Oskar Baum (1883-1941), a German writer, music critic and music teacher, was an important member of the Prague Circle, which included Max Brod, Felix Weltsch and Franz Kafka. Although Baum was present at the birth of this movement, his personality remains in the shadow of his close friends, particularly Franz Kafka. For Czech readers, Baum remains an almost unknown writer and a forgotten native of Pilsen. On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Oskar Baum's birth, we have prepared an online exhibition to commemorate this important writer.

The exhibition does not claim to be a biography of Oskar Baum or an analysis of his literary works. Rather, it is an attempt to relate his life to three cities - Pilsen, Vienna and Prague - in three thematic parts, documenting the dramatic changes that were present at the birth of modern society and that contributed to Baum's personal development, in connection with his transformation from a Jewish boy to a blind man and then to a world-renowned writer whose life conviction was to look for the light behind every darkness.