Kdyně Jewish community

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The Jewish community in Kdyně (German Neugedein ), a town in the Okres Domažlice district in the Czech Republic , existed until 1929. In that year it was merged with the Jewish community in Klatovy .

Synagogue in Kdyně

history

In the 16th century, Jews first settled in the area around Kdyně. Most of them came to Kdyně in 1635 under Wolf Wilhelm Laminger von Albenreuth , who was favorably disposed towards them. The subsequent rulers in Kdyně, the Counts of Stadion , tried to drive the Jews out again, but thanks to the liberalized conditions they did not succeed. In the village of Kdyně itself resident Jews have been recorded since the second half of the 17th century. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, strong Jewish communities emerged in Pocinovice , Dlažov , Loučim , Všeruby , Radonice , Koloveč and in 1860 even in Kdyně. Other sources mention 1840 as the year the church was planted.

There was no Jewish cemetery in Kdyně. The Jewish deceased from Kdyně and the surrounding area were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Loučim .

Until the middle of the 19th century, Jews were only allowed to live in a small, limited area in Kdyně. This was located west of the main square, where three Jewish houses originally stood. At the end of the 19th century another three houses were added. This Jewish quarter of Kdyně was demolished in the 1970s.

The Jews in Bohemia were so-called traveling businessmen in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They traded in iron goods , haberdashery , cattle , grain , poultry and game . The cattle market in Kdyně, famous at the time , was organized by Jews. In Všeruby and the surrounding area they organized the production of matchboxes, which gave the local population considerable income. Lawyers and doctors emerged from the Jewish intelligentsia . In 1901 the Kdyně Jewish community had 55 members.

Since the end of the 19th century, the Jews migrated more and more to the big cities. The rich religious life of the Jewish communities in the Bohemian villages disappeared. In 1929 the Kdyně Jewish community was merged with the Klatovy Jewish community . In 1930 there were only 9 Jewish families in Kdyně with a total of 25 people. In addition to the Jewish communities mentioned above, there were also larger Jewish settlements in the vicinity in Běhařov , Miletice , Libkov and Strážov .

Community development

year Parishioners
1663 1 family
1724 2 families
1793 5 families
1838 3 families
1880 68 Jews
1900 51 Jews
1921 45 Jews
1930 25 Jews

synagogue

From 1862 to 1863, the Jewish community in Kdyně built a synagogue near the main square, which has been preserved almost in its original state to this day (2014). It is a remarkable exception among the synagogues in the western part of the Czech Republic. In 1997 it was listed as a historical monument.

Neighboring building of the synagogue

A one-story house was built next to the synagogue. The rabbi's apartment and office were on its first floor. The school was on the first floor. Up to 40 students from Kdyně, Kout , Prapořiště and Hluboká attended the school . Since the school taught in German, the students also came from non-Jewish German families. This school existed until 1890.

Mikveh

In the cellar of the neighboring building of the synagogue there is a completely preserved and restored mikveh . It is a four by two meter room, to which an "unclean" staircase leads down and a "clean" staircase leads up again. This mikveh was discovered and reconstructed under the concrete slab in the cellar of the neighboring house on the basis of information from a Jew from Kdyně who had emigrated to America. There are no documents proving their previous existence. There is a spring there and remains of both stairs, gravel and cobblestones have been found. But the prescribed inflow and outflow of the water could not be discovered. It is therefore unclear whether this is really a kosher mikveh, in which believers once bathed.

Rabbi of the Jewish community in Kdyně

  • Sigmund Fischel, rabbi in Kdyně from May 1, 1895 to May 10, 1902
  • Josef Kraus, rabbi in Kdyně from August 17, 1902 to September 4, 1904
  • Adolf Urach, rabbi in Kdyně April 1, 1905 to July 12, 1908
  • Ezekiel Nussbaum, rabbi in Kdyně until April 1, 1910. He could not speak Czech and therefore had to stop earlier.
  • Sigmund Beinkeles, rabbi in Kdyně from July 11, 1910 to March 11, 1911
  • Alois Schirenz from Prague, rabbi in Kdyně from July 15, 1911 to August 15, 1914

literature

  • Renata Klodnerová: Synagogy v Plzeňském kraji , diploma thesis, Charles University Prague, Hussite Theological Faculty, 2011, p. 81 and 82 online: http://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/69344/
  • František Houra, Kdyně: The history of the Jews in Kdyně and the surrounding area in Hugo Gold: The Jews and Jewish community of Bohemia in the past and present , published by Hugo Gold, Brünn-Prague, 1934, Jüdischer Buch- und Kunst Verlag, pp. 437–446 , online in English: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bohemia/boh437.html
  • Ivana Šedivec: Mikve: fenomén židovské obřadnosti (poznámky k rituálním lázním v Čechách a na Moravě) (English: Mikveh: the phenomenon of Jewish solemity (notes about ritual baths in Bohemia and Moravia) ), 2014, Prague, Charles University Department of Ethnology, Rigorosumarbeit (Czech), online: https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/140617/

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e http: //www.jüdische-gemeinden.de/index.php/gemeinden/mo/1403-neugedein-boehmen
  2. ↑ a b c d Renata Klodnerová: Synagogy v Plzeňském kraji , diploma thesis, Charles University Prague, Hussite Theological Faculty, 2011, p. 81 online: http://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/69344/
  3. ↑ a b Archived copy ( memento of the original from January 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kdynsko.cz
  4. ↑ Renata Klodnerová: Synagogy v Plzeňském kraji , diploma thesis, Charles University Prague, Hussite Theological Faculty, 2011, p. 82 online: http://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/69344/
  5. ^ František Houra, Kdyně: The history of the Jews in Kdyně and the surrounding area in Hugo Gold: The Jews and Jewish community of Bohemia in the past and present , published by Hugo Gold, Brünn-Prague, 1934, Jüdischer Buch- und Kunst Verlag, p. 445, online in English: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bohemia/boh437.html
  6. ↑ Ivana Šedivec: Mikve: fenomén židovské obřadnosti (poznámky k rituálním lázním v Čechách a na Moravě) (English: Mikveh: the phenomenon of Jewish solemity (notes about ritual baths in Bohemia and Moravia) ), 2014, Prague, Charles University , Department of Ethnology, Rigorosum Work (Czech), p. 70, online: https://is.cuni.cz/webapps/zzp/detail/140617/
  7. ^ František Houra, Kdyně: The history of the Jews in Kdyně and the surrounding area in Hugo Gold: The Jews and Jewish community of Bohemia in the past and present , published by Hugo Gold, Brünn-Prague, 1934, Jüdischer Buch- und Kunst Verlag, p. 441, online in English: http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/bohemia/boh437.html

Coordinates: 49 ° 23 ′ 25.6 ″  N , 13 ° 2 ′ 13 ″  E