Czechoslovak Jews Demand Rights from New Prague Regime, Cite Past Repression

The Council of Jewish Religious Communities in Bohemia and Moravia has published a declaration of demands on the new Czechoslovak Government. They said the demands are “just” in view of the suffering of Czech Jewry under the Nazi occupation and the Communist repression of Jews during the 1950s and after last June’s Arab-Israel war. The demands were contained in a declaration adopted at a meeting of the Council last month and published in the Council’s journal, “Vestnik.” They were just made public in translation by the World Jewish Congress here. A similar declaration was adopted by the Central Council of Jewish Communities of Slovakia whose president attended the meeting of the Bohemia-Moravia Jewish leaders.

The declaration, prepared against the background of the recent liberalization of the Frague regime, commenced with “a demand” that the Government publicly rehabilitate the reputations of Czech Jews who were accused or slandered during the political trials of the 1950s. It also asked that “future international political developments should not effect the position of the Jewish community and that no obstacle be placed in the way of contacts between the Council of Jewish Communities and fraternal organizations abroad, such contacts having always been in the interest of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.” The latter demand was an obvious reference to the restrictions placed on Jewish contacts with Israel following last June’s war.

The declaration also asked the new regime to “permit immediate permanent and free access to the place on the River Ohre where the ashes of some 20,000 prisoners were thrown into the water.” The Ministry for National Defense had refused to allow regular visits to this and other sites where Czech Jews were martyred. The declaration stated that “we wish to take this opportunity to declare that we shall never agree to the destruction of the State of Israel and to the murder of its population. It is in that country, the cradle of our religion, that the refugees found a haven…This attitude of ours is in full accord with our Czechoslovak patriotism.”

The Bohemian and Moravian Jews demanded that ” religious education of youth should not be hampered by administrative difficulties.” A similar declaration adopted by the Jewish communities of Slovakia demanded the “elementary human right that everyone who wishes should be able to be reunited with his family.” The reference was to the many Slovakian Jews who immigrated to Israel after World War II.