DOMAZLICE: Plzeň

Alternate names: Domažlice [Cz], Taus, Teus [Ger]. 49°26' N, 12°56' E, 29 miles SW of Plzeň (Pilsen). Jewish population: 153 (in 1890), 69 (in 1930)

• Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 321: "Domazlice".
• JewishGen Austria-Czech SIG
• website in Czech: "Jewish settlement was established in the first half of the 14th century. The newer cemetery with an area of ​​1372 sq m was only founded in the 1890s. Located in Prokop Holý ulici in the northern part of town, the road to Trebnice, about 1 km N from the square. About 100 tombstones are visible, dating from the time of inception until the last burial in 1941, ceased to exist during WWII. After 1987, there was a reduction in area due to expansion of the road (1988-1989). In the same year, the original stone gate built in 1891-1892 was replaced with a replica. The synagogue and the rabbinate building, roughly the same period, both were demolished in 1939-1940." [September 2011]

The cemetery was reduced in size and received a new front wall and gate. [February 2009]

Alternate German name: Taus. The town is in Bohemia, Domazlice at 49º26 12º56, 25 km WNW of Klatovy and 44 km SW of Plzen (Pilsen). The cemetery is 1 km N of main square in Prokopa Velikeho St. leading to Trebnice village. Present town population is 5,000-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.

• Town: Mestsky Urad, namesti Miru, 344 01 Domazlice; tel. 0189/2031.
  
• Local official responsible: Dr. Zavadska, Okresni urad, (see next address) tel. 0189/2641.
• Regional: Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, namesti Pionyru 228, 344 01 Domazlice; tel. 0189/4770; and Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Smetanovy sady 5, 301 37 Plzen; tel. 019/357-49.
  
• Interested: Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34, or 231/-07-85 and Zdensk Prochazka Vodni 18, 344 01 Domazlice; tel. 0189/2332.
  
• Caretaker with key: Engineer Brezak, namesti Miru 42, 344 01 Domazlice; tel. 0189/4026.
• Earliest known Jewish community was a religious society with a prayer room in the 1860's. An independent congregation originated in 1873 with 180 paying members. 1930 Jewish population was 69. Before 1850, at most 3 Jewish families were permitted in town. After 1850, Jews moved to Domazlice from surrounding villages. The largest Jewish population was in the late 19th century with approximately twenty families. In the 20th century, movement was to large towns and abroad. Only 33 persons were subjected to racial laws in 1942. The landmarked Jewish cemetery originated in the 1860's with last Conservative Jewish burial in 1941. Town of Radonice (in German, Radonitz), 5 km away, used cemetery. The suburban flat isolated site has Czech sign and Hebrew mentioning the Holocaust. Reached directly off a public road, access is open with permission via a continuous masonry wall with a locking gate. The cemetery size was 0.1372 ha. 100-500 gravestones, all in original locations with none toppled or broken, date from 1860's-20th century. Some removed stones were incorporated into roads or structures. The marble, granite or limestone finely smoothed and inscribed, flat with carved relief decoration or multi-stone monuments have Hebrew, German, and/or Czech inscriptions. Some have other than metallic elements and/or portraits on the stones. The cemetery contains a special monument to Holocaust victims, but no known mass graves. Pilsen Jewish community owns cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural and residential. The boundaries are smaller than in 1939 because of new roads or highways and a new gate after reduction of the cemetery. Occasionally, private visitors stop. Regional or national authorities, Jewish individuals within the country, Jewish individuals from abroad, and Jewish groups within the country re-erected stones, patched broken stones, cleared vegetation, and put a new frontal wall and new gate after the cemetery boundaries were reduced in 1989 and 1990. Pilsen Jewish congregation pays the regular caretaker. Vandalism is a moderate threat; weather erosion and vegetation are slight threats.
• Dr. Peter Braun, Komenskeho 43, 323 13 Plzen; tel. 019/52-15-58, Rudolf Lowy, Jesenicka 33, 323 23 Plzen; tel. 019/52-06-84, and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed the survey on September 7, 1992. Documentation: Censuses of 1724, 1830, 1850 and 1930. Also the books Jewish Cemeteries of Bohemia and Moravia by Jan Herman, 1980, Statistik des Judenthums... by Gustav A. Schimmer, 1873. Also, Jahrbuch fur die Israelite Cultusgemeinden Bohemens, 1893-4; manuscript of Josef Chloupek, Nasi domazlicti zide..., 1983, letter of local historian, 1982, letters of Z. Prochazka (see above) and Anna Brezakova (see above) in 1986-1990. Other documentation exists, such as exact records of cemetery size, probably in the archives of the Jewish congregation in Pilsen. Dr. Braun and R. Lowy visited site in October 1991. Z. Prochazka was interviewed in 1988-90 in Praha.