Site of Holocaust deportations in Prague begins historic transformation

Construction has officially begun on the transformation of Prague’s Bubny railway station, a key WWII deportation site for Czech Jews, into a national center for Holocaust remembrance and education.

Top Czech officials and foreign diplomats gathered Monday to mark the launch of the Bubny Centre of Memory and Dialogue, a CZK 187 million project that will turn the long-neglected station into a space for reflection, learning, and civic dialogue.

From this station, some 50,000 Jews were deported to Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. The first transport, 1,000 men, women, and children, left for Łódź, Poland, on October 16, 1941. Only 24 survived.

Culture Minister Martin Baxa, Transport Minister Martin Kupka, and Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari were among those present at the ceremony, which included a memorial prayer by cantor Rafael Rod.

“The Holocaust was preceded by years of hatred, polarization, and democratic decay,” said Baxa. “This space reminds us what happens when we forget.”

The reconstructed station, expected to open in 2027, will feature exhibition halls, public spaces, a café, and educational facilities while preserving key architectural elements. ARN Studio, selected in an architectural competition, designed the redesign.

The site’s dominant sculpture, Aleš Veselý’s Gate of No Return, symbolizing victims’ final journey, will remain in place.

The project is funded by the Culture Ministry and managed by the Railway Administration, with construction by Metrostav DIZ.

A collection of photographs of the station’s pre-renovation state, taken by Dušan Tomanek, Fragments of the Past, is on display at Charles University’s Karolinum through July 18.

Trains stopped serving Bubny station at the end of 2022, when modernization work began on the line to Kladno in Central Bohemia.

Rail service had run continuously at the site since 1868, and the current station building dates to 1923. In the late 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian State Northern Railway Company built extensive railway facilities near the station, including large workshop halls.

A new, larger Prague-Bubny station, located near the Negrelli Viaduct, will open to passengers on August 1.