Gebrüder Samek / Jewish entrepreneurs in Brno

As early as the Middle Ages, Brno was a home to a Jewish community, based in the lower part of Masaryk Street around Františkánská Street and Římské Square. Its synagogue stood on the site of today’s Church of Mary Magdalene, while the Jewish cemetery was located outside the city walls in the area of today’s main railway station. In 1454, King Ladislaus the Posthumous issued a decree banishing Jews from the royal cities. From this year until 1848, Jews basically disappeared from the life of Brno, their struggle to claim at least certain being met with mostly uncertain outcome. The only place left for Jews coming to Brno for business to stay overnight was the Nový svět inn on Křenová Street.

In 1726, the so-called Familiants Law, allowing only the eldest son of a Jewish family to marry, came into effect. This law forced a large number of Jews to move from Moravia to Hungary. Later, the empress Maria Theresa had all Jews deported from the lands of the Bohemian Crown. Things finally started looking up in 1792, when the Edict of Tolerance of the emperor Joseph II was issued. However, the tension did not completely disappear until 1848, when the last segregation decrees got repealed and Jews became rightful citizens of the monarchy. This is also when members of later business families such as the Gomperz, Löw, Löw-Beer, Stiassni and others came to Brno from all over Moravia and Halychyna.

In 1853, the first new synagogue was built in Brno, following the establishment of a new Jewish cemetery in Židenice the year before. The Jewish community has seen its peak during the First Republic, when the Jewish Reformed Real Gymnasium on Hybešova Street (in the former textile entrepreneur Skene’s residence) and many other educational and cultural institutions were established. However, the majority of the Jewish population, both in Brno and across all of the Protectorate was sadly decimated during the Second World War.

The company Gebrüder Samek was founded in Cejl 38 in 1868 by Jakob Samek in collaboration with his brothers Johan and Albert, specializing in the production of thin wool cloth, the so-called “cajk”, as well as suitings and English-style worsted yarn fabrics. The company enjoyed a great success at many European industrial exhibitions. Jakob Samek also established a premium savings bank for his accomplished workers. The company existed for two generations of the Samek family and was decommissioned in 1935.