The history of the Jews in the Czech lands, historically the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, including the modern Czech Republic (i.e. Bohemia, Moravia, and the southeast or Czech Silesia), goes back at least 1,100 years. There is evidence that Jews have lived in Moravia and Bohemia since as early as the 10th century. Jewish communities flourished here specifically in the 13th, 16th, 17th centuries, and again in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Local Jews were mostly murdered in the Holocaust, or exiled at various points. As of 2021, there were only about 3,000 Jews officially registered in the Czech Republic, albeit the actual number is probably as much as ten times higher.
Jewish people constituted a minority group in the Czech lands. Their population fluctuated depending on the beliefs of the monarch. During the reigns of Přemysl Otakar II and Rudolf II, they were able to prosper, but also experienced exile under Maria Theresa and pogroms under Charles IV. The Jewish population improved during the Enlightenment, when Joseph II reigned, and in the 19th century, they gained equal rights and began assimilating with the majority. During World War II, the Nazis — who occupied part of Czechoslovakia — began the Holocaust, leading to the death of 80,000 Czech, Moravian and Silesian Jews. Under the Communist Party, their population dwindled, and they now make up only a fraction of their numbers after the Velvet Revolution.
