On a visit to Prague this past summer, my wife and I were fortunate to have been invited by Norman Eisen, then the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, to share Shabbat dinner with him at his residence. Norm is a highly personable, intelligent, articulate and learned individual. The evening would have been more than worthwhile had it simply provided us the opportunity to meet and dine with him.
However, there is more to the story.
The ambassador’s residence is Petschek Villa, a 72-room mansion on six-plus acres built in the late 1920s in the Beaux-Arts style by Otto Petschek, a Jewish industrialist. Otto died in 1934 and the rest of his family fortunately left Czechoslovakia in 1938.
Left in the care of the family’s butler, the property was confiscated by the Nazis in 1939 when they occupied Prague. After a brief occupation by Soviet and Czech forces in the years right after the war, the mansion was purchased by the U.S. government in 1948 as the ambassador’s residence.
The property and the mansion are, as one can imagine, highly impressive. Inspired by his visits to Versailles, Petschek closely oversaw the mansion’s design by prominent architect Max Spielman and also supervised its construction and furnishing.
Petschek rejected straight lines and right angles and created a floor plan in the shape of a sweeping crescent. The mansion also included interesting modern technology, such as electrically operated glass terrace walls that recess into the basement, fully opening the parlor into an outdoor space.
During World War II, the mansion served as the headquarters of Gen. Rudolf Toussaint, the German military governor of Prague. History tells us that it was Hitler’s intention to turn parts of Prague into a “museum of a lost race.” As the story goes, Hitler personally ordered that nothing of value — art, crystal, china, tapestries, furniture, etc. — be removed from the Petschek mansion. Everything was catalogued and many of the most valuable items were stored in the basement.
During his tenure from 2011 to this year, Eisen organized and supervised a major renovation of the mansion, not only updating heating, plumbing and electrical systems, but also “liberating” many of the most valuable items still in storage in the basement and returning them to their original placements throughout the mansion. During our tour of the mansion, as he did with most visitors, Eisen invited us to get down on the floor and look at the underside of a magnificent antique table. There we saw the stamp of a Nazi eagle clutching a swastika — quite a chilling moment.
At dinner, Eisen, an observant Jew, guided his 17 guests through an elaborate and complete Shabbat dinner, including the washing of the hands. A lively discussion of current events followed.
At one point during the meal, the ambassador reminded us that in that very same dining room, at that very same table, sitting on those very same chairs, the Nazi high command laid its plans for the persecution, deportation and eventual murder of the Jews of Prague and Czechoslovakia.
How ironic and — in a certain sense — satisfying that 70 years later, 18 Jews celebrated Shabbat in that very same place.
Eric Horodas is a Bay Area hotelier and the former chair of the ADL’s Central Pacific region.