Sylvie is a native Czech Jew born and raised under Communism.
Surviving both Communism and post-Holocaust trauma, she emerged with a strong sense of
Jewish history and identity. She began giving personal tours of Jewish sites in 1986,
establishing the Wittmann Tours company in 1991. Sylvie was the first ever to organize
Jewish tours to the Jewish Ghetto of Terezín and Prague’s Jewish quarter. |
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In addition, she founded the liberal / reconstructionist congregation Bejt Simcha in
1991 to serve the needs of Prague’s re-emerging Jewish community, which had
nearly vanished as a result of the Nazi persecution and 40 years of Communist regime.
Sylvie has successfully supported and reestablished Prague’s religious pluralism
as it existed prior to the WWII.
Sylvie Wittmann is a popular guest lecturer at many Jewish institutions, Conferences
and educational projects e.g. LIMMUD – Birmingham, England; Hillel Center -
University of California, USA; Holocaust museum – Houston; World Union for
Progressive Judaism - Jerusalem,Israel; The Czech Academy of Science – Prague;
The Charles University – Prague; The Czech Catholic Bishops' Conference
– Prague; The Educational and Cultural Center of The Jewish Museum –
Prague.
Sylvie’s Wittmann tour guides come from a variety of backgrounds, each
contributing a specific knowledge to their enthusiastic work and enhancing each others
presentations. Our guides include Holocaust Survivors, University Professors, Rabbis, as
well as top level students researching Jewish history and culture.
Sylvie’s family history is described in the book ”A Hole in the
Heart of the World“ by Jonathan Kaufman, Penguin’s Book, 1997
”An American in Prague“, Travel & Leisure, November 1998.
‘... Sylvie Wittmann, born in Northern Bohemia in 1956, has developed a small
Jewish-Czech touring empire. What started with a weekly trip to Terezín, a transit camp
for Jews built by the Nazis in an old fortress town about 40 miles north-west of Prague,
has become a full-time effort to reclaim a history. It is well worth following
Sylvie’s troops through the Jewish Quarter...’
By Wendy Wasserstein
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