History under water—Holy sites imperiled

PRAGUE -- Central Europe's already fragile Jewish institutions were battered last week by the continent's worst flood in more than 100 years.

The deluge, which has caused an overall financial toll in the billions of dollars and taken least 97 lives, has eroded the names of Holocaust victims from the walls of Prague's Pinkas Synagogue.

Prague has launched an international appeal for aid after floods caused an estimated $4 million in damage to Jewish holy sites.

While giant steel barriers on the banks of the Vltava River prevented flooding over land, water seeped through underground channels into the city's historic Jewish Quarter.

Jewish officials discovered Aug. 14 that the Old-New Synagogue had taken in four feet of water, covering pews and damaging the building.

The Pinkas Synagogue also was hit, with water levels inside the building reaching nearly seven feet and damaging some of the 80,000 handwritten inscriptions of the names of Czech Holocaust victims.

Leaders of the Prague Jewish community who had moved all Jewish artifacts -- including Torah scrolls -- from the sites before the flood waters hit, were shocked by the damage.

"There has been serious damage to some of Prague's Jewish treasures," said Tomas Jelinek, a prominent Jewish civic leader. But "in a sense, we are grateful because the damage could have been much worse if the river Vltava's banks had burst."

The Jewish Museum also was badly hit by underground flooding, which bubbled up through the city's sewers.

Officials succeeded in moving precious Jewish artifacts such as Torah shields, pointers, manuscripts and rare books to higher levels before the floods, but the building is likely to be without electricity for up to four weeks after the generator was submerged in water.

The museum's air-conditioning system also has been knocked out, threatening damage to rare manuscripts and books during the next few weeks.

"This is a very serious blow," said Leo Pavlat, the museum's director. "It is hard to see seven years of work in building up the museum be affected so quickly."

In Germany, the flooding that left much of Dresden under water also damaged the cellar of the city's new synagogue, according to a spokesperson for the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

However, the sanctuary remained dry, and Torah scrolls had been secured.

Roman Koenig, president of the Dresden Jewish community, reported via the Berlin-based Central Council on Aug. 16 that representatives were checking daily on all elderly and disabled members of the community. However, lack of telephone and e-mail contact made it difficult to determine their status.

The Jewish community in Dresden has slightly more than 1,000 members.

The disaster could not have come at a worse time for Jewish officials at museums and other historic sites in both cities, who have had to cancel several exhibitions at the peak of the tourist season. The losses could amount to thousands of dollars in ticket sales.

"We are suffering huge losses because August is the best month of the year for us," Pavlat said. "We are not subsidized by the state, and rely on entry fees to fund our activities."

Ironically, curious tourists are interfering with repair work at Jewish historical sites damaged by recent floods, according to a Prague Jewish official.

Sylvie Wittmann, co-founder of Prague's liberal Jewish community, said that many tourists were trying to enter flood-damaged synagogues and other Jewish sites to see the damage.

"Some tourists do not understand at all what has happened and want to have a look inside at any costs," said Wittmann, who also runs a tour-guide service in Prague and historically Jewish towns.

In some cases, she claimed, tourists have "physically harassed" guards watching over Jewish properties in Maiselova Street, where the Prague Jewish community's headquarters is located.

Wittmann said she had received requests to visit Terezin, the site of a large Nazi transit camp during World War II, which was seriously flooded.

"I told one man that I would give him a snorkel, some scuba-diving equipment and a rubber boat and take him to Terezin," she said. "He just didn't understand how serious the flooding was."

Wittmann said Israelis were the only group of tourists who respected requests not to interfere with the sites.

"They seem to understand, perhaps because they are used to disasters," she said.

Wittmann also was critical of Prague's tourist agencies for doing little to help with the relief work.

"Tourist agencies in the city make millions from the Jewish Quarter, but none of them have done anything to help," she said.

Wittmann has temporarily closed her business and is directing her staff in flood relief efforts. Wittmann's team was focusing Wednesday on moving Jewish-related archives from the Small Fortress in Terezin, which served as a Nazi prison during World War II and was engulfed in flood waters.

Leo Pavlat, director of the Prague Jewish Museum, which administers many of Prague's synagogues, said there may have been isolated cases of tourists trying to look inside Jewish properties but said he didn't consider it a problem.

Pavlat praised dozens of volunteers, many of whom are not members of the Jewish community, for helping to clean and dry out buildings hit by the floods.

"There is a group of young people from Jihlava, about 100 miles from Prague, who arrived with cleaning materials to help in the clean-up operation," Pavlat said. "When I asked why they had come all this way, they said it was because they felt we needed them." The Prague Jewish community and its Jewish Museum have established a Web site with information in English about flood damage to historical sites. The site -- at http://www.jewishpragueflood.cz -- includes photographs of flooded synagogue interiors and details of a fund launched to offset damage costs.