February 2009: Jablonec nad Nisou District (Okres Jablonec nad Nisou in Czech) is a district (okres) within Liberec Region (Liberecký kraj). Its capital city is Jablonec nad Nisou. Complete list of towns and villages in Jablonec nad Nisou District:
Jablonec nad Nisou - Albrechtice v Jizerských horách - Bedřichov - Dalešice - Desná - Držkov - Frýdštejn - Janov nad Nisou - Jenišovice - Jílové u Držkova - Jiřetín pod Bukovou - Josefův Důl - Koberovy - Kořenov - Líšný - Loužnice - Lučany nad Nisou - Malá Skála - Maršovice - Nová Ves nad Nisou - Pěnčín - Plavy - Pulečný - Radčice - Rádlo - Rychnov u Jablonce nad Nisou - Skuhrov - Smržovka - Tanvald - Velké Hamry - Vlastiboř - Zásada - Zlatá Olešnice - Železný Brod
town images.
JABLONEC n. N., a county capital that neighbors Liberec. In present Jiráskova Street was a Jewish synagogue built in 1892 and burnt down on "Crystal Night of 1938". In 1895, the Jewish Community had 134 members with 49 others in the adjoining villages. In 1930 it had 893 members. Many societies were founded: Women’s Society -885, Jewish Youth Society "Blau-Weiss". (1926, 45 members) and Zionist Society "Theodor Herzl" (1900, 85 members). A Holocaust memorial was built in 1990 with the following text: "On this place there used to be a Jewish synagogue serving 300 Jewish families that helped with the development of Jablonec industry before WW II. In October 1938, Nazis occupied the town, desecrating and destroying the synagogue. Most of the Jewish residents were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. God bless them!"
The Jewish cemetery in Jablonec dedicated in1882 was no longer used after 1968 due to construction. All mortal remains were transported to Liberec Jewish Cemetery, where graves with tombstones were provided. After WWII, the Jewish Community did not resume; and Jews living in this area belonged to the Jewish Community of Liberec.
Currently the Jewish Community of Liberec owns a house on Luční Street, Jablonec n/N, where the rabbi used to live and site of the "mikvah". This residence was returned as part of the restitution by the state in 1995. In Jablonec n/N area, several small plots of land were owned by the Jewish Community. As compensation, the Jewish Community received one integral plot, where a public beneficial institution (the swimming pool) stands.
Alternate names: Jablonec nad Nisou [Cz], Gablonz an der Neiße [Ger], Jablonec, Gablonz, Gablonz an der Neisse. in N. Bohemia. Jewish population: 214 in 1869, 430 in 1880, 517 in 1895, and 799 in 1930 (2% of the total population). Jewish settlement in Jablonec dating from 1847 was connected with the development of the world-famous glass-jewelry industry. Because the neighboring town of Smrzovka (Ger. Morchenstern), site of most of the factories, gave the Jews problems, the industry's commercial center shifted to Jablonec. A congregation (Kultusverein) was founded in Jablonec in 1872, a cemetery opened in 1882, and a Moorish-style synagogue dedicated in 1892. A legal community was established in 1893 with foreign citizens and foreign firm representatives. Between WWI and WWII, the majority of the population supported German nationalistic goals. In the 1938 annexation of the area by Germany, most of the Jews fled Jablonec, some reestablishing their firms in the U.S. and England. Those remaining were deported to concentration camps. On Nov. 10, 1938, the synagogue was demolished. After World War II, a small congregation reconstituted, most from Subcarpathian Ruthenia. In 1969, the community was affiliated with Liberec. The municipality divided the cemetery into building plots in 1969. Source and photos. [February 2009]
REFERENCES:
Urabin, in: H. Gold (ed.), Die Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (1934), 145–8; Freund, in: Selbstwehr, 22 (1928), no. 8 (24.2), 6–7; Pick, in: Jews of Czechoslovakia, 1 (1968), 399–400.
Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2008 The Gale Group.
Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 556: "Jablonec nad Nisou".
US Commission No CZCE000300
Alternate names: (German) Gablonz. Town is in Bohemia at 50°43' N, 15°11' E , 54 miles NE of Praha (Prague), 7 miles SE of Liberec (Reichenberg). Cemetery: 1100 meters NE of town-hall, in Vysoka Street between Svedska and Brezova Sts. Present population is 25,000-100,000 with Jewish population of 10-100.
- Town: Mayor ThMgr. Jiri Musil, Mestsky Urad, Mirove namesto 19, 466 01 Jablonec n. N.; tel. 0428/410-218.
- Regional: 1. Okresni urad, (as above); tel. 0428/237-66 and 2. Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Slavickova 5, 460 01 Liberec; tel. 048/12-06-73.
- Interested: 1. Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34, 231-07-85 and 2. District archivist, Ms. Valburga Wowkova, Okresni archiv, Jehlarska 7, 466 01 Jablonec n. N.
- Caretaker: Ms. A. Kasparova, Ruperechticka 101/385, 460 01 Liberec
Earliest known Jewish community was the religious society founded 1872 by 808 Jews. The first Jewish family was permitted in 1847, but he first record of Jablonec nad Nisou dates from 1356 when it was a small village SE of present-day Liberec. The village suffered during the Hussite wars when Catholic troops utterly devastated it in 1469, leaving nothing but an apple tree on the banks of the River Nissa. “Jabloň” is Czech for apple tree from which the town derives its name. The village was re-established seventy years later, mostly by German glass-makers invited by the nobility from Saxony. In the middle of the 16th century, a number of glass factories were in operation in the area. First prayer-room was 1860s. 1893 Congregation had rabbi since 1878. Jewish population increased until 1930s. Expulsion of Jews by Nazis was in 1938. After WWII, new congregation existed with Jewish inhabitants of E (Ruthenia, etc.) who later made aliyah or emigrated. Noteworthy individuals: photographer and writer Marcel Safir (1912-1978) buried in Israel; native town of Austrian zoologist invertebrates Heinrich Joseph (1875-1941); of conductor Peter Hermann Adler (1899-? USA); and of Anton Krafft, who perished in Nazi camps. The unlandmarked Jewish cemetery originated in 1882 with last known Conservative or Reform/Progressive Jewish burial in 1945. The isolated flat urban site with no sign. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via no wall, fence, or gate. Size of cemetery before and after WWII is about 0.96 ha.
No stones are visible. Several urns removed from the cemetery were buried in Liberec in 1968 while other stones removed from the cemetery were stolen or sold. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. The municipality owns property used for hotel, housing, and parking. Properties adjacent are residential. Rarely, private visitors stop. The cemetery was demolished in 1939 during World War II and liquidated in 1968. No care or maintenance. Within the limits of the cemetery are homes.
Jan Marek, Na hranici 208, 405 05 Decin; tel. and fax for messages: 0412/23-662 or 28-090 and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 29 November 1992. Documentation: 1. Jahrbuch fur die israelische Cultusgemeinden Bohemens (1893-4); 2. Der politische Bezirk Gablons (1895); 3. Herman: Die Juden and Judengemeinden Bohemens (1934); and 4. 1984 letter of Archivist, Ms. Wowkova. Other documentation exists but was inaccessible: No. 35, 36 in archives of both Jewish congregation and town. Marek who interviewed caretaker in 1986 and the inhabitants of Jablonec n. N. in 1992 visited the site.