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Czech Republic: 1 200 local Holocaust victims commemorated in Tábor

14 March 2016
1 minute read

A commemorative ceremony today in the South Bohemian town of Tábor honored the approximately 1 200 people from the area who did not survive the Holocaust during the Second World War. The event, called REMEMBER! (PAMATUJ!) was held at the Church of Saint Philip and Jacob and at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Tábor, Jakub Smrčka of the Hadasa Tábor civic association, which organized the event, told the Czech News Agency.

"We want to commemorate the absolutely innocent victims of the genocide that was executed in the very center of European civilization and honor their memory. To communicate to locals how many victims came from their neighborhoods," Smrčka said.

Victims from the area came from 32 municipalities of what used to be called Tábor district. "During the commemorative ceremony the names of all those municipalities were read aloud," Smrčka said.

The event was attended by approximately 100 people and featured performances by the Hlahol Tábor, Domino and Nokturno choirs from the town of Sezimovo Ústí, who sang the song Hatikva ("Song of Hope"), which is today the Israeli state anthem. Ludmila and Eva Peřinová of Tábor recited Jewish-themed poetry.

"At the end we lit candles at the memorial in the Old Jewish Cemetery and sang the Czechoslovak national anthem together, which according to eyewitness testimonies many of our fellow citizens sang when they left to die," Smrčka said. During the Second World War the Nazis murdered six million Jews.

The Jewish community in Poland, which was the most numerous in Europe in the interwar period, was greatly affected. Approximately half of their members were murdered.

During the Second World War, 80 000 Jews from Bohemia and Moravia also perished. The interwar Jewish community for the whole of Czechoslovakia was 350 000 strong, of whom 250 000 total perished. 

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