"Dekuji Josefov...

I had been to Prague a couple of times prior to my most recent visit.  There is much to appreciate and love about this city.  From the omnipresent Bohemian influence, to the Czech beer which costs LESS than a bottle of water, to the completely unfamiliar alphabet and sounds of their Slavic language (it took me three days to remember how to say 'thank you'...and I only remembered it once I was in Germany where the knowledge was useless).  Dekuji (da - kwee).

"Josefov Rooflines"

Prague, Czech Republic

"Josefov Streets"
Prague, Czech Republic

But my personal Prague priority, was revisiting Josefov.  The Jewish Quarter.  Last time I was here, my photography comfort zone was my pocket digital.  This time I came packing the good stuff.

"Synagogue"
Prague, Czech Republic

"Synagogue Door"
Prague, Czech Republic

It amazes me how a place with such an ugly history, encompasses such a beauty about it.  Maybe it is it's history and it's resiliency that adds to the aura.  It's beginning dates to the 13th Century when Jews were ordered to vacate their homes and settle in this area.  The Jewish Ghetto. First walled for protection and to keep enemies at bay.  Over the centuries, with Jews banned from living anywhere else in Prague and with new arrivals expelled from Germany and Austria...more and more were crowded in.  The walls morphed from protection to confinement.

Today, Josefov is the best preserved complex of Jewish structures and monuments in Europe.  It even survived the Nazi occupation.  Thanks to Hitler himself, who decided to preserve the Jewish Quarter as a "Museum of an Extinct Race."  The Nazis gathered Jewish artifacts from other occupied countries and transported them to Prague for the museum.  They were doing this as they were transporting the Josefov Jews out of Prague...to Concentration Camps.  

"Old Jewish Cemetery"
Prague, Czech Republic

Six Synagogues and the Old Jewish Cemetery.  Europe's oldest surviving Jewish Cemetery.  There is a magical quality here. Mysterious gravestones layered on top of one another, thousands of stories lay beneath.

"Layers Upon Layers"

"Toppling Gravestones"
Prague, Czech Republic

It is a surreal sight.  Layer upon layer of gravestones, piled upon each other.  Toppling into each other.  Holding each other up.  It is the result of two forces at work.  Extremely limited space and Jewish custom.  Graves must not be disturbed.  The only solution was to add layers of new soil. Eventually, twelve layers of new soil.  100,000 buried.  12,000 visible gravestones.  Soil settles.  Gravestones topple.  There is a beauty I find mesmerizing.  But then again, I find the whole concept that a Czech beer is cheaper than a bottle of water quite mesmerizing too!

Maybe I'm easily amused.  But the shapes, shadows, textures, patterns were overwhelming in and of themselves.  Add in the history and the stories and...sensory overload.

"Untold Stories"

77,300 Czech Jews fell victim to the Nazis.  Each of their names are carefully written on the walls of one of the six synagogues.  They all died in the Nazi concentration camps.  Terezin being the closest.  Interestingly, as I walked the hallways and perused the names I came upon a familiar one.  "Pfefferkorn"... a family of six.  My great grandmother's maiden name.  Her family lived across the Czech border in East Germany.  Certainly gave me pause, and then motivation to do a bit of genealogical research.  

Travel opens my eyes to history.  And sometimes, opens my eyes to possible new family history.  Dekuji Josefov!

Here's where I "link up" today.

(click on image for description of Song-ography)

Next Tuesday's Song-ography title suggestion is...ANY holiday song.
Come back and link up!