A new issue of the journal Judaica Bohemiae (48/2013, 2) came out at the end of December 2013. This volume includes a revelatory study by Daniel Baránek which – on the basis of previously unknown sources, particularly from the Austrian State Archives – provides a detailed explanation for the emergence of “emancipatory” Jewish religious communities and for the organizational settlement of Jewish affairs in Moravia and Silesia in the latter half of the 19th century. The following text by Magdalena Sedlická deals with examples of anti-Semitism in the Czechoslovak Foreign Army in Great Britain during the Second World War. The third main study, written by Jan Kotůlek and Rolf T. Nossum, illustrates the fate of Jewish scientists from Czechoslovakia in the face of Nazi danger, with focus on the Czech Jewish mathematician Walter Fröhlich. Drawing on extensive archive materials from the UK, the Czech Republic and the USA, it describes in detail Fröhlich’s unsuccessful attempts at emigration and finding work in the UK or the USA.

The Reports section contains information on two of the Jewish Museum’s recent exhibitions – “You won’t need to see a rabbi.” 500 Years of Hebrew Printing in Bohemia and Moravia (Olga Sixtová) and Symbols of Emancipation – Nineteenth-Century Synagogues in the Czech Lands (Arno Pařík). Pavel Sládek reports on the major international conference David Gans (1541–1613). After Four Centuries: The Legacy of an Early Modern Jewish Polymath (Prague, 27-29 May 2013) and Jaroslav Kuntoš focuses on a valuable set of pitchers used by the Mikulov Burial Society, which are kept in the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague. The final section of the journal contains books reviews. Alexandr Putík assesses the Czech translation of Abraham David’s book Anonymní hebrejská kronika z raně novověké Prahy [An Anonymous Hebrew Chronicle from Early Modern Prague] (2013). Ivana Ebelová appraises Fasse pražských židovských rodin z let 1748–1749 (1751). Edice pramene k návratu z tereziánského vypovězení [Sworn Declarations of Prague Jewish Families, 1748–1749 (1751). Edition of a Source on the Return of Jews Expelled by Maria Theresa] (2012; edited by Lucie B. Petrusová and Alexandr Putík). Pavel Kocman discusses Peter Rauscher and Barbara Staudinger’s book, Austria Judaica. Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Niederösterreich und Wien, 1496–1671 (2011). Benjamin Frommer comments on Magda Veselská’s book, Archa paměti. Cesta pražského židovského muzea pohnutým 20. stoletím (2012) [Ark of Memory. The Jewish Museum in Prague’s Journeythrough the Turbulent Twentieth Century].