Using examples of antisemitic caricatures published in the Czech press at the end of the nineteen... more Using examples of antisemitic caricatures published in the Czech press at the end of the nineteenth century, this article explores the function of place and space in this form of visualization of Jews. Existing research paid more attention to the deformed, racist rendering of Jewish physiognomy and to visual codes which made Jews recognizable and which expressed their alleged negative qualities. Experimenting at the crossroads of studies in visual antisemitism and spatial studies, this article is an attempt to make a critical examination of the construction of space through negative images of Jews. It focuses on two sets of caricatures, one placing Jews in the public space in Prague and in interaction and sometimes dialogue with non-Jews, and pictures reflecting on nationalist exhibitions in Prague in the 1890s. The article argues that these images depicted Jews as both included in the space and excluded through the logic of the (middle class, nationalized) space and that this visual representation co-produced the expectations related to places in ways which could potentially be translated into real exclusionary practices.
This article revisits Jewish relief efforts in the refugee settlement in Zbąszyń (Bentschen) and ... more This article revisits Jewish relief efforts in the refugee settlement in Zbąszyń (Bentschen) and specifically the intensive involvement of the Polish and European offices of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in the organisation of aid and the daily life of refugees. Thereby, it explores the nature of the no man’s land and the dilemmas of Jewish welfare in the critical year 1938. The article reads the relief activities against the changing characteristics of citizenship in European nation states during the interwar period. It takes into account the growing significance of ‘social citizenship’ or social rights, which were either explicitly codified or implicitly expected. I here test the hypothesis that the intervention of the JDC and other Jewish relief organisations reflected and visualised the exclusion of Jewish refugees from citizenship. Can we speak, figuratively, of a citizenship in no man’s land and of the relief organisations as providing services normally attribu...
This paper discusses the goals, methodology and experience gained in the project 'Integration and... more This paper discusses the goals, methodology and experience gained in the project 'Integration and Segregation in Cityspace: The History of the Holocaust in Prague Through a Web Application', funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. Using a mobile application, the project aims to overlay the current cityscape with extensive datasets on the Holocaust victims who were living in Prague before their deportation. By giving insights into working with the data, and by presenting the digitized material used and the technical development of the web application, the paper also hopes to contribute to future approaches for archival and educational GIS-based applications. Following an introduction to the spatial history of Jews in Prague, the article analyses the challenges at the crossroads of documentation and digitization, technology and user interface, as well as user interaction with data.
Deportace za hranice občanství Michal Frankl "K dyž jsme do tohoto území pronikli dvěstě nebo tři... more Deportace za hranice občanství Michal Frankl "K dyž jsme do tohoto území pronikli dvěstě nebo třista kroků, vynořily se před námi nevyspale vypadající postavy, kterých stále přibývalo. […] Několik set metrů před námi jsme viděli slovenské pohraniční hlídky, za námi se utvořil řetěz maďarských pohraničníků, kteří nám bránili v návratu. Mezi tím se nacházel široký pruh demarkační linie, jak zní technický výraz pro zónu vytvořenou posunem mezinárodní hranice. Byli jsme ničí lidé [Niemande, M. F.] v »zemi nikoho«." 1 Těmito slovy líčil Egon Schwarz, jeden z tisíců Židů deportovaných z území autonomního Slovenska po první Vídeňské arbitráži, své první dojmy ze země nikoho
Over the course of the past century, there have been significant changes in the practices of arch... more Over the course of the past century, there have been significant changes in the practices of archives driven by the massive increase in the volume of records for archiving, a larger and more diverse user base, and the digital turn. This paper analyses work undertaken by the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure project (EHRI) to develop heritage archives into research infrastructures by connecting their knowledge and making it relevant for research. In the article, we focus on EHRI’s work on an integrated collection portal, acting as a central gateway to the rich information on Holocaust-related sources. At the time of writing, the portal contains over 150,000 descriptions of over 1,850 institutions that hold Holocaust-related archival material in 51 countries. In addition, it hosts concise reports that provide in-depth per-country information about the Holocaust history and archival situation in 47 countries, topic-focused research guides, and a range of other services. The ar...
Using examples of antisemitic caricatures published in the Czech press at the end of the nineteen... more Using examples of antisemitic caricatures published in the Czech press at the end of the nineteenth century, this article explores the function of place and space in this form of visualization of Jews. Existing research paid more attention to the deformed, racist rendering of Jewish physiognomy and to visual codes which made Jews recognizable and which expressed their alleged negative qualities. Experimenting at the crossroads of studies in visual antisemitism and spatial studies, this article is an attempt to make a critical examination of the construction of space through negative images of Jews. It focuses on two sets of caricatures, one placing Jews in the public space in Prague and in interaction and sometimes dialogue with non-Jews, and pictures reflecting on nationalist exhibitions in Prague in the 1890s. The article argues that these images depicted Jews as both included in the space and excluded through the logic of the (middle class, nationalized) space and that this visual representation co-produced the expectations related to places in ways which could potentially be translated into real exclusionary practices.
This article revisits Jewish relief efforts in the refugee settlement in Zbąszyń (Bentschen) and ... more This article revisits Jewish relief efforts in the refugee settlement in Zbąszyń (Bentschen) and specifically the intensive involvement of the Polish and European offices of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in the organisation of aid and the daily life of refugees. Thereby, it explores the nature of the no man’s land and the dilemmas of Jewish welfare in the critical year 1938. The article reads the relief activities against the changing characteristics of citizenship in European nation states during the interwar period. It takes into account the growing significance of ‘social citizenship’ or social rights, which were either explicitly codified or implicitly expected. I here test the hypothesis that the intervention of the JDC and other Jewish relief organisations reflected and visualised the exclusion of Jewish refugees from citizenship. Can we speak, figuratively, of a citizenship in no man’s land and of the relief organisations as providing services normally attribu...
This paper discusses the goals, methodology and experience gained in the project 'Integration and... more This paper discusses the goals, methodology and experience gained in the project 'Integration and Segregation in Cityspace: The History of the Holocaust in Prague Through a Web Application', funded by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. Using a mobile application, the project aims to overlay the current cityscape with extensive datasets on the Holocaust victims who were living in Prague before their deportation. By giving insights into working with the data, and by presenting the digitized material used and the technical development of the web application, the paper also hopes to contribute to future approaches for archival and educational GIS-based applications. Following an introduction to the spatial history of Jews in Prague, the article analyses the challenges at the crossroads of documentation and digitization, technology and user interface, as well as user interaction with data.
Deportace za hranice občanství Michal Frankl "K dyž jsme do tohoto území pronikli dvěstě nebo tři... more Deportace za hranice občanství Michal Frankl "K dyž jsme do tohoto území pronikli dvěstě nebo třista kroků, vynořily se před námi nevyspale vypadající postavy, kterých stále přibývalo. […] Několik set metrů před námi jsme viděli slovenské pohraniční hlídky, za námi se utvořil řetěz maďarských pohraničníků, kteří nám bránili v návratu. Mezi tím se nacházel široký pruh demarkační linie, jak zní technický výraz pro zónu vytvořenou posunem mezinárodní hranice. Byli jsme ničí lidé [Niemande, M. F.] v »zemi nikoho«." 1 Těmito slovy líčil Egon Schwarz, jeden z tisíců Židů deportovaných z území autonomního Slovenska po první Vídeňské arbitráži, své první dojmy ze země nikoho
Over the course of the past century, there have been significant changes in the practices of arch... more Over the course of the past century, there have been significant changes in the practices of archives driven by the massive increase in the volume of records for archiving, a larger and more diverse user base, and the digital turn. This paper analyses work undertaken by the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure project (EHRI) to develop heritage archives into research infrastructures by connecting their knowledge and making it relevant for research. In the article, we focus on EHRI’s work on an integrated collection portal, acting as a central gateway to the rich information on Holocaust-related sources. At the time of writing, the portal contains over 150,000 descriptions of over 1,850 institutions that hold Holocaust-related archival material in 51 countries. In addition, it hosts concise reports that provide in-depth per-country information about the Holocaust history and archival situation in 47 countries, topic-focused research guides, and a range of other services. The ar...
Prague and Beyond presents a new and accessible history of the Jews of the Bohemian Lands written... more Prague and Beyond presents a new and accessible history of the Jews of the Bohemian Lands written by an international team of scholars. It offers a multifaceted account of the Jewish people in a region that has been, over the centuries, a part of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy, was constituted as the democratic Czechoslovakia in the years following the First World War, became the Nazi Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and later a postwar Communist state, and is today's Czech Republic. This ever-changing landscape provides the backdrop for a historical reinterpretation that emphasizes the rootedness of Jews in the Bohemian Lands, the intricate variety of their social, economic, and cultural relationships, their negotiations with state power, the connections that existed among Jewish communities, and the close, if often conflictual, ties between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors.
Prague and Beyond is written in a narrative style with a focus on several unifying themes across the periods. These include migration and mobility; the shape of social networks; religious life and education; civic rights, citizenship, and Jewish autonomy; gender and the family; popular culture; and memory and commemorative practices. Collectively these perspectives work to revise conventional understandings of Central Europe's Jewish past and present, and more fully capture the diversity and multivalence of life in the Bohemian Lands.
In eleven contributions, Visual Antisemitism in Central Europe, Imagery of Hatred deals with visu... more In eleven contributions, Visual Antisemitism in Central Europe, Imagery of Hatred deals with visual manifestations of antisemitism in Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day. The publication, which presents heretofore largely unknown materials, seeks responses from diverse perspectives to the question of the role of visuality in the development of antisemitic moods and political agendas that encouraged hatred towards Jews. The scope of visual anti-Judaism and antisemitism always was and still is very wide: from stereotypical depictions that can conceal an underlying message through humorous content, to clearly formulated assaults that aim to escalate animosity towards an imaginary collective enemy. The goal in both these cases is the exclusion of Jews from the majority society imagined as a monolithic whole, and the reification of a dividing line between „us“ and „them“. With its wide thematic and methodological range, this book offers a comprehensive image of the phenomenon of visual anti-Judaism and antisemitism and provides rich comparative material for the entire Central European region.
Kolektivní monografie Obrazy nenávisti přináší jedenáct studií zabývajících se vizuálními projevy... more Kolektivní monografie Obrazy nenávisti přináší jedenáct studií zabývajících se vizuálními projevy antijudaismu a antisemitismu ve střední Evropě od středověku po současnost. Publikace na základě dosud převážně neznámých materiálů hledá z různých perspektiv odpovědi na otázku, jaká byla role vizuality v rozvoji antisemitských nálad a v politických agendách podněcujících nenávist vůči Židům. Pole vizuálního antijudaismu a antisemitismu bylo a je velmi široké: od stereotypních zobrazení, které mohou své poselství skrývat za humoristickými obsahy, po jasně formulované útoky s cílem eskalovat nenávist vůči imaginárnímu kolektivnímu nepříteli – v obou případech s cílem vyloučit Židy z pomyslně monolitické majoritní společnosti a upevnit dělicí linii na „my“ a „oni“. Přes tematickou a metodologickou různorodost nabízí kniha souhrnnou představu o fenoménu vizuálního antijudaismu a antisemitismu a poskytuje bohatý komparativní materiál pro celý středoevropský region.
This book provides the first thorough analysis of official Czechoslovak refugee policy in the 193... more This book provides the first thorough analysis of official Czechoslovak refugee policy in the 1930s. Combining both the perspective of the state officials and the varied perspectives of the refugees themselves, it offers a rich and differentiated picture of the approach of the Czechoslovak state to refugees from Nazi Germany and Austria. It focuses primarily on the experiences of ‘ordinary’ refugees, people without connections to the Czechoslovak elite. Their voices, neglected in other research so far, considerably change the otherwise positive image of Czechoslovakia as a refuge for people fleeing Nazism. Based on many hitherto unknown archive sources from the Czech Republic, the USA, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, and Austria, the book reveals that the circumstances in which the refugees (mostly Jews) found themselves in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s was, as in other European countries, characterized mainly by the despair of the refugees and the restrictive policy of the state.
Das Buch bietet eine erste eingehende Analyse der offiziellen tschechoslowakischen Flüchtlingspolitik in den frühen 1930er-Jahren. Sie entwickelte sich unter dem außen- und innenpolitischen Druck zunehmend restriktiver. Die Perspektive der staatlichen Behörden einerseits, der verschiedenen Gruppierungen unter den Flüchtlingen andererseits, vor allem aber die Betrachtung der ganz "normalen" Flüchtlinge, die nur mit großen Schwierigkeiten überleben konnten, fügen sich zu einem differenzierten Gesamtbild. Dieses korrigiert den gängigen Mythos von der Tschechoslowakei als einem sicheren und in Europa einzigartigen Hafen für Flüchtlinge aus Deutschland und Österreich grundlegend. Die Situation der Menschen, die vor dem NS-Regime in die Tschechoslowakei geflüchtet waren, war dort nicht besser als anderswo in Europa, ähnlich restriktiv und mehrheitlich aussichtslos.
Československo je v povědomí české i evropské veřejnosti známo jako země, která se k uprchlíkům p... more Československo je v povědomí české i evropské veřejnosti známo jako země, která se k uprchlíkům před nacismem chovala velice vstřícně. Líčení Československa jako ostrůvku svobody však vycházejí především ze vzpomínek poměrně malého počtu privilegovaných intelektuálů a politiků, kterým Československo poskytlo možnost další seberealizace. Kniha Nejisté útočiště se naopak zaměřuje na situaci řadových uprchlíků bez politických či kulturních konexí, kteří v Československu zažili především bídu i beznaděj a setkávali se s odmítavým postojem československých úřadů. Kniha však nezůstává u statického popisu a na základě rozsáhlého výzkumu v archivech České republiky, Německa, Rakouska, Švýcarska, Izraele a Spojených států amerických analyzuje i dynamiku československé politiky vůči uprchlíkům, která se - podobně jako u jiných evropských států - v průběhu třicátých let stále více vyvíjela směrem k restriktivním opatřením.
In what way has antisemitism influenced fine art and visual culture in Central Europe? Is there a... more In what way has antisemitism influenced fine art and visual culture in Central Europe? Is there an embedded anti-Semitic iconography? Why does visual antisemitism arise today?
The conference will deal also with questions of how to write about the visual history of antisemitism and exhibit anti-Semitic works to the public without contributing to the support of hate movements.
Especially welcome are contributions focusing on the theme of visual antisemitism in Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day.
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Papers by Michal Frankl
Prague and Beyond is written in a narrative style with a focus on several unifying themes across the periods. These include migration and mobility; the shape of social networks; religious life and education; civic rights, citizenship, and Jewish autonomy; gender and the family; popular culture; and memory and commemorative practices. Collectively these perspectives work to revise conventional understandings of Central Europe's Jewish past and present, and more fully capture the diversity and multivalence of life in the Bohemian Lands.
Das Buch bietet eine erste eingehende Analyse der offiziellen tschechoslowakischen Flüchtlingspolitik in den frühen 1930er-Jahren. Sie entwickelte sich unter dem außen- und innenpolitischen Druck zunehmend restriktiver. Die Perspektive der staatlichen Behörden einerseits, der verschiedenen Gruppierungen unter den Flüchtlingen andererseits, vor allem aber die Betrachtung der ganz "normalen" Flüchtlinge, die nur mit großen Schwierigkeiten überleben konnten, fügen sich zu einem differenzierten Gesamtbild. Dieses korrigiert den gängigen Mythos von der Tschechoslowakei als einem sicheren und in Europa einzigartigen Hafen für Flüchtlinge aus Deutschland und Österreich grundlegend. Die Situation der Menschen, die vor dem NS-Regime in die Tschechoslowakei geflüchtet waren, war dort nicht besser als anderswo in Europa, ähnlich restriktiv und mehrheitlich aussichtslos.
The conference will deal also with questions of how to write about the visual history of antisemitism and exhibit anti-Semitic works to the public without contributing to the support of hate movements.
Especially welcome are contributions focusing on the theme of visual antisemitism in Central Europe from the Middle Ages to the present day.