What did it mean to be Loyal? Jewish Survivors in Post-War Czechoslovakia in a Comparative Perspective
Abstract
Around 50,000 Jewish survivors returned to Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. Prewar Czechoslovakia built its image on the reputation of its perceived excellent treatment of minorities, in particular the Jews.
Nevertheless, Jewish survivors coming back to Czechoslovakia after the war faced hostilities from the non-Jewish population and encountered considerable obstacles with their rehabilitation and restitution based on their Jewishness alone. Only 14,000-18,000 Jews remained in the country by 1950, with the rest finding new homes elsewhere, especially in Israel and the United States.
Czechoslovakia is often depicted as a country that rejected anti-Semitism and sympathised with the plight of the Jews before, during and after the war. Czechoslovakia was one of the first democratic countries that supported the creation of a Jewish state, both politically and practically.
In contrast, this article documents the obstacles that the survivors encountered in their rehabilitation efforts in post-war Czechoslovakia and portrays the country not only as a humanitarian facilitator of the Jewish national aspirations, but especially as a country that with its post-war policies of national homogenization further contributed to the Jewish predicament in post-war Europe. The Jews returning to their places of residence after the war faced hostilities in almost every European country.
In some places they were welcomed with physical violence, in others they encountered difficulties with material restitution or were roundly advised to move overseas. In this article I first outline the often unsuccessful Jewish rehabilitation efforts in post-war Czechoslovakia and highlight the main issues which could be considered as unique in comparison with other European countries, such as Poland and France (especially the treatment of the Czechoslovak-Jewish citizens of German nationality).