photos [February 2009]
The gravestones were stolen before 1981 and sold. Alternate names: Česká Lípa [Cz], Böhmisch-Leipa [Ger], Laypen [Yid], Lipa. Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 239: "Ceska Lipa".[February 2009]
Jews, first mentioned there in 1562, counted fourteen taxpayers recorded in 1570. In 1628 eleven Jewish houses are recorded. From 1646 to the end of the 17th century, a lawsuit between the Herrschaft (local lordship) and the municipality over jurisdiction over the Jews dragged on. The possession of the cemetery, where the Herrschaft had built a wall at its expense in 1670 was one issue. Jewish population: in 1724 --358 occupying fifteen houses.The Jewish population numbered 130 families in 1852, 112 in 1893, 490 persons in 1912, and 301 in 1930 (2.7% of the total). In 1744, 32 Jews with the rabbi were massacred and 40 were wounded by soldiers. A Moorish stylesynagogue was built in 1862 and a new cemetery consecrated in 1905. Rabbis of Ceska Lipa included Daniel Ehrmann (1851-60) and Joel Mueller (1867-72). The community fled in 1938. The synagogue burned on Nov. 10, 1938. The Jewish street was renamed "Stuermergasse". Many of the tombstones from the old cemetery were stolen for building materials. In 1959 the small congregation established by Jews from Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia (former soldiers of the Czechoslovak Army in the USSR) ceased to exist as well. [February 2009]
REFERENCES:
- Bondy-Dworský, no. 650; H. Gold (ed.), Die Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens... (1934), 51-55; J. Bergl, in: JGGJČ, 2 (1930), 241-84; R. Iltis, Die aussaeen in Traenen... (1959), 36. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia, (1991), 55-56.
- Encyclopaedia Judaica.
US Commission No. CZCE000324
Alternate name: Boehmisch-Leipa in German. Ceska Lipa is located in Bohemia, Ceska Lipa at 50°41' N, 14°33' E, 2 miles N of Praha (Prague), 23 miles WSW of Liberec, in N Bohemia.. The new cemetery is located at 550 m NE of Main Square. Present town population is 25,000-100,000 with than 10 Jews.
- Town: Mestsky Urad, Mirove namesti 1, 470 01 Ceska Lipa; tel. 0425/230-51.
- Regional: Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, Decinska 389, 470 01 Ceska Lipa; tel. 0425/331-11 and Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Moskevska 26, 400 01 Usti nad Labem; tel. 047/22-710.
- Interested: Okresni Muzeum, namesti Osvobozeni 297, 470 34 Ceska Lipa and Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34 or 231-07-85.
Earliest known Jewish community was late 16th century. Jewish population: 686 (in 1880), 868 (in 1910). 1930 Jewish population was 301. Pogrom in 1744 killed 30 persons. Peak Jewish population was mid-19th century (800); later moving to big industrial towns; expulsion of Jews by Nazis in 1938; scanty Jewish religious society existed after WWII. Native town of poet Hugo Salus (1866-1929). The unlandmarked Jewish cemetery originated in 1905 with last known Conservative Jewish burial probably 1945. The flat suburban site, separate but near cemeteries, has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a broken masonry wall and locking gate. The size of cemetery before WWII and now is approximately 1.24 ha.
No stones are in original location. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims who were there and but are transferred. The cemetery contains unmarked 1945 mass graves but no structures. The municipality owns property used for waste dumping and a new school. Adjacent properties are residential and municipal cemetery. Rarely, private visitors stop. Nazis vandalized the cemetery, occasionally 1945-1991 (liquidation of cemetery between 1982-1986). Jewish individuals and groups within country restoration after WWII with vandalism afterward. There is no maintenance. Very serious threat: pollution and vandalism. Serious threat: uncontrolled access, vegetation and existing nearby development.
Jan Marek, Na hranici 208, 405 05 Decin 9, tel., fax office: 0412/280-90 and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 25 Aug. 1992 using Jahrbuch fuer die israelische Cultusgemeinden Boehmens, (1893-4), Die Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens (1934), and Vestnik ZNO, VIII, No. 12. Other documentation was inaccessible. The site was not visited. Interviewed were staff of neighboring municipal cemetery, staff of school (see above), and Jan Smejkal from town museum in Ceska Lipa, 1992
UPDATE: February 6, 2007 – A memorial to the Jewish victims of a 1945 death march in the northern Czech town of Ceska Lipa was vandalized. Police reported that the memorial’s menorah, Stars of David, and a plaque with the victim's names were stolen.[February 2009]