Prague Fassionen

Jews were expelled from Prague by Empress Maria Theresa in 1745 based on false accusations of high treason.  When they were permitted to return to Prague in 1748 a census was taken on forms called Fassionen, which were often signed by the head of household or a representative.  During the initial years the forms listed children and others in the household.  These and similar forms continued to be used through 1838 to record new households, ordinarily after a man married for the first time (and for these the father of the bride is often mentioned).  All told, some 4,663 forms were recorded, all of which are held by the Jewish Museum of Prague. After 1751, the forms do not record children or other household members.  The forms often include occupation of the head of household and the location of the house.

The forms used from 1748-1751 were transcribed by Alexandr Putik and Lucie B. Petrusová and published in 2012 (accessible here). JewishGen also has a database with the index from that book.  Note that the book includes persons mentioned on the back sides of a small number of forms, which were not scanned and were unavailable to JewishGen.

For further information, please contact: E. Randol Schoenberg.

Searching the Database

This database can be searched via the JewishGen Austria-Czech Database or the JewishGen Unified Search