Summer’s here, and that means travel season.
In the Czech Republic, the vast majority of visitors rarely get beyond Prague, and that’s a pity. There’s much Jewish heritage to see in Prague including the Jewish Museum, but much, much more to see all around the country.
There are a number of itineraries and online resources for Jewish heritage in the Czech Republic, and many publications — you can find links them in the Czech Republic section of this web site.
A new addition is the South Bohemia tourism web site, which features a selection of nearly 50 sites of Jewish heritage in the part of the Czech Republic south of Prague. It also includes a downloadable brochure and map (the brochure may only be downloadable in a Czech version, but the map is useful.)
Though not exhaustive, the list of sites ranges from synagogue buildings and centuries-old Jewish cemeteries, to museums, old Jewish quarters, and Holocaust memorials.
Each entry includes a photograph as well as a historical description. Some are located in larger towns and cities, such as Pisek and České Budějovice, but most are in out-of-the-way towns and villages far off the tourist track.
The beautiful town of Český Krumlov is one of the few wellknown sites of tourism on the list.
Jewish heritage there includes the striking neo-Romanesque synagogue, built in 1909, which has an eight-sided tower and Torah-shaped windows. After WW2 it was used as a Christian church for American soldiers in 1945 and as a Czech Hussite church from 1945 to 1968. It later fell into disrepair.
In 1997 it was restituted to the Czech Jewish community, which partnered with the Český Krumlov Development Fund (an independent entity owned by the municipality), to restore the building as a cultural venue with a permanent exhibition about Jewish history in the town installed in the entryway/winter shul.
In contrast, the former synagogue in the village of Hoštice was abandoned already in the late 19th century when the Jewish community was disbanded, and it has long stood dilapidated and used for storage.
The Jewish cemetery in Hoštice lies immersed in a forest outside the village, enclosed within a rough stone wall. There are around 50 preserved headstones dating from 1735 until the end of the 19th century.
The synagogue building in the small town of Čkyně dates from 1828 and is one of the few surviving village synagogues in the Czech Republic. It was used for regular services until 1895 and then occasionally until World War I, after which the Jewish community was dissolved.
It was rededicated in October 2013 after a more than 20-year restoration process and is now used as a cultural space with a permanent exhibition on local Jewish history.
The Jewish cemetery in Čkyně lies just outside the village. It was founded in the 17th century, then enlarged in the 19th century. Occasional burials took place until 1942. There are about 400 gravestones, including Baroque stones with fine carving. (The cemetery has been fully documented by Achab Haidler.)
During the Holocaust, the Nazis destroyed more than 150 Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia outside Prague and demolished around 70 synagogues. Under the post-war communist regime some 105 synagogues in these towns were demolished. Most of the others were converted for other use (including about 40 that were turned into churches and 48 converted into residences). Many were used as warehouses or stood empty and neglected throughout the communist period.
Today, there are small Jewish communities nine provincial towns and cities, as well as in Prague. At least 145 synagogue buildings stand in cities, towns and villages in all parts of the Czech Republic. Only a few are active houses of worship, but dozens have been beautifully restored and serve as museums or other cultural venues.
In addition, there are more than 300 Jewish cemeteries. Many date back centuries, and a number have been designated as cultural landmarks. Traces of former Jewish quarters still exist in 180 cities, towns and villages.
Access the South Bohemia web site Jewish Heritage list
Access the JHE section on the Czech Republic
3 comments on “Czech Republic: New Jewish heritage tourism resource for South Bohemia”
Adding to my previous comment. Re your article on Southern Bohemia, there are very well established cemeteries in Puclice and Loucim in the Klatovy District. . See https://tinyurl.com/bohemiatrip2010th
I know, and there are other sites (like the synagogue in Pacov, which a grassroots organization is working to restore, and the wonderful Jewish cemetery/Holocaust memorial in Cernovice, both of which I have written about on this Jewish Heritage Europe web site). That’s why I wrote in the article that the South Bohemia list is “not exhaustive”.
Reminder of passing lives, families children born educated youths with hope marriages instruction in theological ideas. So many hopes.