Preserving Jewish heritage

in rural South Bohemia

 

Beware: the project activities had to be stopped in 2001 due to lack of resources

 

 

Rural Jewish heritage

The history of the Jewish presence in the Czech lands dates back as far as the 10th century. Throughout their existence, Jewish communities from both big cities and rural areas played an important role in the development of the Czech history. Especially since the more liberal laws of 1848, Jewish Communities flourished and at the beginning of the 20th century the Jewish part of the population plaid an active role on all levels of Czech society.

 

The Holocaust decimated the Czech Jewish population and the following oppression under the communistic regimes caused a further exodus under the remaining survivors. As result, in 1998 there were approximately 6000 Jews remaining in the Czech Republic.

 

Today, public knowledge about the role of the Czech Jewish population in Czech history is very low. There is not a single living Jewish community left in South Bohemia and in most places, a Jewish cemetery is the last remaining evidence of the history and presence of  a local Jewish community. Most rural cemeteries have remained without maintenance since the war and have deteriorated due to natural decay, clear vandalism or anti-Semitic attacks.

 

 

   

Post-war picture of the already abandoned synagogue in Kardasova Recice. The synagogue was ultimately torn down under the communist regime. At right the Torah scrolls.

Most cemeteries have been declared protected Cultural Heritage. However, the shear numbers that need restoration combined with a lack of funding and interest have resulted in a continuation of the threatened situation of most rural cemeteries. The Jewish Community of Prague, who is owner of most of the sites in South Bohemia, does not have sufficient funds available for large-scale restorations in this particular region.

 

Toppled and broken gravestones and unbridled vegetation growth is characteristically for most rural Jewish cemeteries.

 

To help address this problem, in 1998 the Society developed the project “Restoration of the Jewish heritage in South Bohemia”, in cooperation with the Jewish Community of Prague. The planned project envisioned the restoration of 6 Jewish cemeteries and associated buildings, restoration of burial registers, opening of the cemeteries to the public, and creating a public information and education center at one of the cemeteries. Other important objectives of the project, therefore, were to raise local public awareness about the history of the rural Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic and to help fight anti-Semitism.

 

The Society started with cleaning some of the cemeteries as student projects and tried to raise funds. Unfortunately, several project applications were rejected. Other regional development and heritage projects did receive funding and required all our attention and human resources. As result, we had to abandon our Jewish heritage preservation efforts.

 

We decided to keep the information about local Jewish communities on the website and try update this whenever we have time or receive new information or funding. More information about the original project proposal can be found under the link Project Description, information about different Jewish Communities is placed under different community pages.

 

 

 

 

Peasant and Emigration Museum Kojakovice, information center for Ecomuseum Ruze

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