Originally, this synagogue was built in 1535 by Aaron Horowitz as a private house of prayer. It got its name, if one of the many Prague legends is to be believed, after the poor Jew Pinkas, who suddenly became rich and donated his funds for the construction of this house of prayer.
Today, the Pinkas Synagogue is part of the Jewish Museum of Prague complex and is an attraction not only as a former place of worship in Josefov, but also as a Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
If you go inside, you will see on the walls of the synagogue a huge number - more than 77000 - of names of Jews who suffered from Nazi persecution during World War II. All of them were applied to these walls by hand (!). The surnames are listed in alphabetical order and grouped by the cities of the victims' last place of residence. Family members are recorded one after another, and each entry preserves the date of birth and the date of death or the date when the person was last seen.
On the second floor of this Memorial there is a collection of drawings by children who had been in the Terezin concentration camp. During the entire time of its existence, more than 10000 children were held there! And of the 8000 deported to the east at the very end of the war, only 242 children remained alive.
