RIFLE RANGE BOY: Czech

Old Charm of Prague @ Praha

Unlike common assumption, Jews have been everyone’s bogeyman since time immemorial. They did not only endure torture under the hands of the Nazis alone. Throughout their existence, they have been subjected to much humiliation and suppression.

Even as early as the 10th century, the Jewish community was prominent in Czech lands. At one time, 20 per cent of the population of the land were Jewish and a good thing going. They were laborious, wealthy and could fend for themselves.

Unfortunately the stigmata of practicing Moses’ teachings made them an outcast. They were confined to a fenced quarter, picked from the most treacherous part of Prague. This was the most frequently flooded area that people kept away. They had to be identified with a yellow star badge of shame stashed on their tunics or to wear a yellow conical dunce hat for identification.

Even though some had become rich and one, at one instant, had become a federal minister and a philanthropist, he had to stay put in the ghetto-like living conditions in the Jewish quarters. They continued dogmatic religious rituals and a proscribed way of living.

Jewish Ceremonial Hall
Prague

King Josef II of the Habsburg Empire decreed equality for all in the mid-19th century. He released the Jews from the quarters, but they continued living there because of convenience. Their happiness was short-lived. World War II marked another black dot in their lives.

Hitler’s Army, which marched effortlessly into Sudetenland, had one mission in hand, to free the world of Jews. Luckily for programmes like Kindertransport, many Jewish children were rescued and brought to the UK. Many Czech Jews were transferred to Theresienstadt Ghetto before being transferred to concentration camps for termination.

After WW2, the population of Jews in the Czech Republic dropped from 20% from the peak of times to the present less than 1%. Despite the dwindling numbers, their presence is immortalised by the constant mention in the visitor's brochures and occupies the go-to place for all tourists to the Republic. It currently occupies the most expensive piece of real estate in the whole of the Czech Republic.

List of Israeli hostages by Hamas on 7.10.23

David Černy's Babies.
In place of faces, he had barcodes. We are mere commodities.

Imprisoned by the barrel?

Nothing astronomical about this astronomical clock.
Sun revolves around the Earth? Old Town Square in Prague.

Jan Hus, part of the Bohemian Reformation, stood against the Catholic Church
a century before Martin Luther pinned his thesis on the Bishop’s door for all to read.
He was put at the stake for his (mis) deeds.