The Jewish Community of Ostrava Moravska

Yehudah Bacon(1929- ), painter, born in Ostrava, Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia). During World War II, he was deported to Nazi concentration camps where he was held between 1942-1945, and was later sent on the "death march" to Mauthausen, where he was liberated.

In 1946 he was taken to the Land of Israel by Youth Aliyah and studied at the Bezalel School of Art, Jerusalem. Bacon became head of the department of etching and lithography at Bezalel. He focused on graphic work, but turned to a variety of media including oils, watercolors, and inks. The horror of the Holocaust was present in his work, tempered by faith in humanity. His later work, however, had a gentle, romantic quality. He was a witness at the Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem, and the Auschwitz Trial in Frankfurt.

Yehudah Bacon participated in many Group Exhibition and held Solo Exhibitions in Israel, South Africa, the U.S., Germany, Finland, and Prague.

Artur London (1915-1986) Politician. He was born in Ostrava, Czech Republic (then part of the Austria Hungary Empire) and in 1937 went to Spain where he joined the Communists in the International Brigade fighting in the Civil War. After the defeat of the Republicans in 1939 he moved to France and in 1940 was arrested by the Germans and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. London returned to France after the war and then became a leading figure in the Czechoslovak Communist Party in Prague. In 1948, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1951, he was arrested and was one of the accused at the Slansky trial where he was charged with being a Zionist and a Trotskyist. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he was released in 1955 and later rehabilitated. In 1963 he moved to France where he published L'Aveu, about the Slansky trial. It was filmed by Costas-Gavras with Yves Montand depicting the hero based on London.

Josef Rufeisen (1887 – 1949) Zionist. When he was age 14 he founded a Zionist society among high school students in his native Ostrava and while a law student in Vienna was active in student Zionist societies and for a time headed HaKoah the Austrian Zionist sports association. After his studies, he returned to Ostrava where he practiced law. After World War I he participated in the establishment of the Jewish National Council in Czechoslovakia and during the interwar period chaired the Czech Zionist territorial federation, whose headquarters, because of Rufesien, were transferred to Ostrava. In 1938 he settled in Tel Aviv where he was president of the Association of General Zionists and of the Association of Czechoslovak Immigrants.

The synagogue in Ostrau,
Moravia, Czechoslovakia, c1930
(The Oster Visual Documentation Center, Beit Hatfutsot)

Jacob Bornfriend (born Jakub Bauernfreund) (1904-1976), painter, born in Zborov, Slovakia (then part of the Austria-Hungary, later in Czechoslovakia), one of seven children of a poor Jewish family. He spent his early years in Ostrava, Czech Republic, and Bratislava, Slovakia, where he worked as a retoucher of pictures.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague in 1929. In 1939 he immigrated to England and changed his name from Bauernfreund to Bornfriend. He spent four years working in factories before he could return to painting.

Bornfriend painted in oils, pastel, gouache, collage and worked in the graphic arts. He was a well respected artist within the Jewish Community. His style was basically expressionist, influenced to some extent by cubism. His first Solo Exhibition in London took place in 1950. He also exhibited at Prague, and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Hans Moller (1896-1962), textile industrialist, born in Vienna, Austria. He was forth generation of textile industrialists. The Moller Family owned the cotton-spinning mill, founded in 1865 by his great-grandfather, Simon Katzau in Babi, Bohemia (now in Czech Republic). Hans Moller, together with his cousin, Moller Erich (born in Ostrava, Moravia, 1895) went to Mandatory Palestine in 1933 and in 1934 founded Ata Textile Company at Kiryat Ata (then named Kfar Ata). They finally settled in Mandatory Palestine in 1938. This was the first integrated cotton, spinning, weaving, dyeing, and finishing plant in the country, manufacturing and retailing ready-to-wear clothing and supplying the Allied forces in the Middle East during World War II. Originally a family business, Ata became a public company. In 1967 it had 1,861 employees. In 1948 a subsidiary company, Kurdaneh Textile Works Ltd., was founded. Erich left Ata in 1949 to build Moller Textile Ltd., a spinning, twisting, and dyeing plant in Nahariyah. Both plants have made major contributions to Israel export.

Stella Kadmon (1902-1980), actress, singer, born in Vienna, Austria (then part of Austria-Hungary). She studied acting from 1920-23 at the Vienna Academy of Music at the Volksoper. Her acting career began at the Landestheater in Linz. In 1924-1925 she appeared with the German Theater of Ostrava, Czech Republic (then in Czechoslovakia). Later she studied acting and directing with Armin Seydelmann and Max Reinhardt. In 1926-31 she performed as cabaret singer in Munich, Vienna, Berlin and Koln. She was co-founder, with Peter Hammerschlag and Gerhart Hermann Mostar, of the political, critical cabaret Der liebe Augustin, in Vienna, in 1931.

Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, the new regime closed down the cabaret. Later in the year, with the aid of the German ambassador, Stella Kadmon fled to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where she stayed with relatives. She immigrated to the land of Israel in 1939. She was director of the English-language Cabaret Papillion in Tel-Aviv from 1940-1942. In the following years Kadmon, with Arnold Chempin and Karl Guttmann, organized evenings of chansons and dramatic readings. Due to a ban under the British mandate, public performances of German authors was interdicted. They were compelled, consequently, to perform in private clubs. Their productions included Franz Werfel’s Jacobowsky und der Oberst and Bertolt Brecht’s Frucht und Elend des Dritten Reiches. Kadmon was also active in cultural programs of the Free Austrian Movement in Palestine.

In 1947 Kadmon returned to Vienna. She became director of Der liebe Augustin, which had reopened in 1945. In 1948 the cabaret changed to theatre performances. It took the name Theater der Courage, in which avant-garde plays were performed. Stella Kadmon staged numerous Austrian and world premieres of plays by Wolfgang Borchert, George Roland, Adolf Schutz, Ferdinand Bruckner, Jean Anouilh and others.

Kadmon was awarded the Honorary Silver Medal of the City of Vienna, in 1968, and the title of Professor in 1977. She also received many prizes for her work in staging. She died in Vienna in 1989.

Karl Farkas (1893-1971), comedian, actor, director, and scriptwriter, born in Vienna, Austria (then part of Austria-Hungary). He received his acting training at the A.M.d.K. in Vienna during 1913-1914. In World War I he served in the Austrian-Hungarian Army, for which he received seven decorations. Farkas started his acting carrier in Olomouc and Ostrava, then both in Czechoslovakia, and in Linz, Austria. In 1919, he became stage director with the Landestheater in Linz. He was actor and director at the Neue Wiener Buehne, Vienna, from 1920 to 1926. At the same time he was cabaret author for Viennese cabarets.  Together with Fritz Gruenbaum, he developed the concept of double emcee (comic team). Farkas was the creator of the Wiener Revue. From 1926 until 1931 he served as head of the Wiener Stadttheater. He appeared as guest performer at theaters in Vienna and abroad. He wrote and produced various revues, and also worked as scriptwriter in Hollywood. In 1932-1933 he was head of the Revubuhne Casino, Vienna, and carried out guest tours with Gruenbaum, which included Prague in 1933. Farkas became head manager of the Viennese cabaret Simpl.

In the spring of 1938, following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, he was arrested. After his release he immigrated to France via Czechoslovakia. In France, in 1938-1939 he served as head of cabaret Imperatrice. He organized cabarets, including with Oskar Karlweis, La gaite de Vienna au coeur de Paris, and also produced guest appearances in the Netherlands. In 1939 he became member of Societe des Autheurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques. Farkas was interned at Gurs concentration camp in 1940, but in 1941 he managed to reach the USA. In New York he worked to establish cabarets, with Kurt Robitschek, among others. He appeared at theaters including the Majestic Theater, New York, in radio broadcasts for Austrian Action and for O.W. I. He was very successful in the Broadway musical Marinka. Farkas spent the war years in America. In 1946, a year after the end of World War II,  he returned to Austria, and  resumed his artistic carrier in Vienna in theater, film, radio, TV, and cabaret. He contributed to the Wiener Kurier and other journals. From 1946 till 1971 he was head of the new Simpl, Vienna.

 In 1956 he was honored with the Goldenes Ehrenzeichen fur Verdienste um die Republik Osterreich, in 1963 with the Ehrenmedaille der Stadt Wien in Gold, and in 1965 he received the title of professor.

His works include Zuruk in Morgen, Also sprach Farkas and Farkas entdeckt Amerika. He also wrote a number comedies and revues, among them Wien gib acht, Die Wunderbar, Bei Kerzenlicht and Traumexpress.

Bohumin

Novy Bohumin is part of Bohumin

In German: Oderberg or Neu Oderberg

A town in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian region of the Czech Republic in the historical region of Silesia. Untill 1918 the District of Teschen was part of Austria-Hungary and after World War I it was annexed to the Czechoslovak Republic.

21ST CENTURY

As a monument to the murdered Jews, a memorial to holocaust victims was unveiled in 2004 at the Place of the Future. The memorial was damaged several times by anti-semitic symbols. In 2007 the remaining Jewish cemetery was revived which was almost completely devastated by the Nazis during the war. 40 gravestones were restored, however, two weeks after the restoration 25 were destroyed.

 

HISTORY

In 1655 a local noble allowed two Jews to settle in his estates and by 1751, six Jewish families lived in the estates of Oderberg. In the 19th century many Jews came to this town, which was situated on the border to Poland. Later they established there distilleries. At the beginning the Jews belonged to the Jewish community of Teschen, later to the community of Ostrava in Moravia. In 1898 a section in the general cemetery was allocated to the Jewish community. A synagogue was established in 1900 and the community was recognised as an independent community in 1911. The town had a Jewish elementary school. Among the institutions of the community were a hevra kaddisha (burial society), women’s society and bikkur holim. In 1921 the community numbered 1900 Jews. At this time Joseph Zanker was the chairman of the community and Dr. Ernst Bass the rabbi. In 1924 a community center was opened. The language of the Jews of Bohumin was German.

The first two Jews in Bohumin were producers of soap and hard liquor. Later the main occupation of the Jews were commerce and crafts. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, when the Jews obtained civil rights (1848), they were accepted in all spheres of the economy and society, including the professions and art. The Jewish poet Arthur Zanker (1890-1957) was born in Bohumin.

In the Czechoslovak Republic, between the two world wars, the Jews were recognised as a national minority with full rights. Numerous Zionist activities were held in the town. The Jewish youth movement Maccabi was active. In 1926-1927, prior to the 15th Zionist Congress, 230 Shekels (membership and voting rights to the Zionist Congress) were purchased. In 1933 a Maccabiah was held in Bohumin with many participants. The same year a Jewish association for winter sports, headed by Dr. Paul Maarz of Bohumin was established. In the elections to the 20th Zionist Congress (1937) 117 persons of the community took part. 52 voted for the General Zionists, 44 for Poalei Zion, 16 for Hamizrahi, 2 for the National Jewish Party and 3 were against the partition of Palestine. A Plugat Hakhshara of Kibbutz Maapilim was at Bohumin.

In 1930, 984 Jews lived in the jurisdiction area of Bohumin, and in the town itself 722 (6.6% of the population).


THE HOLOCAUST

Following the September 1938 Munich agreement, about a year before the outbreak of World War II, the Czechoslovak Republic was dismembered. The Sudeten region was annexed to Nazi Germany and the district of Teschen was given to Poland. In September 1939, with the occupation of Poland by the German army, the district of Teschen too became occupied territory. On Rosh Hashanah 5700 (1939) the synagogue of Bohumin was set on fire and the building was destroyed. The Jews of the town were taken to build a bridge that had been bombed by the Poles. They were then expelled to a concentration camp in Nisko, close to Lublin. Most of the community members perished in the course of the war.

After the war the district of Teschen was returned to Czechoslovakia. The remaining Jews returned to the town. In 1948 there were 57 Jews, 53 of them registered in the Jewish community. A prayer house was founded. Several years later the community ceased to exist and the building of the prayer house was turned into an arts and music school. The funeral house in the Jewish section of the cemetery was handed over to the Christian sect of the Guardians of the Seventh Day.

Opava

In German: Troppau

A city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. Beginning in 1742 Opava was the capital of Austrian Silesia. Between 1918 and 1928 it was the capital of Czech Silesia.
 

21ST CENTURY

There is a Jewish cemetery with a number of gravestones that have remained standing.

 

HISTORY

Opava was founded in 1224 and Jews are recorded in Opava from 1281. During the Middle Ages there was a well-organized community, and Jewish homes and synagogues were located in Na Valech Street.

The Jews were expelled from Opava at an unknown date, but were allowed to return and reclaim their homes in 1501. Subsequently, the Jews of Opava were once again forced to leave in 1523, after Jews were expelled from Silesia.  

By the beginning of the 19th century several Jewish families had returned to Opava. Their number increased after 1848, when Jews throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire were granted full civil rights. In 1867 there were 134 Jews living in Opava.

A prayer house was opened in 1850, and a synagogue was consecrated in 1855. A new synagogue was built in 1896, after which the old synagogue was turned into a high school.

The community’s first cemetery was consecrated in 1850. Then, in 1854, a new cemetery opened and the graves and tombstones were transferred from the old cemetery to the new. The new cemetery served the community until 1892. A third cemetery was opened later.

At the end of the 19th century Opava became a center of German nationalism, and the community was subjected to antisemitic attacks.

During the interwar period, Dr. Shimeon Friedman served as the community’s rabbi, and Gustav Pinci was the head of the community. Opava’s Jewish community was officially recognized by the government in 1923.

Community organizations included a chevra kaddisha, a women’s society, a Bnai Brith lodge, and a literature society. A Jewish theater group visited Opava in 1925.

Rabbi Friedman was an enthusiastic Zionist, and organized a community library on Jewish subjects. Other Zionist organizations and activities included the Zion Association, which was active in Opava even before World War I (1914-1918). After the war, during the period of the Czechoslovak Republic, which granted its Jews national and cultural autonomy, the community became increasingly active in the Zionist movement. Gustav Pinci was elected to the central committee of the Zionist organization at the first Zionist Convention in Czechoslovakia in 1919. Komorau, the agricultural training program that was organized in Opava, became the center of the HeHalutz movement. Other active Zionist organizations included Mizrahi, and a Jewish sports club, which was founded in 1902 and affiliated with the Maccabi sports movement in the 1920s. In 1926, prior to the elections for the 15th Zionist Congress, the Jews of Opava paid 430 Shekels, granting them membership and voting rights. 173 members of the community voted in the elections to the 20th Congress in 1937. In March 1938, during the regional Zionist convention, two members of Opava’s Jewish community, Dr. Paul Hesslein and Dr. Gustav Cohen, were elected to the regional committee of the federation.

Most of Opava’s Jews worked in commerce. Some exported liquors, while others worked as artisans and professionals.

In 1921 Opava’s Jewish population was 1,127. In 1930, 971 Jews (2.6% of the population) lived in Opava.

Notable figures born in Opava include the artist Lev Haas and the film director Kurt Goldberger.

THE HOLOCAUST

As a result of the Munich Agreement of September 1938, a year before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945), the Czechoslovak Republic was dismembered and the Sudeten region, including Opava, was ceded to Nazi Germany. The Jews living in the region escaped to other areas that were not part of Nazi Germany.

The Germans set fire to Opava’s synagogue in November 1938.

In March 1939 the German army entered the Czech territory of Bohemia and Moravia, and the region became a protectorate of the Third Reich. The Jews of Opava shared the same fate as Jews throughout the protectorate. Opava’s Jews were deported to the ghetto of Terezin (Theresienstadt), and from there to concentration and extermination camps, mainly in Poland. About a thousand Jews were deported from Opava to Terezin on September 11, 1942.

The synagogue was destroyed in an air attack in 1945, and one cemetery was destroyed by the Germans.

 

POSTWAR

At the end of the war a few survivors from Opava returned. Together with some new Jewish settlers from Carpatho-Russia, they revived the city’s Jewish community. In 1948, 82 Jews resided in Opava, 66 of them registered in the community. That year the new cemetery, which had sustained heavy damage during the war, was renovated.