That's the name of the Bohemian (now Czech Republic) town where Samuel Lederer, my great great grandfather came from in the mid- nineteenth century. My third cousin, Sue Geiger, keeps track of all this family. Samuel Lederer's grandson, Irwin Baumann was my grandfather.
The top picture shows the interior of the synagogue in that small town in 1940. Destruction and desolation soon would visit the members of the congregation. These pews would have been for the men only; there was a separate women's section. No Jews returned to this town and none have lived there since. The building, constructed in 1881, still stands and was purchased by a local church after the war.
This synagogue's Torah survived the war and is now used by a congregation in Parkland Florida. An Israeli cousin, Eytan Lederer, researched this. More information available
The second picture is an aerial shot of the small town as of 2011.
The 1940 shot looks calm and solid, but you can feel the whole outside world trembling about to explode. How would you know? Would any of us know now?
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