Pinkas Synagogue - Holocaust Memorial
Monument in Prague
The Pinkas Synagogue, built in 1535 by the influential Horowitz family, is Prague’s second-oldest surviving synagogue and one of its most emotionally powerful. Tucked within the Jewish Quarter, this sacred space has witnessed centuries of religious life, persecution, and resilience. Today, it stands as a deeply moving memorial to the more than 77,000 Czech and Moravian Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. Between 1992 and 1996, the synagogue was transformed into a space of remembrance, with the names of the victims meticulously hand-painted onto its walls, arranged by family name and hometown. The sheer scale of this tribute—name after name stretching across every visible surface—turns the building itself into a silent, sacred record of a shattered community.
What makes the Pinkas Synagogue especially profound is its unflinching intimacy. Each inscription includes a name, a date of birth, and the date of deportation or death, marking not anonymous statistics, but individual human lives. The structure’s austere beauty—the simplicity of the white walls and the quiet echo of footsteps—adds to the gravity of the experience. Visitors cannot help but pause, reflect, and bear witness to this immense loss. The memorial is often described as the longest epitaph in the world, and while it captures only a fraction of Holocaust victims, its emotional weight is overwhelming.
The journey continues through a side hall that holds one of the most haunting and poignant exhibitions in Prague: the drawings of children interned at the Terezín ghetto. These fragile pieces of paper, filled with images of homes, dreams, fears, and fleeting joys, were created under the guidance of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, an artist and teacher imprisoned at Terezín from 1942 to 1944. In secret, she taught art classes to the children as a form of emotional escape and expression. Before her deportation to Auschwitz, she hid the drawings in two suitcases, which were later recovered and preserved. Today, they provide an unfiltered view into the psyche of children facing the unimaginable, their crayons and pencils giving voice to both hope and sorrow.
Why You Should Visit:
The Pinkas Synagogue is not just a building—it’s a sacred archive of memory. Among the many monuments in the Jewish Quarter, this Holocaust Memorial is one of the most profound and personal, transforming names and drawings into living echoes of those lost. It is a place for remembrance, mourning, and learning—an essential stop for anyone seeking to understand the depth of Czech Jewish history and the enduring consequences of the Holocaust.
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Visiting Pinkas Synagogue - Holocaust Memorial
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