Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague)

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View of the cemetery. On the left the Klaus Synagogue , behind it the old ceremonial hall
The grave of Rabbi Löw (1520–1609)
Oldest grave: Avigdor Kara, died 1439
Tomb of the astronomer David Gans (1541–1613), with celestial arch, stars and a goose
Around 1900: stereoscopy as colored picture postcard No. 782 from Knackstedt & Näther , Hamburg

The Old Jewish Cemetery ( Starý židovský hřbitov v Praze-Josefově in Czech ) in the Josefov district of Prague is one of the two most famous Jewish cemeteries in the city and one of the historically most important Jewish cemeteries in Europe . It is located in the former Jewish quarter of Prague's old town and dates back to the first half of the 15th century. Despite its small area (approx. 1 hectare) it contains over 12,000 tombstones and probably the bones of 100,000 people.

history

In 1478 the Jewish Garden in Prague's New Town , probably the oldest of the Jewish cemeteries in Prague , was closed by King Wladislaw II Jagiello and the existing cemetery in Josefov became the main burial place of Prague Jews until 1787.

When emperor Joseph II banned burials in the city center in Prague , the Jewish community began to bury their dead in the cemetery in the Žižkov district in 1787 . At the end of the 19th century, a municipal necropolis for Prague was finally created in Olšany in the Žižkov district . Immediately next to it, the Jewish community acquired a plot of land over 100,000 m² in size and in 1890 built the new cemetery with space for around 100,000 graves, which is still in use today.

Brief description

The cemetery almost corresponds to its medieval dimensions to this day, as there was no room for expansion in the ghetto . Due to the lack of space, the deceased were buried in up to twelve layers, which over the centuries resulted in an up and down of the earth that was almost picturesque for today's terms.

The winding property, enclosed by a high wall, lies between the Pinkas and Klaus synagogues , but the Old New and Maisel synagogues are also very close by. In 1866 some Gothic tombstones were built into the enclosure , which come from the abandoned Jewish garden .

Graves of famous people

Tomb of Mordechai Maisel

The most famous tombstones and sarcophagi are those

The Nephele Hill, where children under one year old were buried, is also popular.

Many gravestones are decorated with animals or objects that symbolize the family name : the scissors (for tailors), a deer (also for the Zvi family), lions, flowers and often grapes as a symbol of luck.

Next to the cemetery is the Jewish Museum , which was originally set up by Adolf Eichmann or his department as the “Central Jewish Museum” during the German occupation and opened on April 6, 1943 by the SS as a “Museum of a Lost Race”. Numerous cult objects and pictures are exhibited here. They also show the activity of the Prague Burial Brotherhood and its social function. This non-profit organization , founded in 1564 , carried out ritual funerals, but was also dedicated to charitable community work. The museum also manages this cemetery.

The Cemetery and the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"

The cemetery is the location of the key scene in the anti-Semitic sensational novel Biarritz by the German writer Hermann Goedsche, published in 1868 : in it, the protagonist and his companion of Jewish descent overhear a gathering of representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel who are discussing their plans for an anti-Christian conspiracy . The text, if not the location, found its way into the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as plagiarism , a basic text on conspiracy - theoretical anti-Semitism that was created around 1903 and which also claims to be secret documents of a meeting of Jewish world conspirators . The cemetery also plays a role in Umberto Eco's 2010 novel The Cemetery in Prague , which imaginatively depicts the origins of the Protocols .

See also

literature

  • Lubomír Jeřábek: The Old Prague Jewish Cemetery , B. Kočí Art Publishing House, Prague 1903; Facsimile: Karolinum, Prague 2009, ISBN 978-80-246-1719-0 .
  • Ludwig Kollmann: The old Jewish cemetery in Prague , publishing house of the Israelite Burial Brotherhood, Prague 1930.
  • January Lukas, Jindrich Lion: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague ( The Old Prague Jewish Cemetery , Le vieux cimetière juif à Prague ), Artia, Prague 1960th
  • Arno Pařík, Vlastimila Hamáčková; Dana Cabanová, Petr Kliment (photos): Prague Jewish cemeteries . = Pražské židovské hřbitovy . = Prague Jewish cemeteries (translated by Stephen Hattersly and Peter Zieschang), Jewish Museum, Prague 2003, ISBN 80-85608-69-3 ( Czech / German / English ).
  • David D. Podiebrad: Antiquities of the Prague Josefstadt. Israelite cemetery, old-new school and other synagogues , Podebrady, Prague 1870.

Web links

Commons : Old Jewish Cemetery Prague  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jan Björn Potthast: The Jewish Central Museum of the SS in Prague
  2. ↑ Elisabeth von Kiderlen: Museum of a submerged race Der Spiegel 46/1988, accessed on November 6, 2012
  3. ^ "Museum of Murderers", Tagesspiegel
  4. ↑ Jeffrey L. Sammons (ed.): The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The basis of modern anti-Semitism. Forgery. Text and comment. 6th edition. Wallstein, Göttingen 2011, p. 8 ff.
  5. ^ Umberto Eco: Il Cimitero di Praga. Bompiani, Milan 2010 (German The cemetery in Prague. Roman. Translated by Burkhart Kroeber. Hanser, Munich 2011).

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 23 "  N , 14 ° 25 ′ 2"  E