(JHE) — The Tachov Archives and Museum Society (TAMUS), a Czech non-profit NGO deeply involved in documenting and preserving Jewish cemeteries and other sites, has released its latest Annual Report showing the scope of its activities in 2020 — mostly on-site Jewish cemetery documentation and other work.
This year, the report highlights a novel initiative — in cooperation with the Federation of Jewish Comunuities in the Czech Republic, the NGO not only continued its work of installing information panels (in 2020 at two rural Jewish cemeteries), but it also installed guest books at six small-town or village cemeteries where visitors can leave their comments.
Metal boxes containing the guest books were installed at the Jewish cemeteries in Telice, Nové Sedliště, Bezdružice, Dlouhý Újezd, Kořen and Pořejov — and according TAMUS response to the initiative was positive. (It had installed information panels at three of these cemeteries in 2019.)
“The visitor books were accepted by visitors very warmly,” the report states. “Thank you for your messages, they are very appreciated!”
Here are some examples it included in the Report:
In other work, TAMUS reports that, despite restriction of its operation because of COVID 19 measures, it completed the photo documentation and cataloguing of six Jewish cemeteries, mostly located in small towns or villages and also carried out onsite survey work and mapping of two cemeteries.
In cooperation with the Vienna Technical University and the Tachov town museum, TAMUS also was involved in the creation of a 3D model of the art nouveau synagogue in Tachov, built in 1912 by Alfred Grotte and burned down during Kristallnacht. Grotte himself was killed in the Holocaust.
The Annual Report also present initiatives planned for 10 sites in 2021, including some project that had to be postponed because of COVID 19 restrictions.
TAMUS TACHOV reported that it operated on a total budget of just $22,000 in 2020 — less than half of its income and budget for 2019, and all of it from private donors.
Read the 2020 TAMUS TACHOV Annual Report
Access the TAMUS TACHOV web site