3.12.1918 Pogrom in the Jewish ghetto in Holešov

The incident in Holešov in December 1918 was the last Czech pogrom. Even members of the newly entered Czechoslovak army took part in the violence. Those who lost their lives Hugo Gretzer and Herman Grünbau.

On the whole, Jews had no cause for complaint in Czechoslovakia and the attitude of the state towards them was positive, which was similar to the situation under the monarchy after 1867. However, the transition period, i.e. the First World War and the beginning of the new republic, was difficult. Even the Jewish community was affected by the worst war conflict in history up to that time, when, although the territory Czechoslovakia was not directly affected by the fighting, but the terrible loss of life and economic disruption did not escape the hinterland.

Moreover, in the post-war period in the new republic, Jews were blamed for both the earlier anti-Czech resistance and the economic disruption and food shortages. However, thanks to political stability and the attitude of President Masaryk, who had considerable authority and always rejected anti-Semitism, the situation calmed down relatively quickly.

"The incident in Holešov in December 1918, which claimed two victims, was thus the last Czech pogrom," writes Jan Kuklík in his book How to Compensate for the Holocaust.

Information on the Holešov pogrom can be found in the Archive of Visual History for the Territory of Bohemia and Moravia. My age at the time, I was born in June, so how old was I in December, and my brother was four years old. I don't know where we were, we children, but in our apartment, in the house in Zopska Street, number 19. My father was in the army, otherwise he would have been dead. He was very violent," recalls the man whose testimony was recorded.

He also describes how they had an office at home with a metal cash register. "It had these indentations on the side, and my parents described it to me as coming from the pogromists... trying to open the cash box with a heavy hammer. When they couldn't, they put a knife to my mother's chest and said, Jewess, open the cash register or you're dead. I can still see the carpet in our room, which was covered with stains, as the pogromists smashed compote glasses," the man said.

Even members of the newly-installed Czechoslovak army were involved in the violence at the time. Hugo Gretzer and Herman Grünbau, both of whom fought in the trenches during the First World War, lost their lives. The soldiers went house to house, taking money and jewellery. Gretzer was shot because he found a fellow soldier from the trenches among them. Grünbau fought back, so they bayoneted him.

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