The Jewish religious landscape in the Czech lands after the Shoa, as one of the cornerstones of current minority memory
Abstract
The current collectively shared memory of the Jewish minority in the Czech lands, which influenced social relations after the so-called Velvet Revolution, works with two powerful narratives: the fate of the Jews during the Second World War and the atheisisation of society following the February Coup, which also had an extraordinary impact on the Jewish community. Orthodox Jews actually use the term "Communist Holocaust" for this period.
The issue examined in this paper is the content and today's use of the account of the government's control and repression of the Jewish religious community after the February Coup (1948). This analysis, which is preceded by a list of the Jewish minority's opportunities in the Czech lands after the end of the Second World War, is divided into several basic historical periods: the period from 1948 to 1956 (the beginning of de-Stalinisation), the "Golden Sixties" and so-called "Normalisation" (1969-1989), which essentially completed the destruction of the Jewish religious landscape.
The representation of over forty years following the February Coup rightfully became a means of legitimising minority interests and claims after 1989.