Persecution of Jews in Czechia

Crusaders
Jews were killed in Bohemia by Crusaders in the late 11th century and the mid-12th century during the First and Second Crusades. Many survivors were forcibly converted to Christianity.

Bohemian monarchs
In 1254, Ottokar II, King of Bohemia, issued regulations toward the Jews of Prague, which included that a Jew found with an unmarried Christian woman is to be put to death, and a Jew found with a married Christian woman is to be impaled at the crossroads. After an accusation that Jews consumed Christian blood, King John in 1336 sentenced several Jews to be killed at Prague, and he had their synagogue torn down. Ottokar's regulations were confirmed by King Charles IV in 1356, and King Wenceslaus IV renewed the regulations in 1393. Wenceslaus' successor, Sigismund I, expelled Jews from Cheb in 1430. He also exempted Bohemian Christians from paying any interest they owed to Jewish moneylenders.

In the early 16th century, King Vladislav II approved of the expulsion of Jews from Plzeň and České Budějovice and King Ferdinand I expelled Jews from all of Bohemia in 1541. After the Jews were allowed back, the king decreed for Jews to wear a Jewish badge in 1551 and, in 1557, issued another decree ordering the expulsion of Jewish people.

In 1630, King Ferdinand II ordered Jews to attend the conversionist sermons of the Jesuits.

King Charles II restricted the number of Jews allowed in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in 1727, allowed only one son in a Jewish family to marry and begin a family, and expelled Jews from Silesia in 1738. His successor, Queen Maria Theresa, ordered Jews to leave Prague in 1744. Later, in 1777, she wrote of Jews: “I know of no greater plague than this race, which on account of its deceit, usury and avarice is driving my subjects into beggary. Therefore as far as possible, the Jews are to be kept away and avoided.”

Ghetto
In 1262, a ghetto was established in Prague for the purpose of segregating Jews.

Blood libel
Jews were accused in blood libels, which are false accusations of having killed Christians (usually children) for rituals, in Prague in 1305 and again in 1893, České Budějovice in 1505, Kroměříž in 1889, Benátky nad Jizerou in 1892, and Kolín and Holešov in 1893. In České Budějovice, Jews were murdered.

Host desecration accusations
Jews were murdered after accusations of host desecration in Jindřichův Hradec, Kouřim, and Třebíč in 1338, Prague in 1389, and Louny in 1541. After Prague's clergy spread accusations of host desecration and blasphemy against Jews in 1389, Christian mobs murdered Jews and forcibly baptized Jewish women and children. Jews were expelled after an accusation in Plzeň in 1504.

15th-16th-century expulsions
Albert V, Margrave of Moravia, expelled Jews from Jihlava in 1426, and King Sigismund I of Bohemia expelled Jews from Cheb in 1430. In the mid-15th century, Franciscan John of Capistrano's sermons incited Christians to expel Jewish people from Brno, Jihlava, Olomouc, and Znojmo. Jews were also expelled from Most in 1453, Karlovy Vary in 1499, Plzeň in 1504, České Budějovice in the early 16th century, Uherske Hradiste in 1514, Ostrava in 1531, and all of Bohemia twice in the mid-16th century.