For more than 40 years under Communist rule, the Jewish communities of what was then Czechoslovakia relied upon clandestine JDC assistance to survive day to day. With the fall of the regime and the country's split into two separate nations, Czech Jewry suddenly gained the opportunity to rebuild Jewish life, but also faced the new challenges wrought by the transition to democracy and a free market economy.

Government restitution of Jewish communal property confiscated during the Holocaust and Communist eras gradually transformed the community's economic situation. Today, property proceeds provide the resources to meet growing welfare needs and to fuel the ongoing Jewish renaissance. Still, the community looks to its partnership with JDC for assistance in strengthening its institutions and broadening the scope of its activities.

Because self-sufficiency is not limited to financial independence, JDC works closely with both individual Jewish communities throughout the Czech Republic and their federation to ensure that local institutional needs are being met. To that end, JDC has assisted the community in recreating several of its pre-war organizations and in developing new ones that respond to the evolving demands of an increasingly diverse constituency. Today, virtually all of the country's Jewish communities have renovated or refurbished facilities - even those in small outlying towns - where Jews can worship, learn and celebrate together.

To help Czech Jewry see further down the road, well beyond its immediate priorities, JDC invests in specialized training opportunities and provides seed money to launch new programs. JDC also nurtures initiatives that have become an integral part of local Jewish life, including Bejt Elend after school Jewish programming for children and the Jewish Education Center at the Prague Jewish Museum.

Even as the Czech Jewish community grows increasingly independent financially, JDC continues to have critical impact, helping to pave the way to a vibrant Jewish future for this important center of Jewish life in the heart of Central Europe.