Prague Jewish Community

Documented from the 10th century, Prague's Jewish Town (later Josefov) hosted one of Europe's most resilient communities: Rabbi Judah Loew, the Maharal, of Golem legend, led it in the 16th century; the Altneuschul (c. 1270) remains Europe's oldest synagogue building in active use. The 1745 expulsion was reversed within years; the emancipation era made Prague a German-Jewish literary capital (Kafka's circle).

Under the Protectorate (1939-45), Prague's ~56,000 Jews were funneled through Terezin; the Pinkas Synagogue now bears ~80,000 Bohemian and Moravian victims' names. Postwar communist suppression kept the community small (~1,500 registered today), but the Jewish Museum's ensemble is among the most-visited Jewish heritage sites on earth.