TORAH SCROLLS FROM THE 1930s JEWISH CENTRAL MUSUEM

On a recent exploratory excursion of synagogues, I learned about a museum that was created for a
soon to be extinct race -- the Jews during WW2.

I couldn't believe it. An extinct race of people in the 1900s?

At one of the Synagogues I visited in Michigan, the Rabbi explained Hitler's enthusiastic backing of the "Exotic Museum of an Extinct Race, " which is neither extinct nor exotic. He figured that since the Jews would be annihilated that he could dedicate a victory to himself   --- a place dedicated to representing the Jewish culture and heritage on the backs of the millions who were tortured and died in concentration camps showing their belongings, their religious books, statues and silver ritual pieces.  He was convinced that the Jews would be extinct by the time he was done ravaging Europe.  Imagine that convoluted thought process. I can't.

"After all, how could he prove that he killed off our race if he didn't have artifacts to show," said one of the leaders.  "We are here. We are here to stay. Just like you."

To me and others on the excursion, the atmosphere changed immediately to silence.

Some erroneously think that Hitler founded the museum. He didn't. Two men, Dr. Hugo Lieben and Dr. Augustin Stein did in 1906. They had the uncanny foresight to establish a museum to preserve historic artifacts when the buildings in the old Jewish quarter of Czechoslovakia were demolished. Some say it was a rat infested slum, others say the Zionist movement sparked the razing, others say that the quarter was torn down so that the Jews would assimilate into all cultures -- I don't know the truth about this as it is an extremely complicated piece of sad history.

So to preserve Jewish history, Dr. Stein suggested to the Nazi's in the 1930s that they establish a Jewish Museum to hold all the objects that the Germans were confiscating from the synagogues in Bohemia and Moravia.  How did that meeting occur? Who did he contact? How did he even broach the subject as Nazis were marching Jews left and right to the trains. Did he go home at night?

 Hitler did approve the project in 1942 creating The Central Jewish Museum in the now Czech Republic. But it wasn't as he planned.  He did not wipe out a race of people.  But, the museum houses over 40,000 exhibits and 100,000 books in Prague. One can visit for a half hour.

I don't know what happened to Dr. Stein though and I am planning to find out more about this courageous man whose shoes were so big to match his giant step for his beliefs. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info about him. Some say that he was a very old man at the time. Just who could follow a person like Dr. Stein, a hero,  when he could have been killed on the spot? A man who put everything on the line for his beliefs under such excruciating tough circumstances of the time. He had stones.

The point is there is no denying that the Nazis "systematically collected and cataloged all Jewish possessions and property" from the Jewish communities they were decimating throughout Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia; especially religious and ritual objects. The collection became massive and included about 1,500 Torah Scrolls if not more. The scrolls were neatly wrapped in beautifully hand-stitched textiles with precious gold and silver threads.  In other words, Nazi's pilfered and stole whatever they wanted.

In the early 1960s, a British art-dealer negotiated with the communist regime of Czechoslovakia to obtain the Torahs, with the understanding that they would pass to a non-commercial entity.  That is how they wound up in American synagogues.

We have a piece of this history in a Temple in southeastern Michigan. My travelers are so interested in learning about different cultures and have requested that I conduct a tour into the Jewish culture. It's difficult to smile when seeing this particular holy object though. I can't. One's upbringing and religion doesn't matter. All people have the same reaction when seeing the scroll and hearing the story, which is told very matter of factly.  A pain in our hearts.

War time did not allow the artifacts to be properly preserved and the scrolls were damaged.  Some Schuls are keepers of these vital scroll, which are so fragile that they cannot be opened.

I only know what was told to me and some cursory reading. This is a powerful subject. My point is that the story needs to be constantly re-told and this is my anemic way of doing so. Apologies if I have offended anyone, which is not my intention.

However, their meaning is clear and thus the scrolls confiscated from the European Jewish Temples remain an important aspect of worship -- lest we forget.