A Sacred Legacy from Kyjov, Czech Republic

The Holocaust Torah Scroll at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan (MST#1017), comes from Kyjov, a historic town in the Southern Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. As the only royal city in the area where Jews were permitted to live—albeit with restrictions—Kyjov became home to a vibrant Jewish community. A synagogue was established in 1506, and the Jewish population grew steadily over the centuries despite legal limitations such as the familiants law, which restricted the number of Jewish families allowed to settle.

By the late 1800s, the community reached its peak with over 800 residents, but by 1930, the number had declined to 319, approximately 7% of the town’s population. The Holocaust Torah Scroll is a remnant of this once-thriving Jewish life that was nearly erased during the Nazi occupation.

Devastation During the Holocaust

Following the annexation of the Sudeten Region to Nazi Germany, the refugee camp that had once served those fleeing from war-torn areas during World War I was reopened for 670 refugees from the Sudeten Region and for refugees from Vienna. The Nazis used the refugee camp to assemble all the Jews from Kyjov and the surrounding district. Early in 1943 four transports deported a total of 2,852 people from the refugee camp to the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto.

The Nazis destroyed the synagogue, the two Jewish cemeteries, and all remnants of the Jewish Quarter.

Post-War Jewish Life and Memorialization

After the Holocaust, Kyjov became the center for the Jewish communities in the region, with authority over the communities of Hodonin, Holesov, Kromeriz, Uhersky Brod, and Vsetin. In 1959 there were about 300 Jews in all of these communities combined. The community of Kyjov also cared for the community of Bzenec, and opened a prayer room in the town in 1956. In that same year, a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust was dedicated in the cemetery.

About the Holocaust Torah Scroll

This Torah is on permanent loan from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London. Visit the Memorial Scrolls Trust website to learn more.

DUSCHAK, MORITZ, by Isidore Singer, Peter Wiernik, in Jewish Encyclopedia:

Dr. Moritz Duschak, Austrian rabbi and author; born in Triesch, Moravia, Nov. 14, 1815; died in Vienna July 21, 1890. He was a pupil in Talmud of R. Moses Sofer of Presburg, and was for a long time rabbi at Gaya, Moravia. In 1877 he became preacher in Cracow and teacher of religion at the gymnasium of that city. He was a modern preacher and the author of works in the German language. Although engaged to deliver his sermons at the Temple, his sympathies were mostly with the old-style Orthodox people of the “Klaus,” who could better appreciate his Talmudical knowledge. His position as preacher was thus somewhat anomalous; and after several years’ service he left Cracow and settled in Vienna, where he spent his last days in neglect and disappointment.

Duschak wrote much for various periodicals, and was, besides, the author of the following works:
“Mor Deror,” on Josephus and tradition, Vienna, 1864
“Das Mosaisch-Talmudische Eherecht mit Besonderer Rücksicht auf die Bürgerlichen Gesetze,” Vienna, 1864
“Gideon Brecher, eine Biographische Skizze,” Prossnitz, 1865
“Gesch. und Darstellung des Jüdischen Cultus,” Mannheim, 1866
“Das Mosaisch-Talmudische Strafrecht,” Vienna, 1868
“Zur Botanik des Talmuds,” Budapest, 1871
“Schulgesetzgebung und Methodik der Alten Israeliten,” Vienna, 1872
“Die Biblisch-Talmudische Glaubenslehre,” etc., ib. 1872
“Die Moral der Evangelien und des Talmuds,” Brünn, 1878
He also wrote “Jerushalayim ha-Benuya,” a commentary on the Mishnah, treatise Mo’ed, Cracow, 1880

Bibliography:

Ha-Asif, 1894, pp. 139–140
Ha-Ẓefirah, xvii., No. 183