INVISIBLE SYNAGOGES in Bohemia and Moravia

“Invisible Synagogues” is a project by photographer Štěpán Bartoš. His pictures show Jewish places of worship in Bohemia and Moravia that were destroyed during the Nazi occupation, the post-war period and the long period of communist dictatorship until 1989. The outlines of today’s “invisible synagogues” are scratched into photographs of places where synagogues once stood. To mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January, the Hillersche Villa is opening a two-part exhibition in cooperation with the author Štěpán Bartoš, Zittau Town Hall and Brána Trojzemí in Hrádek nad Nisou.

🎧 Listening tip: Radio Prague International reported extensively on the project back in 2023. Listen to the audio report!

INVISIBLE SYNAGOGES in Bohemia and Moravia
a cross-border photo exhibition

Vernissage 25 January 2024

16:00 – Zittau Town Hall (corridor on the 2nd floor)
18:00 – Hrádek nad Nisou (Information Centre – Brána Trojzemí, Market Square)

It will be opened on Thursday, 25 January at both exhibition venues – first at 16:00 at Zittau town hall, then at 18:00 in Hrádek nad Nisou (information centre, market square). As both venues will be showing different pictures and will each have their own accompanying programme of content and music, we cordially invite you to attend both events.

The artist Štěpán Bartoš will be present at the opening and talk about his work. For the local historical context, short lectures will also be held at both locations, presenting the stories of specific Jewish families from Zittau and Hrádek nad Nisou:

In Zittau, Felix Pankonin (Head of the Hiller Villa Network Centre) will report on the fate of John Michaelis, child of one of the oldest Jewish families in Zittau. He was attacked by anti-Semites even before 1933. In 1935, he fled with his family to his wife’s hometown in the Czech Republic and built a new life there. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, he was again the victim of persecution, deported and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944.

In Hrádek nad Nisou, Kateřina Portmann (Department of History at the Technical University of Liberec) will then present the life of the Goltz family. The fate of this manufacturing family from Hrádek nad Nisou, Liberec and the surrounding area was characterised by a pronounced anti-Semitic mood in the social environment. Although the family members did not feel they belonged to Judaism, they became victims of Nazi persecution and the Holocaust. Their lives were also connected to neighbouring Zittau.

Both events will be simultaneously interpreted into Czech and German and offer the opportunity for an interesting and stimulating German-Czech exchange.

The exhibitions can be seen until 31 March 2024 during the opening hours of the town hall in Zittau and the information centre in Hrádek nad Nisou.