created
“This was extermination on an industrial scale and it involved huge numbers of
people. Neighbors and employers reported Jews to the Gestapo. Bureaucrats
processed notices of deportation. Postmen served them. Railway staff marshaled
their departure. Others drove the trains and manned the signals. It was all logically
and legally planned in an inversion of all the values on which human civilization had
been built. So perverse was it that Hitler ordered the collection of 200,000 Jewish
artifacts, which were photographed and catalogued to be displayed at the end of the
war as a trophy case of archaeological remains. It was to be called The Museum of
an Extinct Race.”
"Jewish Life in Prague
Http://www.HolocaustResearchProject.org." N.p., 2007. Web. 04 July
"The Independent." The Independent. Independent Digital News and
Media, 05 Sept. 2010. Web. 11 July 2012. Web.
The Jewish Museum in Josefov in Prague, Photo of Old-New Synagogue.
N.p., n.d. Web. 04 July 2012.