MemoGIS Prague. New web application to study the spatial exclusion of Jews in Nazi-occupied Prague

Where did the Jewish residents of Prague live during World War II before they were deported? Which places were they not allowed to visit during the occupation? In which places were they detained for violating anti-Jewish prohibitions and regulations?

Answers to these and other questions can be found in the new MemoGIS Prague web application, which will be published on 27 January 2022 on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. MemoGIS can be used from mobile devices on site or from a home or school computer. As of now, the app is available in Czech and an English version is under preparation.

MemoGIS, a combination of “memory” and GIS (geographic information system), provides insight into the microhistory of the exclusion of Jews from society, the spatial restrictions, and interaction with other residents of the occupied city. Large data sets collected for research, commemoration, and education can thus be read through space. On a map of Prague, the app projects data on more than thirty thousand victims of the Holocaust, places of persecution, and cases of violations of anti-Jewish ordinances.

The app offers Prague residents a new perspective on the familiar shared space of the city. It allows schools to ask new questions about the Holocaust and racial segregation with the help of modern technology. It provides tourists with a new experience in discovering a metropolis with a multi-ethnic history.

The MemoGIS application was created by the Masaryk Institute and the Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences in cooperation with the Terezín Initiative Institute and the Multicultural Centre Prague. The project was supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (project ID TL01000366, Integration and segregation in cityspace: the history of the Holocaust in Prague through a web application) and will be further maintained and developed within the Czech node of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI).

Contact:

Mgr. Michal Frankl, Ph.D.
Masarykův ústav a Archiv AV ČR, v. v. i.
e-mail: frankl@mua.cas.cz