The Selling off of Items from the Collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague after the Second World War, with Particular Focus on the Sale of Torah...
The Selling off of Items from the Collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague after the Second World War, with Particular Focus on the Sale of Torah...

Summary/Abstract: The whole title: "The Selling off of Items from the Collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague after the Second World War, with Particular Focus on the Sale of Torah Scrolls in 1963-1964". Translated by S. Hattersley. To date, there has been little research into the losses of items from museum collections in Bohemia and Moravia during the Communist regime (1948–1989). From discussions I have had with external colleagues, it is clear that the state also intervened in matters relating to the collections of other museums. Hardly any attention has yet been paid to this aspect of collection building, despite the force of the state’s interventions regarding the collections of what was then the State Jewish Museum in Prague through compulsory donations and the selling off of items. To the museum staff, these impingements were all the more grievous in that they represented a loss of commemorative items associated with Jewish fellow citizens who had tragically perished in the Shoah. Our thanks go to the Czech Ministry of Culture for providing the Jewish Museum with funds to focus extensive attention on this topic. This study presents the results of our research to date, although it cannot be claimed that the information that has been found and studied is complete or that it refers to every transaction that was undertaken in connection with this matter. As it is the first ever contribution to a discussion on this topic, this study contains a number of citations from authentic sources. Nothing is quite so telling as the language used in period documents.

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