Der Mann, der niemals aufgab. Die Geschichte des Josef Polák, Hauptkurator des Júdischen Zentralmuseums in Prag zur Zeit des Zweiten Weltkrieges
The Man who Never Resigned. The History of Josef Polák, Main Curator of the Jewish Centralmuseum in Prag at the Time of the Second World War

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the life and work of Josef Polák, one of the seminal employees of the Prague Jewish Museum. Polák was the author of the Museum´s concept during the difficult time of the World War II, where he leaned on his rich experience from the prewar period at the Košice museum. In this time, he was an established art historian and conservationist as well as one of the foremost persons of the Czechoslovak cultural life. During the war, he was protected through the status of a so called intermarriage. He joined the resistance movement, was arrested and perished in Auschwitz. The article at hand is the first one to thematise Polák´s life and at the same time, establishes a new look at the Jewish Museum in Prague during the occupation, arguing that in many respects, it were the Jewish employees who triggered the idea of such a museum. Veselská is currently writing a monograph on the history of the Prague Jewish Museum.

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