In this photo, taken in Prague’s Jewish Quarter, you can see a portion of the Old Jewish Cemetery, which is home to approximately 12,000 tombstones and was in use between the early 15th century and 1787. You can visit the cemetery along with five preserved synagogues (notably Pinkas Synagogue) and historical buildings, which together make up the Jewish Museum in Prague. This Museum was founded by Dr. Hugo Lieben and Dr. Augustin Stein in 1906, but was closed to the public after the Nazi Occupation began in 1939. Dr. Stein hoped to preserve Jewish artifacts that were being confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis all over Central Europe, and, along…
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Berlin: Teeming with History
Berlin teems with a lot of things — nightclubs, Turkish food, Communist architecture. For me, Berlin teemed with history. Every street seemed to hold information about the city’s often painful past. Much of this is conscious preservation in the form of public parks and landmarks, but there are a few subtle aspects of the city that speak volumes about, specifically, its 20th century history. The architecture changes when you move between the former West and East Berlins. In East Berlin, the buildings are pragmatic, functional, ugly in that classic Soviet style. The TV Tower, now the phallic symbol of all Berlin, was once a prominent expression of the power of…
