Jewish settlement in the Czech Canada National Reserve and the environs. Czech Republic.
Content: Jewish Settlements Synagogogues and Prayer Rooms Cemeteries Czech Canada Recommended accommodation in Czech Canada: Pension a restaurace RUDOLEC 378 83 Cesky Rudolec 67-68 Telephone: (+420) 384 496 220

There were 122 thousand Jews living in the area of the contemporary Czech Republic and a further 136 thousand in Slovakia in 1938. After the German holocaust there remained only 20 thousand in the Czech Republic and 25 thousand in Slovakia in 1948. After the Russian tyranny and dictatorship during 1948 - 1990 their figure sank to six thousand. During 1939 - 1989 both these usurpers of power over the Czech nation wanted to rob, exterminate and to wipe this important national minority from our memory. Let this page be dedicated to the remembrance of our fellow-citizens in the hope to refresh loopholes in knowledge of our nations a little.

I do not claim this page to be a scientific publication in history. It is more a simple compilation of fragmentary, sometimes even contradictary, information, which I could collect. At the same time any new information would be appreciated very much.

Remarks:

1. Unpreserved communities and immovables are italicised and the local name is crossed out just in this way.

Jewish Settlements.

• Dacice
  • The first message about Jews dates from 1585: Jews are not permitted to sell any goods which is not accredited by local guildsmen.
  • According to the parochial evidence two Jewish families lived in Dacice in 1795, three in 1801 and four in 1804.
  • Sixty-two inhabitants of Jewish confession lived in Dacice in 1900.
  • Since the equal rights were granted to Jews in 1867 several families migrated to Dacice from neighbouring village settlements; mainly from Markvarec (families Freund, Stukart, Schulz, Jelinek) and from Olsany (family Jelinek).
  • Twelve pupils visited a Jewish school in 1871. A prayer room was established in rent rooms.
  • Important commercial activities:
    • Family Freund: Grocer's in the house number 99/I, stock and store with pelt.
    • Family Stukart: Weaving mill (80 weavers) famous under the company name "Max Stukart a syn". An aerated water production was introduced in 1902.
    • Family Schulz: Stock and coal store in the house number 56/I.
    • Family Jelinek (from Markvarec): Collecting centre and store with pelt in the house number 103/I.
    • Family Jelinek (from Olsany): Slaughterhouse, pork-butcher's, cattle-dealing, agriculture. Grocer's in the house number 201/I.
    • Family Grunfeld: Cafe and distillery.
    • Family Vohryzek: Hosiery mill in the house number 55/I (66 workers in 1930). First steam engine in Dacice was installed in 1926.
    • Family Guttmann (from Cesky Rudolec): Dry goods in the house number 68/I.
  • Jews from Galicia immigrated during the WW I. They were very uncivilised and caused an typhoid fever epidemic in 1916.
  • Further immigrants come from occupied territory by the nazi Germany in 1938 (especially from Slavonice).
  • Transport to concentration camps in Terezin, Treblinka and Osvietim in May 1942.
• Dolni Bolikov (Ger. Wolking or Woelking)
• Jindrichuv Hradec (Ger. Neuhaus)
  • Jews lived here already at the end of the 13th century, when Oldrich of Hradec gained from king Vaclav II (Wenceslas II) the permission to "breed" 8 Jews with their families. The Jewish community was located in Zidovny behind the village, where they kept their devotional exercises at the same time. They suffered from a pogrom in 1338.
  • Until the 18th century between only two and six families lived in Jindrichuv Hradec. Despite this a house of prayer existed at the end of the 16th century.
  • In the middle of the 18th century several families lived in houses on the west side of Kostelni street (Kostelni ulice). Altogether 234 people of Jewish confession were counted in 1930.
  • During the 2nd half of the 19th century the Israelitische Gemeindezeitung was fortnightly issued.
  • The Jewish community was exterminated during the holocaust in World War II and was never renewed. Jews were deported from their houses during this time and mostly all were tortured to death in nazi concentration camps.
  • Prominent personalities from Jindrichuv Hradec:
    • Rabbi Michal Rachmuth -appointed a rabbi in 1915. Author of Czech books about Jewish history and literature.
    • Franz Josef Beranek [1902 Breclav - 1967 Giessen] - university professor in Jindrichuv Hradec. Author of scientific publication about Yiddish dialects in Czechoslovakia [1935]- an unique work of its kind at all.
    • Kurt Adler [1907 J. Hradec - 1977 USA] - opera conductor.
    • Karel Berman [1919 J. Hradec] - opera singer - bass-singer of the National Theatre in Prague.
    • Robert Piesen [1921 J. Hradec - 1977 Ein Hod] - academic painter.
• Markvarec (Ger. Markwaretz or Markwarding)
  • The settlement begins after 1670; 212 Jews live here in 1857.
  • The local religious congregation was wound up in 1888 as a consequence of migration to towns. Remaining inhabitants were subordinated to congregation in Pisecne.
  • The last Jewish family (Schulz) leaves Markvarec in 1927.
  • A distillery (still producing) and Jewish street called Zidovny remain till today.
• Pisecne (Ger. Piesling)
  • The largest Jewish community in the whole region came into existence as a consequence of the migration after 1670.
  • Thirty-two families lived here in 1782. A Jewish one-room school was established in the same year.
  • The Jewish minority makes 37 % of all inhabitants in Pisecne in 1794.
  • 334 Jews live here in 1857; 51 in 1900.
  • A step-by-step leaving villages for towns causes winding up neighbouring congregations and their subordinating to Pisecne (Markvarec in 1888, Olsany in 1890, Dolni Bolikov in 1891).
  • The school was closed in 1902.
  • The congregation worked till September 1938 when the borderland was annexed to the Reich and the Jews consequently emigrate to the remainder of Czechoslovakia.
• Stare mesto pod Landstejnem (Ger. Altstadt)
  • Remains of a Jewish community.
• Telc
  • A Jewish street.

Synagogues and Prayer Rooms.

• Dacice
  • A house of prayer was mentioned in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
• Dolni Bolikov
  • A synagogue of an unknown date was demolished during 1899 and 1900.
• Jindrichuv Hradec
  • The synagogue in Kostelni ulice (Church street) with gothic windows and a roman bow-shaped frieze was built during the fifties and sixties of the 19th century. A wooden choir was added on the west side in 1867.
  • Since 1952 it is used as a house of prayer by the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. The original equipment and furniture is not preserved.
  • The neighbouring building in the south direction (Kostelni ulice - Church Street No. 188) is a former Jewish school. Today it is used as the parish office of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church. This corner house of an important architectonic and historical meaning was rebuilt into the contemporaneous appearance during the Baroque. Originally it was entered from the south, the east entry was built after the extension of the Kostelni ulice through the deestablished town walls. The northern wing is older, perhaps a Renaissance one. The contemporary exterior of the front dates back to the last quarter of the 18th century. Presumably it was built after an eight-day conflagration of the town and castle in 1801 which affected the Jewish town at the same time.
• Kardasova Recice
  • The wooden synagogue from 1708 burnt-down including the surrounding dense wooden housing of the Jewish ghetto on the 18th May 1863.
  • A new stone walled synagogue was built during 1864 - 1874 at the same place, namely in the garden of the contemporary house No. 408.
  • Since 1916 the almost unused synagogue of Kardasova Recice began to dilapidate and was demolished during 1958 and 1959.
• Markvarec
  • A synagogue built in 1784.
  • Sold in 1916 and later converted into cement works.
  • Twice burnt down during the twentieth of the 20th century by incendiary.
  • Finally demolished durin the eighties of the 20th century.
• Nova Bystrice
  • The synagogue of 1887 has been rebuilt into a youth club.
• Olsany
  • A wooden synagogue of an unknown date burnt down in 1928.
• Pisecne
  • A synagogue built during the years 1768 - 1782 was demolished in 1948.
• Slavonice
  • A synagogue from 1895.
  • Rebuilt into a house containing flats, currently No. 494.
• Stare mesto pod Landstejnem
  • A wooden synagogue of an unknown time burnt down in 1830.
  • The new synagogue built during the 1st half of the 19th century was demolished in 1955.
• Telc
  • It is not known, when the original synagogue was built. It burnt down and was demolished in 1885.
  • The new synagogue built in 1904 was later rebuilt into an office building.

Cemeteries.

• Dolni Bolikov
  • A cemetery from the end of the 18. century.
  • Tombstone of Heinrich Mayer [1835-1905], the founder of the newspaper Neues Wiener Tagblatt.
• Jindrichuv Hradec (on the slope of the hill Pejcoch over the river Nezarka).
  • Allegedly founded in 1400 and extended several times (e.g. in 1557). Walled in 1773.
  • Legible tombstones date from 1714. Burials even after World War II.
  • The ceremonial hall was built in 1937.
  • The damaged cemetery in Jindrichuv Hradec, a monument of national meaning, has been both restored and being cherished by Junak in Jindrichuv Hradec (a local youth club) since January 1990.
• Kardasova Recice (100 m left of the road from Kardasova Recice towards the village Cikar, about 150 m behind the sewage disposal farm.)
  • The oldest tombstone dates from 1647.
  • The last tombstone is from 1965 Mrs. Marie Kratka born Honigova, who could survive the holocaust because of her mixed matrimony as the only Jewish person in Kardasova Recice.
  • Remark: The cemetery is locked and the key is at the custodian Mr. Michalicek, Hajecek 620, Kardasova Recice, phone 384 382 677 available. Other cemeteries are freely accessible to the public (if not other specified).
• Markvarec (on a hill amidst the woods on the pathway leading from the brewery in Markvarec in the direction east about 400 m behind Markvarec).
  • A cemetery with morgue and tombstones since 1794.
  • First two legible tombstones from the year 1804.
  • The last funeral in December 1939.
  • Rarely preserved and partially rescued during 1999 and 2000 by the Jewish community of Prague (see both pictures).
  • Remark: The cemetery is locked and the key is at the custodian Mr. Sterba, phone 384 496 176 available. Other cemeteries are freely accessible to the public (if not other specified).
• Nova Bystrice (200 m behind the town on the right-hand side of the road to Jindrichuv Hradec; visible from the road)
  • Cemetery from 1879 was seriously damaged by the Nazis.
  • The tombstones area is being restored at the present time.
• Olsany (50 m right of the road from Olsany towards the village Hermanec, about 280 m behind the end of the village).
  • A cemetery with tombstones from the 18th century.
  • Because of czech speaking Jewish communities in Olsany and Strmilov, several tombstones are written in the czech language (other cemeteries have tombstones mostly in hebrew and german, only).
• Pisecne (at a way outgoing from the center of the village over the brook Krokovicky to the hill Za hrbitovem, about 50 m behind the last house on the left hand side).
  • A cemetery with tombstones from the 1st half of the 18th century.
  • The last legible tombstone from 11th August 1936.
  • The whole cemetry including the morgue, cemetery wall and tombstones is really unique by its preservation.
  • Remark: The cemetery is locked and the key is at the custodian available.
• Stare mesto pod Landstejnem (on a little hill in the fields about 80 m to the west of the road from Stare mesto pod Landstejnem towards the dam).
  • A cemetery from the begin of the 17th century with tombstones from the first half of the 18th century. The oldest tombstone dates from 1610.
  • Seriously damaged by the Nazis.
  • Being under restoration by the Jewish community of Prague at the present time.
• Telc
  • A cemetery with ceremonial hall from 1879 is used by Seventh Day Adventists at the present time.
• Velky Pecin (earlier Velky Picin, ger. Gross-Pantschen; lies in the woods Spitalsky les 150 m to the east of the road Mysluvka - Kostelni Vydri).
  • A cemetery of unknown origin. Probably established during the 16th century.
  • The earliest legible tombstone dates from 1655, burials continued until 1879, when a new cemetery was established in Oslednice in Telc.
  • Remarkable Baroque and Classicist tombstones occur there.
  • The cemetery was damaged during the Nazi occupation.
  • There was no Jewish community in Velky Pecin and the cemetery belonged to the community of Telc, which was established about the 1st half of the 17th century.
  • The morgue is to be re-established in 2001. The original door-frame of stone fortunately found under the hundreds of years old screes ought to be fixed at the same time.

Gallery of Jewish cemeteries today:
Dolni Bolikov	Jindrichuv Hradec	Markvarec	Velky Pecin

Literature:
[1] David, P., Soukup, V. a kol.: Pruvodce po Cechach, Morave a Slezsku. Ceska Kanada a Jindrichohradecko. S&D, Praha 1995.
[2] Fiedler, J.: Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia. SEFER, Prague 1991.
[3] Collective: Jindrichuv Hradec 1293/1993. INPRESS, C. Budejovice 1992.
[4] Stehlik, M.: Zide na Dacicku a Slavonicku (1670-1948). Mestske muzeum a galerie v Dacicich, Dacice 2002.

	© Ing. Karel Muska, 7th July 2007. Music: W. A. Mozart - Requiem, Confutatis Maledictis. No web creating software was used in the production of this page.	004919
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