The Jewish community in Prostějov was one of the biggest Jewish communities in the Moravian region called the "''Jerusalem of Hana''".The Jewish quarter remained until 1990 when they demolished the buildings. There are two former synagogues: New Synagogue (now Hus Congregational House) and Synagogue Beit Ha-Midrash (owned by Orthodox Church). Rabbi Meir Eisenstadt, Judah Leib Prossnitz, Rabbi

Jonathan Eybeschutz Jonathan Eybeschutz or Eybeshitz (; 1690–1764) was a Talmudist, halakhist, and kabbalist holding positions first as Dayan of Prague and later as rabbi of the "Three Communities": Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbek. He is well known for his confl ...

, Rabbi Nathan Porges, Rabbi

Moses Sofer Moses Schreiber (1762–1839), known to his own community and Jewish posterity in the Hebrew translation as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work ''Chatam Sofer'', ''Chasam Sofer'', or ''Hatam Sofer'' ( trans. ''Seal of the Scribe'', and acron ...

, orientalist

Moritz Steinschneider Moritz Steinschneider (; 30 March 1816 – 24 January 1907) was a Moravian bibliographer and Orientalist, and an important figure in Jewish studies and Jewish history. He is credited as having invented the term ''antisemitism.'' Education Mo ...

and famous philosopher

Edmund Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...

lived here.''Content in this edit is translated from the existing Czech Wikipedia article at cz:Židé v Prostějově; see its history for attribution.'' Starting in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, Prostějov had important textile and ready-made clothing industries, in which Jews had a central role, although they sometimes clashed with Christian guilds. The first documents that mention Jews in the city date back to 1445. The Jewish community in the city was largely founded by Jews who were forced to leave nearby

Olomouc Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region. Located on the Morava (rive ...

in 1454. In 1584, Jews gained official right to residence but were still restricted in what professions they could go into. At that time, the community was made up of 31 families. The Jewish community gained more importance following the migration of

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

from the city after pressure from local

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. In 1639, 143 Jewish men were recorded living in the city and 64 houses there were owned by Jews. The Jewish population grew significantly as a result of people fleeing the

Khmelnytsky massacres The Khmelnytsky pogroms were pogroms carried out against the Jews of modern Ukraine during the 1648 Khmelnytsky Uprising of the Cossacks and serfs led by Bogdan Khmelnytsky (or the "Hamil of Evil", as he was called by the Jews) against the Po ...

in 1648 and the Jewish expulsion from

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1670. A compromise reached in 1677 and amended in 1688 about the extent of trade between Jews and non-Jews is evidence of the key role of Jews in the textile and clothing trades. In 1713, there were 318 Jewish families in the city. The

Shabbatean The Sabbateans (or Sabbatians) are a variety of Jewish followers, disciples, and believers in Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676), an Ottoman Jewish rabbi and Kabbalist who was proclaimed to be the Jewish Messiah in 1666 by Nathan of Gaza. Vast n ...

movement and

Frankism Frankism was a Sabbatean religious movement originating in Rabbinic Judaism of the 18th and 19th. centuries, Created in Podolia, it was named after its founder, Jacob Frank. Frank completely rejected Jewish norms, preaching to his followers t ...

were influential in the city, and one of the leaders of the Shabbatean movement, Judah Leib Prossnitz, lived there. The community was also one of the earliest to be affect by the ideas of the

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...

. When Feith Ehrenstamm founded a factory in 1831, it marked the beginning of Jewish enterprise in the modern textile industry, and in 1842 there were 135 Jewish textile merchants in the city. In 1859, Mayer and Isaac Mandel founded the first ready-made clothing factory on the European continent. By 1880, there were 1,804 Jews living in the city. A number of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

refugees settled in the city, and helped make the Jewish community one of the most active in the country. The Jewish community was severely impacted by the German invasion in 1939, and endured

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

raids and the closure of the synagogue in July of that year. In 1940, much of the Jewish community fled. The remaining Jews were sent by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

extermination camps Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe, primarily in occupied Poland, during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocau ...

in 1942. About 1,390 Jews from Prostějov were killed in the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jews in Prostejov History of Moravia Prostějov Jewish communities in the Czech Republic