Josefov (also Jewish quarter; Josephstadt in German) is a town
quarter and the smallest cadastral area of Prague, today Czech
Republic, formerly the Jewish ghetto of the town. It is
completely surrounded by Old Town. The quarter is often
represented by the flag of Prague's Jewish community, a yellow
Magen David (Star of David) on a red field. Jews are believed to
have settled in Prague as early as the 10th century. The first
pogrom was in 1096 (the first crusade) and eventually they were
concentrated within a walled Ghetto. In 1262 Přemysl Otakar II
issued a Statuta Judaeorum which granted the community a degree
of self administration. In 1389 one of the worst pogroms saw
some 1,500 massacred at Easter Sunday. The ghetto was most
prosperous towards the end of the 16th century when the Jewish
Mayor, Mordecai Maisel, became the Minister of Finance and a
very wealthy man. His money helped develop the ghetto. Around
this time the Maharal was supposed to create the Golem. In 1850
the quarter was renamed "Josefstad