The 17th and 18th centuries is noted for the Černíns from Chudenice living at the Petrohrad manor as documented by the Priviledge of Heřman Černín from Chudenice and in the painting of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence showing Černín family members. Guild memorabilia proves that guild craft manufacturing took place in Jesenice in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the museum are collections of tin, ceramic, and glass dishes and decorative objects. [February 2009]
US Commission No. CZCE0000096 and CZCE0002360
Used the cemetery at Zderaz before 1927
Alternate names: (German) Jechnitz in Bohemia-Rakovnik at 50º06 13º29, 18 km W of Rokovnik and 65 km W of Prague. Cemetery: 1 km SE of town. Present population is 1000-5000 with fewer than 10 Jews.
- Town: Obecni urad, 270 33 Jesenice.
- Regional: Jewish Congregation: ZNO, Maislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1.
- Interested: Vlastivedne Muzeum, Plzenska 63, 270 33 Jesenice; Okresni Muzeum Rokovnik, Vysoka 232/I, 269 01 Rakovnik. Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymove 3, 110 01 Praha 1. Vladimir Zuska, ex-director of local museum, Smetanova 268, 270 33 Jesenice. Josef Boh, Pricna ul, 270 33 Jesenice. Mr. and Mrs. Augustin Diessel, Rabasova ulica [Street], 270 33 Jesenice. Anna Krouzova, Plzenska 156, 270 33 Jesenice; tel. 0313/99354.
Earliest known Jewish community dates from 1893. 1930 Jewish population was 46 people. Movement of Jews to big towns and expulsion of Jews by Nazis in 1938 effected the community. The unlandmarked cemetery originated in 1927 with last known Conservative or Reform/Progressive Jewish burial before 1939. The flat isolated suburban site has no sign. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a continuous masonry wall and locking gate. Size of cemetery before WWII was 300 sq. m.
No stones are visible. Some stones removed from the cemetery to a museum of conservation are now stolen. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. The municipality owns the property used for a free burial place as an extension of the municipal cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Compared to 1939, cemetery boundaries are smaller because of the extension of the municipal cemetery. The Jewish cemetery is never visited. Vandalism occurred during World War II, between 1945 and ten years ago, and occasionally in the last ten years when last tombstones were stolen after 1984. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures. Incompatible nearby development (planned or proposed) is a very serious threat, an outrageous interference into a Jewish memorial place.
Ladislav Mertl, Mgr. of Geography, Kubanske namesti 1322/17, 100 00 Praha 10; tel. 02/743213 and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 115 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 15 May 1992. Documentation: local history and notes of historian and the censuses of 1930 and 1991. Other documentation exists but inaccessible in the local museum (see above.) Mertl Ladislav visited site on 15 May 1992 and interviewed V. Zuska (see above) and Lydie Kurzova, historian, Plzenska 37, 270 33 Jesenice (also in 1983 and 1984.)