The Central Museum of the Extinguished Jewish Race
When the scholars
arrived, they could not have fully anticipated what awaited them in Prague, nor
the task ahead. It was not like the Nazis to employ Jewish Scholars from
occupied territories for anything other than menial slave labor. The Scholars
were to catalog, record and report every artifact that the Nazis collected from
their Aktions
against synagogues and places of worship.
Jewish religious artifacts from 153 Communites and Provinces had been brought to Prague. Among the articles collected were 5400 religious objects, such vestments, aron ha Kodesh's, torah Scrolls, ; 24,500 Prayer Books; and 6070 other objects usually from the Synagogue. The scholars were given the very tedious task of writing and cataloging descriptions of each item and assigning each object a number, often painted on the item, a task that was a desecration to the holy things of the Synagogue. Once the thousands of items were cataloged, the Nazis planned to establish in Prague, "The Museum of the Extinct Jewish Race" which they hoped would stand as monument and tribute to their Genocide, when the war was over. These items had been collected in provinces all over Europe usually after the Nazis bombed and razed Synagogues and Homes ; collecting in the rubble what was left from its deceased or deported residents, often performing acts of desecration on the objects as well. The Jewish Scholars carried out their assigned task of cataloging each numbered item with reference notes.
The cataloging of religious items and holy books from the Jewish community was not new to the Nazis---Eichmann, was widely known for his systems and categorization of religious information and artifacts: his early career in National Socialism was spent in doing the same at the Freemasonry Museum and later at the Jewish Affairs Bureau (I Bureau). When the Jewish Scholars in Prague finished cataloging relics, they were put to death.
The efforts of the Nazis to establish a Central Museum of the Extinguished Jewish Race was established at Pinkas Synagogue in Prague, which had been confiscated among others by Heydrich, "The Butcher of Prague". Today, the Museum stands in tribute instead to its victims, and is known as the Jewish Museum of Prague. connected with Pinkas Synagogue. There are listed at the Museum, 77, 297 Jewish victims who died at the hands of the Nazis, mostly from Bohemia and Moravia.
After WWII, the artifacts remained forgotten and dormant for quite awhile. In
the 1960s, many of the artifacts and made available to Synagogues around the
World via Westminister, in remembrance of those who perished. A number of the
items may be found in 
America, such as a perfectly preserved scroll #7303A; at a Synagogue
in Tennessee. (See "It Really
Happened" )
Scriptures state that the wrath of man, shall praise God. The Nazis, in cruelty and humiliation, planned to build a monument to their brutality and prematurely predicted victory over the Jews. They instead built a monument to the faithfulness of God in defending and preserving His Chosen People.
Outside Links
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© 2003 Elizabeth Kirkley Best, PhD, Shoah Education Project- Web