(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Jews were resident in Prague in the tenth century, Professor Emaneul Steinherz declares in the work which he has just published on his researches into the old Jewish settlements in Prague.
The Jews, Professor Steinherz says, were settled in what is now the city of Prague before either the city or the name existed. In the Jewish divorce document of the period the place was known as Mesigradi, meaning “Between the Mountains.” The Jews at that time did not live in a ghetto and they also lived in the villages. It was not till the thirteenth century that traces of Jewish residence in the ghetto are found.
Professor Stelnherz, who celebrated his seventieth birthday about a month ago, was for a time Rector of the German University in Prague. The anti-Semitic students there conducted an agitation against him because they objected to a Jewish Rector. Professor Steinherz referred resign, however, until the agitation collapsed. Sine his retirement he has devoted himself to research work concerning the Jews of Prague.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
