GOLČŮV JENÍKOV JEWISH CEMETERY

The Jewish cemetery in Golčův Jeníkov is one of the oldest in Bohemia and was probably founded in the 14th century. The oldest preserved tombstones are made of light stone and have inscriptions facing east. The more recent graves are from the 16th and 17th centuries. Two centuries later, the inscriptions were oriented to the west. The oldest legible epitaph can be found on a tombstone from the beginning of the 18th century. It reports that the village leader Abraham died on September 20, 1705. The plate is decorated with a Star of David featuring a small floral relief in the middle.

The rare tombstones are Baroque and decorated with reliefs. There are also marble ones and the latest from the 20th century are no different from Christian graves. Texts appear in Czech, German and Hebrew. Some tombstones take the form of sarcophagi. According to legend, medieval rabbis lay here,

including, for example, Rabbi Aaron Kornfeld, a prominent Jewish scholar who founded a Talmudic school in the town where students from foreign countries also studied. It was the last school of its kind in Bohemia, which was closed after the rabbi's death in 1881.

In the 1990s, a vandal damaged seventy tombstones, and therefore the cemetery remains closed. It is only opened on-request.

Photo: archive of Vysočina Tourism