CHOTĚBOŘ - Jews of the Rakovník Region and the Holocaust

How it Began

The project grew out of the initial intention to prepare the students of the 9th class for a two-day fieldtrip to Terezín. The students were to be acquainted with some basic information about Jewish culture and about the Holocaust, with an emphasis on the Jewish population in the region. In their history classes, the students became acquainted with the main elements of the history of the Jewish people and with the key concepts of their culture. We also made plans to visit Jewish monuments in Rakovník - a preserved part of the ghetto, the so-called "Židovna", and the Jewish cemetery. We were motivated in part also by a letter from Mr. Martin Glas, who was searching for the descendants of the family of Jaroslav Weisl, to whom he wished to hand over a "testimony" about life in Terezín and in Auschwitz.

At that time, a weekly magazine called Raport published an article that caught my attention. It mentioned the expected unveiling of a memorial plaque in the honor of the victims of Nazi terror in Rakovník. The plaque had been donated by Mrs. Hana Pressburg, born Švarcová in Rakovník and who, having survived the Holocaust, now lives in New Zealand. On October 7 2008, we were present at the solemn unveiling of the plaque. Present were also Mrs. Vera Egermayer, the Honorary Consul of New Zealand, Mr. František Bányi, the chairman of the Jewish Community in Prague, Mr. Zdeněk Nejedla, mayor of the town of Rakovník, representatives of the department of culture, the close relatives of Mrs. Pressburg and Mrs. Škrlantová, a friend of Mrs. Hana. This event became our motivation for further exploration of the history of the Jewish people in Rakovník and its surroundings. While we originally intended to spend two months with the subject, work on the project eventually lasted through the whole year.

During our Trip to Terezín, some 8th grade students also joined the group. They were eventually the ones who brought the project to completion. The students formed four groups to work on several outputs - a history of the Jews in Rakovník and its surroundings, the personal story of Mrs. Hana Pressburg, a map of the district featuring a list of the deported Jewish inhabitants and of the survivors, a presentation of the results of the research in power-point. As we gradually accumulated more facts, the original schedule was significantly extended. Initially we were looking for the answer to a single question: "Who is the woman, who donated the memorial plaque to the Jewish victims in Rakovník?" However, ultimately, the project resulted in our participation in the exposition Neighbors Who Disappeared, presented at our school from the end of November 2009 to the beginning of December 2009, in cooperation with the Jewish Museum in Prague and the civic association The Forgotten Ones.

The first group of participants in the project now already have successors, who wish to continue studying the history of Rakovník as well as the personal stories of its Jewish inhabitants.

Timeline

September 2008
- Preparing the students for a fieldtrip to Terezín.
- Start of the project, the students are acquainted with a concise history of the Jewish people and with elementary information about the Jewish culture.
- Partial topics are assigned.

October 2008
- Participation at the solemn unveiling of the memorial plaque.
- A visit to Jewish sites in Rakovník and its surroundings (the former ghetto, Synagogue and former Jewish school - today the site of the Rabas gallery and of a concert hall, the Jewish cemetery).
- Exploring the State District Archives in Rakovník.
- One-day interactive visit to the Center for Education and Culture of the Jewish Musem in Prague "Holocaust in the documents", accompanied by a visit to the Old-New Synagogue, the Pinkas Synagogue and to the Jewish cemetery.

November 2008
- A two-day fieldtrip to Terezín.

December 2008
- Elaboration of presentation panels on the basis of the acquired information, we visit a friend of Mrs. Pressburg.

January 2009
- A presentation of work in progress to students on the occasion of the Victims of the Holocaust Memorial Day

February 2009
- A radio broadcast is made by Czech Radio Region.

March 2009
- A presentation of our project is published in the weekly Raport - 1st part.

April 2009
- A meeting with Mrs. Škrlantová and a telephone interview with Mrs. Pressburg in New Zealand.
- Completion of the panel devoted to Mrs. Pressburg.

June 2009
- A presentation of our project is published in the weekly magazine Raport - 2nd part.

November 2009
- A presentation of the project at the exposition "Neighbors Who Disappeared" in cooperation with the Jewish Museum in Prague and the civic association The Forgotten Ones.

Acknowledgements

We would like thank Mrs. Hana Pressburg, born Švarcová, for granting us an interview, for a written account of her story and for her web pages.
We would further like to thank Mrs. Věra Škrlantová for her willingness to share with us her memories of her friend Hana Pressburg and for facilitating our telephone interview with Mrs. Hana Pressburg in New Zealand.
We would like to thank Mr. Pavel Kohout for providing us with information and photographs relating to his cousin Mrs. Hana Pressburg.
We would like to thank the Center for Education and Culture of the Jewish Museum in Prague and the civic association The Forgotten Ones, for lending us the exposition Neighbors Who Disappeared, and for helping with the realization of the exposition to Mrs. Marta Vančurová and Mrs. Eva Kuželová.
We would also like to thank Mgr. Renata Mayerová at the State District Archives in Rakovník and to Mrs. Ludmila Chládková at the Terezín Memorial, for providing us with indispensable sources and information.
We would like to express our thanks to all of those named above, because their help made this work possible.

Archives - History

We started our exploration of the stories of the Jews of the Rakovník region in the State District Archives in Rakovník. We were received by the director, Mrs. Renata Mayerová, who, together with her colleagues, provided us with a plenty of sources in the form of books and various documents. In the research room, we split into groups of five and began working on the history of the Jews in the Rakovník region, divided into seven centers. We acquired the most information from the book of J. Renner, Židé na Rakovnicku (Jews in the Rakovník Region), published in 1937.

And now, as to the fruits of our research. We found out, for example, that the first mention of the community dates back to the 15th century, at which time only isolated families lived in the region. Already from the very beginnings, Jews had, in the Rakovník region, their own bailiff, a Jewish judge, called "judex judeus", due to the fact that the Jews were subjects of the King and could not be tried by the officials of the municipality. Nevertheless, no information could be found relating to this function after the year 1618. As a fee for their permission of residence and for protection, the Jews paid the so-called "Schutzgeld". This tax was assessed on the basis of the size of the property of each individual who wished to move into the area.

Furthermore, we found out that Jews could not exercise ordinary crafts, they could not be farmers, artisans or merchants, they were not allowed to be members of artisanal guilds, and so they made their living by lending out money at interest. Only those, who were baptized, could become artisans.

Whenever the presence of the Jews became uncomfortable for someone, they faced eviction and even became victims of murders. The so-called pogroms meant tremendous suffering for the community. From the second half of the 16th century, they were forced to reveal their Jewish origin by wearing a yellow circle on the left side of their coat. During the time of the plague, they were evicted from Rakovník and its area, because people accused them of being its cause. The oldest known census dating to 1690 provids evidence that there were four families of farmers in the area. These were the Rössel, Jaksel, Gerle and Jonáš. In total 38 persons.

The relations between the Jews and the residents of towns were just as bad. They saw in them competitors, of whom they wanted to get rid under various pretenses. The highest officials nevertheless always backed the Jews. However, when the residents made appeal to the Crown, their demands were finally satisfied. The Jews were forced to resettle in the proximity of the Tall Gate, where a ghetto was established in 1678. Unending conflicts with the town residents ended only in the 19th century.

In the countryside, the Jews made a living predominantly as peddlers, money-lenders and as various craftsmen, such as butchers, glaziers, tanners, wine-makers and potassium makers in huts that were called "flusírna".

By the end of the 17th century, more Jewish families began moving to Rakovník, because of the favorable conditions for trade and crafts. After 1830, 14 families lived here, and, as of 1834, the town had 68 inhabitants of the Jewish faith. The surnames most common among the Jews were: Perutz, Tausik, Pereles, Brok, Stein, Reiman. In the middle of the 19th century, the town already had 30 families and the county Rabbinate was based here. In the census of 1869, the number of Jewish inhabitants was 318 and in the census of 1881, it was 366. At the dawn of the 20th century, 300 persons professed the Jewish faith, but in 1930, this number was down by half. The Jewish Religious Community disappeared in the Second World War and was never renewed. About 10 Jews returned to Rakovník after the War.

The Jewish Ghetto

At the occasion of the unveiling of the memorial plaque in the Hus square, we took a walk through the Jewish ghetto. It spreads around the narrow and winding streets underneath the Tall Gate. Its existence dates back to the 17th century. It is connected to the Rakovník main square by a passageway leading to the Grill street, which leads into the narrow V Brance street. The memorial plaque in the honor of the victims of the holocaust is placed on the wall of the information center. We passed it and entered the Vysoká street, which was also a part of the Jewish ghetto. On our way, we passed a building in an advanced stage of deterioration - this was once the Jewish school. From our history classes, we knew how important place education has in the Jewish culture. A lot of attention is devoted to it in the Jewish tradition. Its importance is repeatedly emphasized in the Talmud. Children must enter school when 6 years old. They mustn't be beaten, neither by whisk, nor by a club, punishments must not be severe, the older ones should help out the younger, and, finally, children should not be distracted from learning by other duties. Jews educated their children exclusively in their own schools right up to the end of the 18th century. One of the foremost duties of each community was to make sure that religious education is provided and schools were often established even before the community could build a Synagogue.

After 1850, the school was moved to the Synagogue in the Vysoká street. Today this is the best renown Jewish monument in Rakovník. It was erected in 1763, three years after the opening of the Jewish school. The Jewish praying room is preserved in its original state. The Jewish religious community was not renewed after the Second World War and neither was the Synagogue reopened. Today the building serves as a concert hall and a gallery. The garden behind the Synagogue was turned into a summer cinema.

During our research, we found out that the Torah of the Rakovník community was taken to the USA before the Second World War. There it was restored and presented as a gift to the Jewish Community of New York, which has it in its possession to this day.

Since the 1840s, the Jews were allowed to live in Christian houses and they were generally permitted to reside where they wished to.

In the Vysoká street, we can find one of the most interesting and also the most beautiful renaissance houses of the town, the so-called Samson's house. We took a group photo in front of the house. Some of the houses are being reconstructed, but, on the whole, the buildings in this part of the town are severely damaged.

The Jewish Cemetery

We continued our excursion by visiting the Jewish cemetery. The cemetery is situated on the hillside of "Justice", on the eastern side of the town. We were accompanied by Mr. Mastný, who recounted the history of the cemetery in a very engaging way and showed us the whole cemetery, including a small exposition in the house of the gravedigger. The Jews lived in segregation from the rest of the population, but for both the Christians and the Jews, it was unthinkable to share a common site for burials.

The Jewish cemetery was founded in 1635. At first it was enclosed by a wooden fence, but, from 1680, it had a stone wall. The oldest tombstone with a legible inscription dates back to 1656. The inscriptions on the older tombstones made of red sandstone can no longer be deciphered. On some stones, Hebraic inscriptions have been preserved. At present, the cemetery contains 430 tombstones. The last funeral took place here, when a member of the Weisl family was buried here in 1979.

The cemetery has been expanded three times and is divided into three parts. The oldest part of the cemetery is its lower segment. It contains tombstones made of sandstone. Above to the left lies the children's cemetery and in the upper end we find the newest segment, with the typical granite tombstones that can be found in other cemeteries. The tombstones face eastward, in the direction of Jerusalem. We noticed that the tombstones bear signs that resemble those in the Prague cemetery. These small plastic symbols are situated in the upper part of the tombstones. Usually they are symbols of the descendants of the old Jewish families (blessing hands on the graves of the Cohens - the priests of the temple of Jerusalem, a teapot and a bowl on the graves of the Levis - the lower priests), the star of David or a crown, or a symbol somehow representing the calling of the deceased (for example scissors, medical tweezers, a book), or representations of animals, which have some association with the name of the deceased (for example a lion, a stag, a fish, or birds). In our cemetery, one can find the symbol of the blessing hands, the teapot, the crown and a flower. Mr. Mastný also showed us a tombstone with a grape of wine that probably belonged to an important person, because the inscription continues even on its reverse side.

The upper part contains the ceremonial chamber. We did not take a look inside, but Mr. Mastný informed us that a reading pulpit is preserved inside, as well as the bier and candelabra. The tiny building underwent reconstruction in the beginning of the 20th century. The cemetery is not accessible on a regular basis, but one can arrange a visit of the sacred place by calling a telephone number that can be found on the door of the former gravedigger's house.

The Archives - The Holocaust

Our archival research was not restricted to the more distant past, but we focused primarily on the 20th century and on the time of the Holocaust. The Jews of Rakovník lived in all of the parts of the town, not merely in the ghetto, although attempts were made to isolate them within its bounds in the past. Those who were better-off had their own houses, others lived as tenants. Most of the families made a living in commerce, but some ran enterprises, as we discovered in the registry of merchants and entrepreneurs in the police district of Rakovník from March 1940. Jewish shops were located mostly in the Hus square or in the surrounding streets and were of great variety: butcheries, shops with small wares, textiles, men's confection, marionette-maker's shops, colonial stores, hop traders, farming crops wholesale, building materials wholesale, skin wholesale, coal wholesale, automobile transportation, grocery stores, a sawmill, firewood shop and also a cleaners shop. Among most renown was the ceramic factory of A. Brok "Keram" or the factory of Perutz for canned fruit, liquors and vinegar.

After the Protectorate was established, the circumstances began to worsen for the Jews. The Nuremberg laws were implemented, which was clearly shown in a number of the documents that we examined. The following is an overview of the facts revealed by the documents.

In February 1940, Jews were ordered to make declarations of property. The order concerned all landed property, stocks or rights associated to stocks, mortgages, operating factories owned by a Jew, regardless of the nationality of the latter. Further, this concerned property in which liable associates were Jews or in which more than a quarter of the capital belonged to Jews or if an enterprise was under the influence of Jews and also the property of any person, who was married to a Jew prior to February 13 1940 or to any person as determined according to the Nuremberg laws. More and more ordinances, regulations and prohibitions were issued.

The following are some that we identified in our research:
- March 1940 - Wages of Jews are paid out to tied accounts, the Jews are not allowed to dispose of the money freely.
- May 1940 - Depositing valuables, stocks and gold in banks.
- April 1940 - Evidence of the Jews is kept.
- May 1940 - Jews are prohibited from entering cinemas.
- June 1940 - Jews are forbidden entry to municipal gardens, to use benches in the town square, to use the municipal swimming pool, to enter public halls. No summer apartments can be rented out to Jews.
- August 1940 - Contacts between the Aryan and the Jewish race is restricted. Jews can only enter shops between 10 a.m. and 12 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. They can visit markets only between 10 a.m. and 12 a.m.
- October 1940 - Jews can no longer change their permanent residence and temporarily leave their permanent residence.
- November 1940 - An ordinance prohibits any contact between the employees of the state and the Jews.
- January 1941 - Driver's licenses and certificates belonging to Jews are confiscated.
- February 1941 - Prohibition of fishing and confiscation of fishing licenses.
- March 1941 - Duty to declare place of residence.
- April 1941 - Change in the office hours of the financial office for the Jews, shifted to 8-9 a.m.
- October 1941 - Confiscation and closing down of the Synagogue.
- January 1942 - Jews can make purchases only from specified businesses and the shopping time is restricted to 3 to 5 p.m. For dairy products - Tvrz, Groceries - Šmíd, Meat - Voříšek.

Some of the ordinances and prohibitions were truly shocking, it was beyond our imagination. We took notes in worksheets and, although our research was facilitated thanks to the sources having been prepared beforehand, the work was tedious and we spent one whole morning at it. We used the acquired material to prepare the panel "History of the Jews in the Rakovník Region".


The Jewish Museum

In order to get to know more facts about the holocaust, we went on a fieldtrip to the Jewish Museum in Prague on October 31 2008. There we participated in an interactive workshop called "Holocaust in Documents". We first assisted a lecture and a presentation on the subject of the Jewish history in our country. We then split into five groups. Each group received documents representing one of the phases of the Holocaust: definition and recording of property, deportation, concentration and extermination. Our task was to summarize the content of the documents in such manner that we could prepare a presentation of the results for the others.

The workshop was followed by a visit of the Pinkas synagogue. On our way to the Synagogue, the guide drew our attention to small bronze plaques inserted in the sidewalk, to commemorate Jews who lived here and perished in the Holocaust. When entering the Synagogue, the boys had to wear a yarmulke, a small cap worn by Jewish men during prayer as a sign of humility and, today, by tourists visiting the Prague synagogues. Even here, we had a task.

Our task was to find names of the Jews of the Rakovník region, who had become victims of the Holocaust, on the walls of the Synagogue. The task was not simple, because the walls are covered with names from the floor to the ceiling and the text is very dense. It is quite difficult to find the individual inscriptions when looking at the wall. So one of us always took notes, while someone else was reading the names. Also, the time was limited, but we finally to accomplished the task. At the Pinkas Synagogue, we also saw pictures that had been drawn by Jewish children.

A visit to the Jewish cemetery followed. This was equally interesting. We were told how important it was for the Jews to be buried on sacred ground. The guide instructed us about the meaning of the symbols appearing on the tombstones. We stopped by the grave of Rabbi Löw, where each one of us placed a pebble on the tombstone and made a wish. Legend says that such wishes will be fulfilled.

From the cemetery, we went to the Old-New Synagogue. Even here, the explanation given by the guide was very interesting. We were told that the Synagogue is the oldest in Europe that is still active. She showed us, where Rabbi Löw used to sit. Thanks to the fieldtrip, we acquired quite a lot of information that was later used for the project.


Terezín

As a part of our research on the fates of the Jews of Rakovník and its surroundings, we also participated a two-day seminar in Terezín. We were aware that the fortress was built under the emperor Joseph II between 1780 and 1790 for the purpose of guarding the northern access routes to Prague. We were equally aware of the fate of Terezín in the course of the Second World War, when the town became a transitional station, through which Jews were deported further to the "East". The Jews of Rakovník were brought here as well. We had hoped to discover some new information here, to complement those acquired in the State District Archives in Rakovník.

Upon arrival at the Magdeburg barracks, we took up quarters and received an introductory lecture in an attic theater. We were received by Mrs. Chládková. We prepared for the visit in school. We watched the films "A Bad Dream" and "All My Kin", we read and studied parts of the "Textbook on the Holocaust", analyzed various concepts and filled out worksheets. When we met Mrs. Chládková, we thought that we already know quite a lot. However, we realized that by far we did not know all. We went over the facts and filled in some missing pieces in our knowledge about the history of the persecution of the Jews in the 1930s. A second part of the lecture concerned the role of the Terezín ghetto. Mrs. Chládková also prepared some documents for us, which included a list of Jews, who had been brought to Terezín from Kladno by the deportation trains Z and Y in February 1942. At the close of the morning program, we watched a film about Terezín. We then had a pause for lunch.

After lunch, we took a tour of the former ghetto, we saw the exposition at the Museum of the ghetto, the fortress, and we even saw the secret Jewish praying room and the Magdeburg barracks. Here, we were especially stricken by a room containing an exposition on the theme of the "living space" of an individual in the Terezín ghetto.

The afternoon program underwent a slight modification. After the assignment of tasks and preliminary preparation for the workshop "From a number to a name", we met with the witness Mrs. Zuzana Podmelová. She shared with us her many interesting memories. Although the experiences that she talked about were mostly dreary, she talked about them with wit and occasionally with humor. Time passed quickly and before we knew it, it was time for us to say good bye. So, for the first time, we regretted that we were unable to stop the flow of time.

After dinner, we watched the movie "The Last Butterfly", which allowed us to understand the functions of the ghetto - to concentrate the prisoners in one place, decimate them, but even as a tool of outward deception. We were emotionally touched by the film, especially by its closing part. At the end of the day, we still had to do some preparatory work for the workshop and also begin examining the list of deportees, and to retrieve the names of the deportees of the Rakovník region. One of them was also Mrs. Pressburg, whose surname was Weil at the time, and the surname of whose family was Švarc. We also searched in the Memorial book. The work lasted until the late hours of the night. We used the list of the names of the victims in preparing our panel "The Jews of the Rakovník Region and the Holocaust", the design of which was based on a reproduction of a map of the district.

On the following day, we made presentations as a part of the workshop "From a number to a name". Despite the limited time, the individual presentations turned out well. After the final evaluation, we took a tour of the Small fortress, which served, during the war, as a prison of the Prague Gestapo, as we had been informed by the guide. It consisted in four yards. The first was used to detain Jews, who had to endure the worst living conditions. The cells were overcrowded, people had to sleep upright, at washing times, which came only once in a long while, the Jews were the ones for whom no water was left. The second yard was where workshops were located, the third was reserved for women and the fourth for men. The austerity of the Small fortress still strikes the visitor today.

The Story of Hana Pressburg

Life Before the War
Mrs. Hana Pressburg was born in 1920 in Rakovník, as the daughter of a local merchant Josef Švarc. The family had a drapery store in the western end of the square, in house No. 52. She had a brother named Karlík. Their childhood was very happy. From childhood, she has a friend, Mrs. Věra Škrlantová. Their friendship survived even the terrors of the war. They were each other's best friends, spending most of their time together. Once contacts between "Aryans and Jews" were forbidden, they secretly met each other in the evenings, on a balcony. Their houses stood right next to each other and there was a small terrace in the backyard, with a low wall, where they could meet until the time when the Švarc family was forced to leave their home. Since then, they never saw each other until the end of the war. They last met just before Hana's emigration to New Zealand. They renewed contact only after 1968. Today, these good friends have telephone conversations each week. Having completed general school and civic school in Rakovník, she continued her studies at a German two-year business academy in Prague. There she stayed at a boarding house. The beginnings were difficult, because German was the only language used in school. Nevertheless, she remembers the period as a very beautiful time, when she went out often, in society, to theaters, to balls and enjoyed life. She returned home to her parents for weekends. After she completed school, she began working in the State administration and, later, she got a job at a large textile company. In Prague, she met her first husband, Fritz Weil, but also Jiří Pressburg, her second husband.

During the war
After March 15 1939, the life of Hana and all the other Jews of Rakovník has changed. Upon advice of her parents, Hana gave up her work and began visiting sewing courses. Her parents finally decided that she must return to Rakovník. The family was forced to hand in all of their valuables, radio, camera - Mrs. Hana still has the certificate received for handing it in in her possession today. The shop was "Aryanized", and the family had to move into a single room, which they shared with another family. They all had to wear the yellow star of David and their identification documents had been marked with the capital letter "J". Mrs. Hana had to start working at a farm close to Rakovník under very bad conditions, without a right to a pay. When Mrs. Hana had a bicycle accident, she was hospitalized, but there she was moved into the hallway, because Jews were not allowed to use any facility used by the "Aryans". Her future husband arrived secretly from Prague, but he was discovered by the Gestapo, whipped, but finally released. She had to go to the Gestapo as well, for the first time. She recalls, how frightened her parents were. The event contributed to her decision to marry Fritz. At the ceremony, which took place in October 1941 at the trade regulation office, they wore the yellow stars on their coats. In February 1942, the Jews of Rakovník were summoned for deportation. From Rakovník, they were taken to a gathering area in Kladno, and from there, they were taken to Terezín. Their deportation trains were coded "Z" and "Y". Mrs. Hana was given the number 756, her husband 755. Her parents, together with brother Karel, left already earlier. Mrs. Pressburg recalls that, as a meal, they were given some bread, margarine and soup, which in fact resembled dirty water. In order to receive food, one had to stand in a line for a long time. The conditions in the barracks were very bad, hygiene was miserable and some people slept on the ground. Nevertheless, she was happy there, because they could see each other. But then, her parents and brother Karlík, were taken away by a deportation train. They received the white scrap of paper with more numbers on it just on her birthday. It was the last time she saw them and she had no idea where they would be taken. After the war she found out that they had been transported to the concentration camp Rassiku-Jagaly in Riga. When and how they died, she doesn't know. Her father was 53 years old, mother 51 years old, and brother Karel was 16 years old. She still recalls the Bar Micva of her brother - it was the last in Rakovník. Karlík wanted to get a bicycle and a book about the history of the Czech people. He got both presents. Mrs. Hana has kept the book until today. When the sons of her friends read from the Torah, she returns to the past in her thoughts and sees her brother. In December 1943, she was deported to Auschwitz I, together with her husband. They travelled on a freight train, locked inside like animals.

When the train stopped at the infamous ramp of Auschwitz, they were received by screaming Germans with dogs. Mrs. Hana recalls that, when they stepped out of the train, they saw nothing but snow and wires. Everything was taken away from them. They were given old clothes, but no socks or stockings, just wooden shoes. A number was tattooed into her arm. It is the number 73660 and she still has it today, as a souvenir of the terrible time. She was detained at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The seven months that came were filled with hunger, lice, cruel handling, such as being forced to stand in the snow for hours in a row. They eventually separated her from her husband and she was taken away on a deportation train to Hamburg. She has no information about the circumstances of the death of her husband. Most likely, he perished in one of the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Upon arrival in Hamburg, they were placed in smaller camps. Here they had to clear away rubble at oil refineries that had been bombed. The allied bombings took place up to three times a day and they were not allowed to leave the sites. The suffering was enormous. They lived on very modest rations, but they received help from some French prisoners, who worked at the same site. They were often moved from place to place, until Mrs. Hana ended up in Bergen-Belsen. She doesn't recall how much time she spent there, she lost awareness of time. There was terrible chaos in the camp, typhus, lack of food over long periods, dying people. When the camp was liberated on April 15, it took her some time to realize what had happened. Everybody was extremely hungry and food was thus the thing that mattered the most. Mrs. Hana recalls that they were given cookies and sprayed with DDT, because they had lice. When the gates opened, she saw heps of dead bodies with her own eyes. She still sees the horror today, when she closes her eyes. The British then moved them to barracks in Hannover. How long they stayed there, she doesn't recall. She only knows that a bus came on one day and those, who were able to, could leave.

After the war
She returned to Prague in June 1945 and, for the first time since 1942, she slept in a bed. Due to a stroke of luck, her aunt in Prague had survived. At the time, she realized that her parents didn't have any chance to survive, but she continued to hope that her husband and brother might return. Every day she went to the registration office for those, who had returned, but her own family members were not among them. Mrs. Hana never returned to Rakovník. She remained in Prague with her cousin and found a job. Life was different now, and she cherished the fact of being alive. In Prague she met with Jiří Pressburg, who had a fate similar to her own. His parents had also perished, probably they left with the same deportation train as her own parents. They became close and married in 1948. They soon decided to leave Czechoslovakia, because they lived in the shadow of the past here and wanted to leave. Jiří had a couple friends in New Zealand, who invited them to come. They settled down in Wellington and Mrs. Hana was happy there, although the beginnings were not easy because of the language barrier. She now thinks of New Zealand as her home. She brought up two daughters, Suzi and Carol and has 5 grand-children. She will however never forget the Czechlands and Rakovník and all the sufferings she experienced during the Second World War. To those, who perished in those terrible times, she devoted a memorial plaque that is now placed in the Rakovník town square.

The Presentation
They Wrote About Us
The Exposition

The travelling exposition Neighbors Who Disappeared, which took place at our school from November 23 to December 4 was visited with interest not only by the students of the Masaryk Business Academy, the Gymnasium of Zikmund Winter, The Secondary Industrial School, the First Primary School, The Primary School in Lužná, The Primary School in Jesenice and the Primary School in Slabce, but was also well received by the public. The opening of the exposition was attended by Mrs. Marta Vančurová, the coordinator of the project Neighbors Who Disappeared, Mrs. Eva Kuželová, a lecturer of the Jewish Museum in Prague, Mrs. Věra Škrlantová, a friend of Mrs. Pressburg, who facilitated our telephone interview with Mrs. Pressburg in Wellington, Mr. Eichinger, who owns an extensive collection of documents pertaining to the period and is himself a witness, representatives of the Municipal Office, of the Schools in Rakovník as well as other guests.

The panels presented the stories of the victims of the holocaust coming from various parts of our country and provided a description of the circumstances under which European Jews were deported to extermination camps and liquidated in the course of the Second World War. The Holocaust became a symbol of modern genocide in the history of humanity. The word means the complete destruction or a burnt sacrifice. The term has first been used by the authors of an American series documenting the extermination of European Jews. In Hebrew, the word Shoah is used instead - it means catastrophe, evil, destruction. The instigators of the genocide themselves referred to it as the "final solution of the Jewish question".

Through our exposition, we wanted to make information about the period, full of suffering and despair, more accessible to the younger generation. We hoped that it would allow them to understand that those, who became victims, deserved to die, according to the Nazis, simply because of their origin. We wanted to make a connection between the present and the past, we wanted to inspire the students to oppose themselves to intolerance, racism and xenophobia and to expand their imagination as to what kind of things are possible in our world.

The project of the Jewish Museum today consists in two parts. The first is dedicated to the "Neighbors Who Disappeared", that has been officially launched in 1999 by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, under the auspices of the Office of the President of the Republic (at the time it was Václav Havel), in the framework of the Conference The Phenomenon Holocaust. The participants of the project explore the history of those, who had been labeled, under the Nuremberg laws, as Jews and who disappeared in the course of the Second World War. The second part, called the "Tribute To Child Victims of the Holocaust", is a continuation of the original project, this time devoted to pupils, children and young people, who disappeared in the Holocaust. It was launched in 2005.

Our project, called "Jews in the Rakovník Region" became a part of the exposition. We spent the entire school year 2008/2009 working on it. We visited the State District Archives in Rakovník, the Jewish Museum in Prague and the Terezín Memorial. The acquired information was presented in the form of three panels. One is devoted to the history of Jews in the Rakovník Region, the second shows a map of the district, with the names of the Jewish inhabitants, who have been deported in the deportation trains Z and Y from Kladno to Terezín in 1942. Of these more than 250 persons, only 17 survived. The third panel is devoted to the personal story of Mrs. Pressburg, born Švarcová in Rakovník, who now lives in Wellington, New Zealand, and who, in cooperation with Mrs. Vera Egermayer, honorary consul of New Zealand, donated a memorial plaque in the honor of all of the victims of the holocaust in the Rakovník region. We have carefully recorded all of the results of our research in a power-point document.

We do not consider the exposition as an end of our project, we are planning to prepare another panel that would also become a part of the mentioned travelling exposition.

The 3rd Primary School in Rakovník, in the Okružní street, No. 2331, has all that a school should have. It is located in a peaceful part of the town, at its southern edge, in the residential area "Zátiší". The school was founded on September 1 1964, when it separated from the General High School. At first it used the building of today's Gymnasium of Zikmund Winter. At the turn of 1981/1982, the school moved into its new building. The highest number of classes taught at the school reached 40 and the number of pupils was highest in the year 1985/1986 at 1156. Today, the school usually has three parallel classes for each grade. The campus reunites the primary school, an after-school club, a club room and a cafeteria. At present, the 3rd Primary School is the most complex, modern and best equipped educational facility in the region.

Address:
3. základní škola Rakovník
Okružní 2331,
Rakovník, 26901

Telephone:
Tel.: (+420) 313 521 979
Fax.: (+420) 313 521 973

Email, www:
skola@3zsrako.cz
www.3zsrako.cz

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