The Jewish cemetery of Plzen (Pilsen)
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PLZEN ( Pilsen in
Yiddish and German )
Plzen is located in Bohemia, Plzen-mesto.
The new
cemetery is located at 4 km E of main square, in Rokycanska trida
street.
It was also called Pilsen in German. Plzen is 80 km SW of
Praha.
The present town population is over 100,000 with 10 - 100
Jews.
The earliest known Jewish community in this town
was 15th century.
The Jewish population was 2773 people in 1930.
Noteworthy historical events involving or affecting the Jewish community
were :
medieval Jew community expelled about 1533;
modern congregation
established in 1859;
increase of Jewish population correlated with
expansion of local industry and commerce;
a.c. holocaust;
congreg. Re-established after WWII, but reduced by both aliya and emigration.
Noteworthy individuals who lived in this Jewish community:
Emil
Lederer (1882-1939), Professor of Economics and Sociology in Austria,
Germany, Japan and New York; Oskar Baum (1883-1941), blind writer
and musician from Kafka's circle;
Bedrich Reicin (1911-1952), son
of chazen, communist leader in army and police, hanged in Slansky
trial;
Zuzana Ruzickova (b.1928), leading contemporary harpsichordist;
rabbi dr. Hoch;
rabbi Porges, etc.
The Jewish cemetery was
established in 1898.
Tzadakkim and other noteworthy Jews buried
in the cemetery were rabbi Porges etc. - register of buried
is deposited in the office of Jewish congregation in Plzen.
The
last known Jewish burial was in still used today.
The type of Jewish
community which used this cemetery was Conservative.
The cemetery
is not listed and/or protected as a landmark or monument.
The cemetery location is suburban, on flat land,
separate, but near cemeteries, marked by no sign or marker.
It is
reached by turning directly off a public road.
It is open to all in opening hours.
The cemetery
is surrounded by a continuous masonry wall.
There is a gate that
locks.
The approximate size of cemetery before WWII was
1.6 ha and is now 1.4 ha hectares.
There are 500-5000 stones all
in their original location.
The cemetery has special section for children,
refugees, soldiers WW1.
Stones are datable from 1898 to 20th century.
The cemetery has tombstones and memorial markers made of marble,
granite, limestone, sandstone and slate.
The cemetery contains tombstones
that are finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with
carved relief decoration, sculpted monuments and multi-stone monuments.
The cemetery has tombstones with bronze decorations or lettering,
with other metallic elements, portraits on stones and metal fences
around graves.
Inscriptions on tombstones are in Hebrew, German
and Czech.
The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust
victims and Jewish soldiers.
The cemetery contains marked mass graves.
Within the limits of the there are no structures.
The pre-burial
house has n/a.
The present owner of the cemetery property is
the municipality.
The cemetery property is now used for Jewish cemetery
use only.
Properties adjacent to it is commercial or industrial
and agricultural.
The cemetery boundaries is smaller now than 1939.
The cemetery is visited frequently by organized Jewish group tours
or pilgrimage groups, private visitors and local residents.
The cemetery has been vandalized during World
War II and occasionally, between 1981-91 ceremonial hall pulled
down between 1945 and 1981.
No maintenance has been done.
The work
was done by Jewish groups within country.
Restoration was done in
1986, 87, 88, 89, 90.
Now there is regular caretaker.
The caretaker is paid by the Jewish congregation
of Plzen.
This survey was complete by (see surveyors in section
above) - old cemetery on 1 September 1992.
The following documentation was used to complete
this survey : archives of Jew. Congregation in Plzen ;
Die Juden und Jjudengemeinden Bohmens ..(1934) ;
Jarbuch fur die
israelische Cultusgemeinden Bohmens (1894-95) ;
articles of Jaroslav
Schiebl in monthly Plzensko, 1930 ;
photo-archives of Statni zidovske
muzeum Praha.
The site was not visited.
International
Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies |