Exhibition: Oded Ezer: The Samsa Enigma

On June 4 this year – which marks the centenary of the death of famed Prague writer Franz Kafka – the Robert Guttmann Gallery of the Jewish Museum in Prague has opened an exhibition by the leading Israeli typographer and artist Oded Ezer. The installation, presented as mockumentary fiction, expands on the fantasy surrounding the protagonist of one of Kafka's most renowned stories. Gregor Samsa is portrayed as a forgotten literary prodigy whose writings have mysteriously vanished. 

The exhibition is free and does not require advanced reservation.

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Robert Guttmann - The Prague Wanderer

Reinstallation of exhibition of works by the popular early 20th century Prague naive painter Robert Guttmann at the eponymous gallery. The exhibition features Guttmann’s paintings and drawings from the collection of the Jewish Museum in Prague, as well as period photographs and documents which the museum has managed to collect over the years.

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CANCELLED: The Lack of Lightness of Being… / The Amadeus String Trio

Due to COVID-19 restrictions in the Czech Republic, the concert has been cancelled. Thank you for your understanding.  

A concert given by one of the leading Czech chamber string ensembles. Its members also play in the Škampa and Talich quartets. Among the works to be performed are the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and a selection of pieces by Hans Krása (1899–1944). Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Maisel Synagogue and at the Jewish Museum's Information and Reservation Centre (Maiselova 15, Prague 1), or through the Ticket Art network, Prague Ticket Office (online or at its shop in the Old Town Square) and the Jewish Museum's website.

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“My Cup of Kafka… ” Drawings, Prints and Paintings by Jiří Slíva

An exhibition of works by the graphic artist and illustrator Jiří Slíva will be held at the Jewish Museum’s gallery for his 71st birthday. It will feature a number of drawings, colour lithographs, etchings, pastels and oil paintings on the artist’s favourite themes – Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud, the Golem, Jewish customs/symbols, and biblical motifs – as well as other material inspired by the works of Jewish writers. Jiří Slíva has been preoccupied with Jewish humour and illustrating the works of Franz Kafka for many years. In December 2017, the Franz Kafka Publishing House published My Cup of Kafka, a book featuring Slíva’s main artworks inspired by the great writer. A selection of these works will be on display at the exhibition. Also on view will be a range of Slíva’s illustrations from books by the Czech-Israeli writer Ruth Bondy, which are dedicated to the language, names and special idioms of Czech Jews. Slíva’s exhibited work also includes depictions of café society and scenes from everyday life, which are marked by absurd humour and a love of jazz, wine and dancing. The exhibition runs from 22 February 2018.  

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Through the Labyrinth of Normalization: The Jewish Community as a Mirror for the Majority Society

Charter 77, a civic initiative demanding adherence to human and civil rights, was the most important form of resistance to the communist regime and normalization. The fortieth anniversary of its publication gives us an opportunity to present the situation of the Jewish community during the normalization period, undeniably unique on the one hand while on the other a microcosm in which similar processes no less intense than those affecting society at large were taking place. The exhibition presents concrete cases of secret police operations against Jewish communities, the dilemmas faced by community members, and the involvement of several members in dissident and other activities outside the official scope of Jewish communities. Yet the exhibition shows more than the myriad forms “anti-Zionist” propaganda took during this period and its impact on individual lives. Normalization also entailed the destruction of Jewish cemeteries, the demolition of synagogues, and the obstruction of research and study into the fate of Jews during the Second World War as well as policies that nearly eradicated Judaism completely. On display are photographs depicting daily Jewish life, the efforts made to preserve it despite the coordinated attempts of the communist regime to suppress any sort of meaningful activity, especially the passing down of Jewish traditions from one generation to the next. Brought together from a number of archives, the majority of the unique documents and photographs are being exhibited for the very first time.

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"Come My Beloved..." Illustrations for the Song of Songs

A new exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Prague, organized in cooperation with the Museum of Czech Literature, presents the Song of Songs, shedding light on its origin, place in Jewish liturgy, historical publications, and translations into Czech. However, the primary focus is on the biblical book’s ornamentation, illustrations, and works it has inspired from the early 20th century up to the present day.
 
The exhibition, which draws on the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague and Museum of Czech Literature, is a loose continuation of previous exhibitions on the history of the museum’s book collections (2007) and Pesach Haggadot in the library of the Jewish Museum in Prague (2010). “Come, my beloved” will be open from October 6, 2016 through March 12, 2017.  

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Stranded in Shanghai: The Hongkew Ghetto through the Eyes of Refugees and the Lens of Arthur Rothstein

In April 1946, prominent American photojournalist Arthur Rothstein took twenty-two photos that captured the living conditions of Jewish refugees in the Chinese city of Shanghai. Commissioned by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), Rothstein’s photos were taken seven months after the Pacific War had ended, yet they are a unique visual testimony to the sanctuary given to around twenty thousand Central European Jews during the period of World War II and the Shoah. This is the third exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Prague to look at the phenomenon of refugees and migration. Its aim is to acquaint a wider public with the still little known history of the so-called Shanghai Ghetto by presenting it not only through the eyes of a brilliant photojournalist but also through the experiences of the protagonists of the story, Czechoslovak Jews, who along with Jews from Austria, Germany, Poland, and Hungary found a haven in Shanghai at a time when, with rare exception, the entire world was refusing to accept refugees. Rothstein’s pictures give us extraordinary insight into the historical role of the photographer in the service of international organizations and into the importance of photojournalism in zones of conflict, humanitarian crisis, and catastrophe, where the style of objective visual reporting blends with the more emotionally engaged social and humanistic photography as well as with public relations strategies.

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Exhibition The Missing Images: Eugeen Van Mieghem and the Jewish Emigrants to the New World

The Jewish Museum's third exhibition on the refugee phenomenon has been prepared in collaboration with the Eugeen van Mieghem Foundation and with support of the the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp. Its focus is on the emigration of millions of people from Eastern Europe to America at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th. One of the main focal points of this emigration was the port of Antwerp and the Belgian shipping company Red Star Line, which transported ca. 2.4 million European emigrants to the New World between 1873 and 1934. Among them were hundreds of thousands of Eastern European Jews who were fleeing poverty, permanent oppression and recurring waves of pogroms. This exodus of emigrants in the port of Antwerp was depicted by the local artist Eugeen van Mieghem (1875–1930). In addition to 50 works by Eugeen van Mieghem, the exhibition also features posters of the Red Star Line and period photographs of the port of Antwerp. 

The exhibition was supported by:

• Kingdom of Belgium
• ​Port of Antwerp
• ​Flanders
• ČSOB
• Van Mieghem Logistics
• ​Red Star Line Museum

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The Auschwitz Album

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Shattered Hopes. Postwar Czechoslovakia as a Crossroads of Jewish Life

​The defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of WWII in Europe put an end to the genocide of persons who, based on legislature effective in the territories controlled by Nazi Germany and its allies, were labelled as Jews or members of a "mixed race". Those of the survivors who originally came from the Czech lands gradually returned home to begin a new life. The new exhibition reveals lesser-known aspects of the history of the Czech lands after WWII related to the repatriation of the survivors of the death camps and the transfer of dozens of thousands of Jewish refugees via Czechoslovakia. The theme of the exhibition thus builds on the museum's previous project, "Orient in Bohemia? Jewish Refugees during the First World War".

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