‘You Survived? We Were Told All Jews Were Gassed’: Jews, Czechs, and the Memory of the Holocaust

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article discusses postwar memory of the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia, with a focus on Moravia and Czech–Jewish relations. The case study explores the development during and after World War II in the town of Uherský Brod (Ungarisch Brod), which was home to a significant Jewish community before the war. Based on the archival sources, literature, and oral history testimonies, the paper addresses the wartime imposition of antisemitic measures and emergence of anti-Jewish stereotypes and illustrates the reactions of the non-Jewish local majority to the persecution of the town Jews. Memory of the Shoah is depicted based on the experiences of the individual participants and shows that some survivors encountered friendly acceptance from non-Jews while others experience hatred and refusal. Even among the educated and those of higher social strata, the article proves that antisemitic stereotypes remain in the majority society to this day.