EARLY DOCUMENTATION OF THE SHOAH IN THE CZECH LANDS: THE DOCUMENTATION PROJECT AND THE PRAGUE JEWISH MUSEUM (1945-1947)

The early documentation of the Shoah in post-war Europe is a topic that has been focused on by a number of researchers in the last few years. To date, however, documentation activities in the Czech lands have not been researched in a systematic way. This study provides an overview of the activities of individuals who, by gathering authentic documents, sought to document events, phenomena and situations of the day, in particular the persecution of Jews and the circumstances of the life that was enforced on them during the Second World War. It also analyzes the post-war gathering of documents and testimonies by individuals and the group around Zeev Shek (as part of the Documentation Project). In addition, it explores how the Jewish Museum in Prague and its then employee H. G. Adler contributed to this work. It concludes with a summary of the characteristic features of post-war efforts in comparison with the work of other European documentation initiatives.