Jan Fischer: Europe's 1st Jewish president? - Jewish World - Jerusalem Post Jan Fischer: Europe's 1st Jewish president? ByJTA 09 January 2013 10:30 Czech 'Joe Liberman' is neck and neck in the polls with another former government head as nation holds first round of elections. Former Czech prime minister Jan Fischer 370. (photo credit:REUTERS/David W Cerny) PRAGUE -- If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first European country to elect a Jewish president. Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck and neck in the polls with another former government head as the nation holds its first round of presidential elections on Friday and Saturday. Be the first to know - Join our Facebook page. The two front-runners advance to a runoff, and political prognosticators are predicting that Fischer will reach the second round. If elected, "He's like our Joe Lieberman,” said Tomas Kraus, chairman of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, referring to the failed US vice presidential candidate.

“Whether or not you support him, you can't help but be proud he has come this far.” Also in Jewish World: EJC head blasts 'Spiegel' writer for 'Israel hatred' Technically speaking, Europe has had a Jewish president: Ruth Dreifuss, who was president of the Swiss Confederation in 1999. But the Swiss presidency is a one-year rotating post, not a popularly elected position, and the president doesn't really have broader powers than the other members of the Swiss Federal Council. Europe has had other Jewish heads of government, aside from Fischer: Leon Blum, who was prime minister of France in the 1930s and '40s, and Austria's Bruno Kreisky, who served as prime minister from 1970 to 1983. Britain's Benjamin Disraeli came from Jewish stock, but his family converted out of the faith before he was born. Fischer, whose career highlights include running the Czech Statistical Office and serving as vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, slipped from first to second in the polls following a lackluster performance last week in a televised debate.

His ascent from skilled technocrat to high-echelon politics -- and possibly to Prague Castle -- sheds light on the region's nuanced relationship with Judaism and Israel. Running on a platform promoting economic growth and political transparency, Fischer also is known for his pride in what he calls the Czech Republic’s “very friendly relations with Israel.” He noted that the Czech Republic was consistently one of Europe's most ardent supporters of Israel in times of crisis, a tradition dating back to the 1920s when the first Czechoslovak president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, endorsed the creation of the Jewish state. More recently, the Czech Republic was among only a handful of countries in the world to vote against upgrading the Palestinians' status at the United Nations. Fischer thus finds it unnecessary to bluster in the same way as his chief presidential rival, Milos Zeman, who has declared his support for a preemptive strike against Iran.

"I have no need to demonstrate my friendly attitude towards Israel because everyone is familiar with it, so I don’t need to say something very strong," he told JTA in a wide-ranging interview, adding that he is well aware that "Iran is the dark force in the region." Fischer’s professions of devotion to Israel weren't always so robust. Before the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, it was dangerous for anyone -- especially a government employee -- to sympathize with Israel because the authorities toed the Soviet anti-Zionist line. His upbringing is a case study of post-World War II Jewish life in Central Europe. His father survived Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, and his mother was Catholic. He celebrated Czech Christmas and attended synagogue. “My father brought me to the synagogue for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and Purim,” Fischer recalled. “During Pesach we didn't organize a seder, but we did have matzah. Father was a member of the Jewish community until the end of the 1950s.” That changed once Czechoslovak Communist leaders became more virulently anti-religious; Judaism was no longer high on his family's list of priorities.

It changed again -- as it did for many of Fischer's generation -- when his son began to discover his Jewish roots. Also named Jan, Fischer’s son was born in 1989, the same year the Velvet Revolution swept communism from the country. “He was very interested in the story of the Holocaust and he liked to talk about my father despite [the fact] that he died in 1975,” Fischer said. “Through his discoveries he developed a strong bond with Judaism, and he brought me back." Fischer credited the Lauder Jewish School, which his son attended, for educating the whole family. Fischer’s father, also a Prague statistician, was forced to collect numerical data on Jewish families for the Nazis. "When he arrived in Auschwitz he didn't expect to live, but Mengele found out he was a mathematician and thought he could be of use,” Fischer said. Although some may not deem Fischer as Jewish by halachah, or Jewish law, he invokes the Holocaust experience as a defining characteristic of those who view themselves as Jews.

“It is a common tragedy," he said, "and based on it I feel part of this community.” Even in the relatively liberal-minded Czech Republic, however, being Jewish can be a political disadvantage. When Fischer took over as prime minister, a smattering of comments on blogs referred negatively to his Jewish origins. There were hints, too, that Fischer was part of a secret brotherhood, as one of his advisers also was Jewish. But Czechs mostly were just curious about their new leader's religious background. His ethnicity again became a focus of public fixation when when his predecessor, thinking he was off the record during a taped magazine interview, slurred a gay minister and Fischer, linking a penchant for compromise to his Jewishness. During his tenure as prime minister, Fischer was admired for aggressively pursuing extremist groups that were terrorizing the country’s largest minority, the Roma. As a result of these activities, and partly on account of his religion, Fischer's son was put under police protection.

Still, asked about anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic, he responds, “This country has so many political problems, but anti-Semitism is not one of them.” Although Fischer’s influence as president would be limited in a parliamentary democracy and his powers largely ceremonial, the head of state does occasionally remark on foreign policy issues. And that is where Israel comes up again in conversation. Fischer is bluntly critical of the European Union’s sometimes muddy statements with regard to Israel. Asked if he agreed with the EU's repeated condemnation of Israeli settlements, he said, "The voice of the European Union is sometimes strong [on this topic]. It is not the opinion of every country. The reality is that the EU hasn't got any foreign policy. I don't think the settlements are the greatest issue in the region. Iran is the greatest issue." If there is a shadow hanging over Fischer in the eyes of Czech voters, it is not his religion but his former membership in the Communist Party. Fischer says he joined under pressure to keep his job as a public employee and has publicly apologized for the decision. “I gave in and it is nothing I am proud of,” he said.

Compared to his two larger-than-life predecessors -- human rights luminary Vaclav Havel and Euroskeptic Vaclav Klaus -- Fischer is distinguished largely by the fact that he is so reserved. Critics have noted his lack of charisma. Jiri Pehe, a former adviser to Havel and now a well-known political commentator, doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing. Fischer, he says, appeals to the average citizen. “Czechs are fed up with a presidency where a president has to be highly visible and interfere with party politics, and make speeches on issues like global warming,” Pehe said. “Maybe they want someone ordinary, someone to act as the chief notary, putting a seal on international documents.” Rabbi Manes Barash, who runs a Chabad synagogue in Prague where Fischer occasionally prays, takes the charisma issue a step further. “A lot of people who are crooks have charisma,” Barash joked. “Maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have charisma.” On a more serious note, Barash says Fischer might be good for the country, which is among the most atheistic in the world, according to surveys.

“That he is a believer is something very special for the Czech Republic,” Barash said. “Such a secular society, it is missing here.” Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin Tags: Czech Republic | Country report | Freedom in the World | 2010 Freedom in the World 1 Overview: Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek’s center-right government was ousted by a vote of no confidence in March 2009, and President Vaclav Klaus appointed Jan Fischer as prime minister of a caretaker government in April. Because a majority of deputies opposed early parliamentary elections, Fischer’s government was set to remain in place until regular elections in June 2010. Also during 2009, violence against Roma continued amid worsening economic conditions. Czechoslovakia was created in 1918 amid the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Soviet forces helped establish a communist government after World War II, and in 1968 they crushed the so-called Prague Spring, a period of halting political liberalization under reformist leader Alexander Dubcek.

In December 1989, a series of peaceful anticommunist demonstrations led by dissident Vaclav Havel and the Civic Forum opposition group resulted in the resignation of the government, in what became known as the Velvet Revolution. Open elections were held the following year. In 1992, a new constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms were adopted, and the country began an ambitious program of political and economic reform under Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus of the center-right Civic Democratic Party (ODS), who became prime minister that year. In 1993, the state dissolved peacefully into separate Czech and Slovak republics, and Havel became president of the former. Close parliamentary elections in 1998 brought the center-left Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD) to power, although an “opposition agreement” between the CSSD and the ODS limited meaningful political competition and brought about several years of political gridlock. Klaus was elected president by Parliament in 2003.

The Czech Republic joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004, but the CSSD’s poor showing in June elections for the European Parliament led to Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla’s resignation and a period of instability in the ruling coalition. In the June 2006 lower house elections, the CSSD and the unreformed Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM) captured 100 seats (74 and 26, respectively), while three other parties—the ODS, the Christian and Democratic Union–Czechoslovak People’s Party (KDU-CSL), and the Greens—also won 100 (81, 13, and 6, respectively). Months of negotiations failed to produce a viable government, as no party was willing to work with the KSCM and the two largest parties were unable to agree on a grand coalition. A fragile government of the ODS, KDU-CSL, and Greens failed a confidence vote in October after serving only one month, but the ODS easily won regional and Senate elections in late October, strengthening its public position.

In January 2007, President Klaus reappointed Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the ODS, who had remained in office in a caretaker capacity since the last coalition collapsed. Klaus himself was narrowly reelected in February 2008, receiving 141 votes in Parliament. The CSSD led regional and Senate elections in October 2008, rising to a new total of 29 seats in the Senate and reducing the ODS to a total of 35, ending its majority in the chamber. Topolanek’s coalition government was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in March 2009, and Klaus appointed Jan Fischer to lead the caretaker government that took over in May. The president set early parliamentary elections for October, but the Constitutional Court blocked them in September after an independent deputy argued that snap elections would violate his right to serve a full term. The CSSD, Greens, and KSCM defeated a subsequent constitutional amendment that would have allowed for early elections. As a result, the caretaker government was set to remain in place until regular parliamentary elections due in June 2010.

Klaus, a skeptic of EU integration, signed the long-delayed Lisbon Treaty in November 2009 after the Constitutional Court deemed it compatible with the Czech constitution and he received assurances that the country could opt out of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Czech ratification cleared the way for implementation of the treaty, which was intended in part to make EU decision-making more efficient. Political Rights and Civil Liberties: The Czech Republic is an electoral democracy. Since the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the country has enjoyed free and fair elections. The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, has 200 members elected for four-year terms by proportional representation. The Senate has 81 members elected for six-year terms, with one-third up for election every two years. The president, elected by Parliament for five-year terms, appoints judges, the prime minister, and other cabinet members, but has few other formal powers. The prime minister, whose recommendations determine the cabinet appointments, relies on support from a majority in the Chamber of Deputies to govern. The three largest political parties are the center-left CSSD; the center-right, market-oriented ODS; and the leftist KSCM.

Parties must win at least 5 percent of the vote to enter the lower house. Corruption affects many sectors of society, and the government has taken little action to improve transparency and prevent graft. National police began investigating former Defense Ministry officials in March 2009 for alleged involvement in fraudulent construction contracts. Separately, a lawmaker from the new centre-right party TOP 09 and two KSCM vice chairmen resigned in September after they were implicated in a newspaper’s bribery investigation. The Czech Republic was ranked 52 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index. Freedom of expression is respected, although the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, part of the Czech constitution, prohibits threats against individual rights, state and public security, public health, and morality. The country’s print and electronic media are largely in private hands. In February 2009, an appeals court upheld a fine against journalist Sabina Slonkova for refusing to name the source of footage showing an illicit meeting between a lobbyist and a presidential adviser, despite a 2005 Constitutional Court ruling that journalists cannot be compelled to reveal their sources.

A new law banning publication of police wiretap records and the names of victims and suspects in specific crimes took effect in April 2009. Critics argue that the law, which carries penalties of up to five years in prison and a fine of CZK 5 million ($270,000), infringes on the public’s right to know. Internet access is unrestricted. The government generally upholds freedom of religion. In July 2009, the KDU-CSL voiced opposition to the construction of a second mosque in Brno, but there is no law that would prevent it. Academic freedom is widely respected. Czechs may assemble peacefully, form associations, and petition the government. Trade unions and professional associations function freely. The 2007 labor code abolished several restrictions on freedom of association but requires unions within a single enterprise to act in concert when conducting collective bargaining. The independent judiciary consists of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, and high, regional, and district courts. A 2008 law streamlined the selection procedure for Constitutional Court and Supreme Court judges and established disciplinary measures for those caught accepting bribes.

Prisons generally meet international standards, though abuse of vulnerable prisoners serving life-long sentences remains a problem. In December 2009, three policemen were charged with abuse of power for beating a suspected drug dealer to death. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms gives minorities the right to participate in the resolution of matters pertaining to their group. A 1999 law restored citizenship to many residents, including Roma, who continue to experience discrimination. Romany children are reportedly segregated in schools or even sent to schools for the mentally disabled. In April 2009, a two-year-old Romany girl was seriously injured during an arson attack on her family’s home. In May, the anti-Roma National Party (Narodni Strana) aired a European Parliament campaign advertisement promising a “final solution to the Gypsy question.” Czech Television pulled the ad, but argued that it had no legal right to regulate the content of election material. In November, a representative of the National Party received a one-year suspended sentence and three year’s probation for inciting hatred by airing the advertisement.

The new Antidiscrimination Act, which took effect in September after the Chamber of Deputies overturned a presidential veto, provides for equal treatment regardless of sex, race, age, or sexual orientation. Promoting denial of the Holocaust and inciting religious hatred remain illegal. Gender discrimination is legally prohibited. However, sexual harassment in the workplace appears to be fairly common, and women are underrepresented at the highest levels of government and business. They currently hold 14 seats in the 81-member Senate, and 35 of 200 in the Chamber of Deputies. Trafficking of women and girls for prostitution remains a problem. The government has taken steps in recent years to strengthen the reporting and punishment of domestic violence. The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) raised concerns again in 2009 that convicted sex offenders were being surgically castrated without their consent or sufficient information on the surgery and its side effects. The CPT reported that most sex offenders had agreed to the castration to avoid long-term imprisonment and that more than 50 percent had committed nonviolent crimes.

Jan Fischer appointed as the new Czech prime minister | Europe | DW.COM | 09.04.2009 Europe Jan Fischer appointed as the new Czech prime minister Non-partisan Fischer is to take over from outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek who lost a vote of no-confidence in March. The new job will see Fischer also take over as President of the EU. The new head of the Czech Republic and President of the EU Czech President Vaclav Klaus appointed non-partisan Jan Fischer as new Prime Minister on Thursday. Fischer will take over from Mirek Topolanek who lost a no-confidence vote on March 24. The 58-year-old will also take over at the helm of the European Union, as the Czech Republic currently holds the rotating Presidency of the EU. Fischer said he plans to start picking ministers next week and will take over from Topolanek only after President Vaclav Klaus appoints the entire cabinet. Political parties, which agreed to form the Fischer-led interim government, want Klaus to install the new cabinet on May 9. "This government will have to cope with the EU presidency ... and within its capabilities mitigate the impact of the economic crisis," Fischer said following his appointment.

Fischer during the inauguration with Czech President Vaclav Klaus. He said the government would also have to prepare the 2010 budget, a key task as revenues fall and the parliament plans tax cuts and extra spending. Fischer's new cabinet will be backed by the two biggest political parties, Topolanek's Civic Democrats and opposition rivals, the Social Democrats of Jiri Paroubek. Jan Fischer is an economist by training and has headed the Czech Statistics Office. He spent most of his career in the public sector and academia. A novice in top politics, he is regarded as a compromise choice acceptable to the country's two large parties. Under the deal, early elections are scheduled for October 2009. The parties have agreed on a bill, which would cut short the four-year term of parliament's lower house. ai/rm, dpa/rtr/afp Jan Fischer, Head of Czech caretaker government, commits the Czech Republic to the US missile base system without having a political mandate | 23. 10.

2009 | Karel Dolejší | Britské listy Jan Fischer, Head of Czech caretaker government, commits the Czech Republic to the US missile base system without having a political mandate 23. 10. 2009 / Karel Dolejší The Czech Republic does not have an elected government at the moment. The general election will take place in the spring of 2010. Since the Czech government fell this spring, the country has been ruled by a non-elected caretaker government of Jan Fischer. Today, 23rd October 2009, Jan Fischer has lost the moral right to represent the Czech Republic as Prime Minister, argues Karel Dolejší. He became the Prime Minister of the caretaker government after the fall of the previous government of Mirek Topolánek. Topolánek was deposed in the spring of 2009 primarily so that he could not push through two agreements dealing with the US missile defence which he had negotiated with the US government of George Bush in spite of the fact that two thirds of the Czech citizens are opposed to the project.

A Czech version of this article in Topolánek pushed this strategically important item onto his political idea using a fraud, perpetrated on the voters. Thus Topolánek had no mandate to conclude in the name of the Czech Republic important agreements with the USA which threaten the international balance of powers in Europe. Fischer, who became Czech Prime Minister after Topolánek's fall, has even less of a mandate to take on questionable strategic obligations on behalf of the Czech Republic. Yet Fischer has now promised visiting US vice-president Joe Biden that the Czech Republic will take part in Obama's technologically updated version of the anti-missile system. This means that the caretaker Prime Minister has usurped powers which he does not hold. The balance of power in Europe dependes on the mutual relationship between the USA and their allies on one side and Russia and its allies on the other side. The original Bush's project of the European anti-missile system provoked serious objections from the Russian Federation. Russian welcomed the scrapping of Bush's anti-missile project, but according to the latest statements by the Russian side Obama's new project "raises more questions than answers".

Especially problematic is the high number of US warships and anti-missiles which arae to be stationed near the Russian borders in the next few years. Until Russia is actively integrated into the anti-missile project in Europe, the new PRO project will be as destabilising as Bush's anti-missile system, or in fact, even more. What is more - in its final stage, the new anti-missile system is supposed to be able to destroy intercontinetal ballistic missiles. This potentially means a total danger to the Russian strategic arsenal about the lowering of which Obama and Medvedev are supposed to negotiate before the end of this year. If the Americans for some reason feel unable to submit an acceptable offer to Moscow to become a part of the anti-missile system in Europe, this will probably mean that the Russian criticism of the new PRO system will be voice much more loudly and the Russians will 'begin planning appropriate counter-measures against the one-sided US steps taken in this area. For the Czech Republic, whose government without a mandate promises to cooperate on the building of the new American anti-missile system, this would mean that the country would become one of the possible targets of the Russian nuclear counter-strike.

No one has ever given Jan Fischer the right to expose his country to such risks. The Czech Republic, again, does not have a legitimate government. A group of usurpers is sitting in the Czech government. They are without a mandate. They have decided, out of sheer arrogance for their fellow citizens, to give promises to an alien power which mean participation in a highly controversial security project. These promises can easily make the Czech Republic a nuclear target. Radio Prague - Prime Minister Jan Fischer to become vice-president of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Download: MP3 The prime minister of the caretaker Czech government has accepted a nomination to become one the bank’s three vice-presidents, replacing Slovakia’s Brigita Schmögnerová. After he is formally approved by the bank’s board of directors, he will be in charge of communication with the countries where the bank is active as well as with suppliers, contractors and consultants. Mr Fischer will also oversee the environmental and social impacts of the bank’s activities. Prime Minister Jan Fischer, photo: Mr Fischer last year completed the Czech Republic’s term of the presidency of the EU after the fall of the political government of Mirek Topolánek, acquiring valuable experience and contacts in the process.

After initial doubts over the choice of a technocrat for prime minister, Jan Fisher quickly gained public support and has become one of the most popular prime ministers in the country’s modern history. Polls have continuously indicated an 80 percent support rating, which is quite unusual for executive politicians. But before Mr Fischer was handpicked to lead the caretaker cabinet in March 2009, the closest he came to politics was when he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1980, a move he later regretted. A statistician by profession, Jan Fischer became in 2003 the director of the Czech Statistical Office, a government agency in charge of organizing elections, among other things. Photo: European Commission There was much speculation about Mr Fischer’s future, once his cabinet is replaced by a political government after May’s general elections. Some commentators suggested he could capitalize on his popularity with the public and join one of the Czech political parties – the conservative TOP 09 was sometimes mentioned in this connection. But the prime ministers repeatedly said he was not cut out for a political career, noting that while he enjoyed the administrative part of politics, he hated the wheeling and dealing it involves.

Jan Fischer is set to start his new job on September 1. The only catch that might keep him from moving to London are the negotiations about the new government after general elections on May 28 and 29. After the last elections in 2006, it took some two months to form a new government, so the schedule might be somewhat tight. Tools Jan Fischer, Czech ‘Joe Lieberman,’ could be Europe’s first Jewish president | Jewish Telegraphic Agency Jan Fischer, Czech ‘Joe Lieberman,’ could be Europe’s first Jewish president By Dinah Spritzer January 7, 2013 9:43pm Jewish candidate Jan Fischer is favored to advance to the second round of the presidential elections in the Czech Republic. (Courtesy Jan Fischer campaign) Jewish Czech presidential candidate Jan Fischer, right, attending the Terezin memorial ceremonies to honor the victims of Nazi persecution, May 2012. (Courtesy Jan Fischer campaign) PRAGUE (JTA) — If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first European country to elect a Jewish president.

Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck and neck in the polls with another former government head as the nation holds its first round of presidential elections on Friday and Saturday. The two front-runners advance to a runoff, and political prognosticators are predicting that Fischer will reach the second round. If elected, "He’s like our Joe Lieberman,” said Tomas Kraus, chairman of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, referring to the failed U.S. vice presidential candidate. “Whether or not you support him, you can’t help but be proud he has come this far.” Technically speaking, Europe has had a Jewish president: Ruth Dreifuss, who was president of the Swiss Confederation in 1999. But the Swiss presidency is a one-year rotating post, not a popularly elected position, and the president doesn’t really have broader powers than the other members of the Swiss Federal Council.

Europe has had other Jewish heads of government, aside from Fischer: Leon Blum, who was prime minister of France in the 1930s and ’40s, and Austria’s Bruno Kreisky, who served as prime minister from 1970 to 1983. Britain’s Benjamin Disraeli came from Jewish stock, but his family converted out of the faith before he was born. Fischer, whose career highlights include running the Czech Statistical Office and serving as vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, slipped from first to second in the polls following a lackluster performance last week in a televised debate. His ascent from skilled technocrat to high-echelon politics — and possibly to Prague Castle — sheds light on the region’s nuanced relationship with Judaism and Israel. Running on a platform promoting economic growth and political transparency, Fischer also is known for his pride in what he calls the Czech Republic’s “very friendly relations with Israel.” He noted that the Czech Republic was consistently one of Europe’s most ardent supporters of Israel in times of crisis, a tradition dating back to the 1920s when the first Czechoslovak president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, endorsed the creation of the Jewish state.

More recently, the Czech Republic was among only a handful of countries in the world to vote against upgrading the Palestinians’ status at the United Nations. Fischer thus finds it unnecessary to bluster in the same way as his chief presidential rival, Milos Zeman, who has declared his support for a preemptive strike against Iran. "I have no need to demonstrate my friendly attitude towards Israel because everyone is familiar with it, so I don’t need to say something very strong," he told JTA in a wide-ranging interview, adding that he is well aware that "Iran is the dark force in the region." Fischer’s professions of devotion to Israel weren’t always so robust. Before the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, it was dangerous for anyone — especially a government employee — to sympathize with Israel because the authorities toed the Soviet anti-Zionist line. His upbringing is a case study of post-World War II Jewish life in Central Europe. His father survived Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, and his mother was Catholic. He celebrated Czech Christmas and attended synagogue. “My father brought me to the synagogue for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and Purim,” Fischer recalled.

“During Pesach we didn’t organize a seder, but we did have matzah. Father was a member of the Jewish community until the end of the 1950s.” That changed once Czechoslovak Communist leaders became more virulently anti-religious; Judaism was no longer high on his family’s list of priorities. It changed again — as it did for many of Fischer’s generation — when his son began to discover his Jewish roots. Also named Jan, Fischer’s son was born in 1989, the same year the Velvet Revolution swept communism from the country. “He was very interested in the story of the Holocaust and he liked to talk about my father despite [the fact] that he died in 1975,” Fischer said. “Through his discoveries he developed a strong bond with Judaism, and he brought me back." Fischer credited the Lauder Jewish School, which his son attended, for educating the whole family. Fischer’s father, also a Prague statistician, was forced to collect numerical data on Jewish families for the Nazis. "When he arrived in Auschwitz he didn’t expect to live, but Mengele found out he was a mathematician and thought he could be of use,” Fischer said.

Although some may not deem Fischer as Jewish by halachah, or Jewish law, he invokes the Holocaust experience as a defining characteristic of those who view themselves as Jews. “It is a common tragedy," he said, "and based on it I feel part of this community.” Even in the relatively liberal-minded Czech Republic, however, being Jewish can be a political disadvantage. When Fischer took over as prime minister, a smattering of comments on blogs referred negatively to his Jewish origins. There were hints, too, that Fischer was part of a secret brotherhood, as one of his advisers also was Jewish. But Czechs mostly were just curious about their new leader’s religious background. His ethnicity again became a focus of public fixation when when his predecessor, thinking he was off the record during a taped magazine interview, slurred a gay minister and Fischer, linking a penchant for compromise to his Jewishness. During his tenure as prime minister, Fischer was admired for aggressively pursuing extremist groups that were terrorizing the country’s largest minority, the Roma. As a result of these activities, and partly on account of his religion, Fischer’s son was put under police protection.

Still, asked about anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic, he responds, “This country has so many political problems, but anti-Semitism is not one of them.” Although Fischer’s influence as president would be limited in a parliamentary democracy and his powers largely ceremonial, the head of state does occasionally remark on foreign policy issues. And that is where Israel comes up again in conversation. Fischer is bluntly critical of the European Union’s sometimes muddy statements with regard to Israel. Asked if he agreed with the EU’s repeated condemnation of Israeli settlements, he said, "The voice of the European Union is sometimes strong [on this topic]. It is not the opinion of every country. The reality is that the EU hasn’t got any foreign policy. I don’t think the settlements are the greatest issue in the region. Iran is the greatest issue." If there is a shadow hanging over Fischer in the eyes of Czech voters, it is not his religion but his former membership in the Communist Party. Fischer says he joined under pressure to keep his job as a public employee and has publicly apologized for the decision. “I gave in and it is nothing I am proud of,” he said.

Compared to his two larger-than-life predecessors — human rights luminary Vaclav Havel and Euroskeptic Vaclav Klaus — Fischer is distinguished largely by the fact that he is so reserved. Critics have noted his lack of charisma. Jiri Pehe, a former adviser to Havel and now a well-known political commentator, doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing. Fischer, he says, appeals to the average citizen. “Czechs are fed up with a presidency where a president has to be highly visible and interfere with party politics, and make speeches on issues like global warming,” Pehe said. “Maybe they want someone ordinary, someone to act as the chief notary, putting a seal on international documents.” Rabbi Manes Barash, who runs a Chabad synagogue in Prague where Fischer occasionally prays, takes the charisma issue a step further. “A lot of people who are crooks have charisma,” Barash joked. “Maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have charisma.” On a more serious note, Barash says Fischer might be good for the country, which is among the most atheistic in the world, according to surveys.

“That he is a believer is something very special for the Czech Republic,” Barash said. “Such a secular society, it is missing here.” Next: Shas' Yosef says haredi yeshiva students will leave Israel before serving in military > Dinah Spritzer is JTA's correspondent in Prague. She has been covering the former Eastern European bloc since 1990 and currently serves as the news editor of The Prague Post. The former Europe editor for Travel Weekly, she also contributes to several other publications, including The Independent on Sunday, Conde Nast Traveler and several guidebooks on the Czech Republic. Featured Stories Czech 'Joe Lieberman' could be Europe's first Jewish president | The Times of Israel Tomas Kraus PRAGUE (JTA) — If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first country other than Israel to elect a Jewish president. Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck-and-neck in the polls with another former government head as the nation holds its first round of presidential elections on Friday and Saturday.

The two front-runners advance to a runoff, and political prognosticators are predicting that Fischer will reach the second round. “He’s like our Joe Lieberman,” said Tomas Kraus, chairman of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities, referring to the failed US vice presidential candidate. “Whether or not you support him, you can’t help but be proud he has come this far.” Technically speaking, Europe has had a Jewish president: Ruth Dreifuss, who was president of the Swiss Confederation in 1999. But the Swiss presidency is a one-year rotating post, not a popularly elected position, and the president doesn’t really have broader powers than the other members of the Swiss Federal Council. Europe has had other Jewish heads of government, aside from Fischer: Leon Blum, who was prime minister of France in the 1930s and ’40s, and Austria’s Bruno Kreisky, who served as prime minister from 1970 to 1983. Britain’s Benjamin Disraeli came from Jewish stock, but his family converted out of the faith before he was born.

Fischer, whose career highlights include running the Czech Statistical Office and serving as vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, slipped from first to second in the polls following a lackluster performance last week in a televised debate. Although some may not see Fischer as Jewish according to halacha, he invokes the Holocaust experience as a defining characteristic His ascent from skilled technocrat to high-echelon politics — and possibly to Prague Castle — sheds light on the region’s nuanced relationship with Judaism and Israel. Running on a platform promoting economic growth and political transparency, Fischer is also known for his pride in what he calls the Czech Republic’s “very friendly relations with Israel.” He noted that the Czech Republic was consistently one of Europe’s most ardent supporters of Israel in times of crisis, a tradition dating back to the 1920s, when the first Czechoslovak president, Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, endorsed the creation of the Jewish state. More recently, the Czech Republic was among only a handful of countries in the world to vote against upgrading the Palestinians’ status at the United Nations.

Fischer thus finds it unnecessary to bluster in the same way as his chief presidential rival, Milos Zeman, who has declared his support for a preemptive strike against Iran. “I have no need to demonstrate my friendly attitude towards Israel because everyone is familiar with it, so I don’t need to say something very strong,” he said in a wide-ranging interview, adding that he is well-aware that “Iran is the dark force in the region.” Fischer’s professions of devotion to Israel weren’t always so robust. Before the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, it was dangerous for anyone — especially a government employee — to sympathize with Israel because the authorities toed the Soviet anti-Zionist line. His upbringing is a case study of post-World War II Jewish life in Central Europe. His father survived Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, and his mother was Catholic. He celebrated Czech Christmas and attended synagogue. Rather than hostile, Czechs have mostly just been curious about Fischer’s religious background “My father brought me to the synagogue for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah and Purim,” Fischer recalled. “During Pesach, we didn’t organize a seder, but we did have matzah.

Father was a member of the Jewish community until the end of the 1950s.” That changed once Czechoslovak Communist leaders became more virulently anti-religious; Judaism was no longer high on his family’s list of priorities. It changed again — as it did for many of Fischer’s generation — when his son began to discover his Jewish roots. Also named Jan, Fischer’s son was born in 1989, the same year the Velvet Revolution swept communism from the country. “He was very interested in the story of the Holocaust, and he liked to talk about my father despite [the fact] that he died in 1975,” Fischer said. “Through his discoveries, he developed a strong bond with Judaism, and he brought me back.” Fischer credited the Lauder Jewish School, which his son attended, for educating the whole family. Fischer’s father, also a Prague statistician, was forced to collect numerical data on Jewish families for the Nazis. “When he arrived in Auschwitz, he didn’t expect to live, but Mengele found out he was a mathematician and thought he could be of use,” Fischer said.

Although some may not see Fischer as Jewish according to halachah, or Jewish law, he invokes the Holocaust experience as a defining characteristic of those who view themselves as Jews. “It is a common tragedy,” he said, “and based on it, I feel part of this community.” Fischer is bluntly critical of the European Union’s sometimes muddy statements about Israel Even in the relatively liberal-minded Czech Republic, however, being Jewish can be a political disadvantage. When Fischer took over as prime minister, a smattering of comments on blogs referred negatively to his Jewish origins. There were hints, too, that Fischer was part of a secret brotherhood, as one of his advisers was also Jewish. But Czechs were mostly just curious about their new leader’s religious background. His ethnicity again became a focus of public fixation when his predecessor, thinking he was off the record during a taped magazine interview, slurred a gay minister and Fischer, linking a penchant for compromise to his Jewishness. During his tenure as prime minister, Fischer was admired for aggressively pursuing extremist groups that were terrorizing the country’s largest minority, the Roma. As a result of these activities, and partly on account of his religion, Fischer’s son was put under police protection.

Still, asked about anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic, he responds, “This country has so many political problems, but anti-Semitism is not one of them.” Although Fischer’s influence as president would be limited in a parliamentary democracy and his powers largely ceremonial, the head of state does occasionally remark on foreign policy issues. And that is where Israel comes up again in conversation. Fischer is bluntly critical of the European Union’s sometimes muddy statements with regard to Israel. Asked if he agreed with the EU’s repeated condemnation of Israeli settlements, he said, “The voice of the European Union is sometimes strong [on this topic]. It is not the opinion of every country. The reality is that the EU hasn’t got any foreign policy. I don’t think the settlements are the greatest issue in the region. Iran is the greatest issue.” A previous prime minister linked Fischer’s penchant for compromise to his Jewishness If there is a shadow hanging over Fischer in the eyes of Czech voters, it is not his religion, but his former membership in the Communist Party. Fischer says he joined under pressure to keep his job as a public employee, and has publicly apologized for the decision. “I gave in, and it is nothing I am proud of,” he said.

Compared to his two larger-than-life predecessors — human rights luminary Vaclav Havel and Euro skeptic Vaclav Klaus — Fischer is distinguished largely by the fact that he is so reserved. Critics have noted his lack of charisma. Jiri Pehe, a former adviser to Havel and now a well-known political commentator, doesn’t think that’s such a bad thing. Fischer, he says, appeals to the average citizen. “Czechs are fed up with a presidency where a president has to be highly visible and interfere with party politics, and make speeches on issues like global warming,” Pehe said. “Maybe they want someone ordinary, someone to act as the chief notary, putting a seal on international documents.” Rabbi Manes Barash, who runs a Chabad synagogue in Prague where Fischer occasionally prays, takes the charisma issue a step further. “A lot of people who are crooks have charisma,” Barash joked. “Maybe it’s a good thing he doesn’t have charisma.” On a more serious note, Barash says Fischer might be good for the country, which is among the most atheistic in the world, according to surveys. “That he is a believer is something very special for the Czech Republic,” Barash said.

“Such a secular society, it is missing here.” Tag: Jan Fischer | Jewish Journal Jewish Journal Czech ‘Joe Lieberman’ could be Europe’s first Jewish president January 7, 2013 | 3:07 pm If the pundits are correct, the Czech Republic may become the first country other than Israel to elect a Jewish president. Jan Fischer, 62, an understated former prime minister who led a caretaker government following a coalition collapse in 2009, is neck and neck in the polls... ADVERTISEMENT Sign up for our newsletter More news and opinion than at Shabbat dinner. Don’t miss any of the latest news and events! Get the Jewish Journal in your inbox. JewishJournal.com is produced by TRIBE Media Corp., a non-profit media company whose mission is to inform, connect and enlighten community through independent journalism. TRIBE Media produces the 150,000-reader print weekly Jewish Journal in Los Angeles – the largest Jewish print weekly in the West – and the monthly glossy Tribe magazine ( TribeJournal.com ). Please support us by clicking here . © Copyright 2017 Tribe Media Corp. All rights reserved. JewishJournal.com is hosted by Nexcess.net

Question: Jan Fischer became Prime Minister of which country in 2009?
Answer: Czech Republic