Together with the Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies at Palacký University (Olomouc), the CEU Jewish Studies Program organized a two-day study tour of Jewish sites in Moravia. In Olomouc, Petr Papoušek, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, warmly welcomed our group, showed us the Olomouc synagogue and told us about the history and current activities of the Czech Republic's third-largest Jewish community. Afterwards, Nikola Svobodníková led a walking tour of Jewish sites in Olomouc, including the medieval Jewish street, a 19th-century prayer house, the Hamburger villa and the site of the Olomouc synagogue that was destroyed by Nazi instigators in 1939.
On the next day, we visited the small towns of Úsov and Loštice, where the cemeteries, synagogues and other Jewish sites have been carefully preserved, restored and maintained by Respect and Tolerance, a non-profit organization that documents the history and culture of the former Jewish communities in the region. Luděk Štipl, co-founder of this NGO, gave us a tour of the Loštice synagogue, where Fanny Neuda (1819-1894) wrote a best-selling prayer book for Jewish women. We were even allowed to peek inside the attic, where the remains of the genizah were found. Special thanks to Daniel Soukup for sharing his profound knowledge about Moravian Jewry and its material culture.