Alternate names: Litoměřice [Cz], Leitmeritz [Ger]. 50°32' N, 14°08' E, In N Bohemia, on the Elbe, 34 miles NNW of Praha (Prague).
JewishGen Austria-Czech SIG Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 738: "Litomerice".
Wikipedia: Litoměřice is a town at the junction of the rivers Elbe (Czech: Labe) and Ohře (German: Eger) in northern Czech Republic, approximately 64 km (39,7 mi) northwest of Prague. "The area within the Ústí nad Labem Region is called Garden of Bohemia thanks to mild weather conditions important for growing fruits and grapes. One of the oldest Czech towns, Litoměřice was established in the 10th century at the site of an early medieval Slavic fort. The royal town statute was granted in 1219. From the 12th to the 17th century it was a significant trade center in the Holy Roman Empire. The German population suffered during the 15th century Hussite Wars. After the Protestant insurrection that triggered the Thirty Years' War, and their defeat in the Battle of White Mountain, the population of the city had to accept Catholicism, or leave the town, which became a bishop residency in 1655. As a result, the Czech population shrunk and the town became largely Germanized.After the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved in late 1918, the areas along the border with Germany, where a majority of the former Austrian citizens were speaking German language, tried to join German Austria (which in turn aimed to join Germany), but Czechoslovak troops prevented this. In 1919, all of Bohemia and Moravia was put under the Czechoslovak rule by the Treaty of St. Germain, including the large area stretching around central Bohemia and Moravia, which became as Sudetenland a matter of political controversy in the following years. Slavs settled there again, but remained a minority. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, German troops occupied the Sudetenland. The Czech population that had grown to about 5,000 people had to leave again.Occupation, 1938: In the final stages of the World War II, German troops were retreating to escape the advancing Red Army. Czech resistance took control of the castle on 27 April 1945, and after a few days they started negotiation with the Nazi commander about the terms of his surrender. The Wehrmacht capitulated in the night after 8 May, but German troops fled on 9 May just before Soviet troops entered the town on 10 May 1945. Most of the German population of the town was expelled by Beneš decrees in August 1945 along with about 2.5 million other Czechoslovak citizens of German ethnicity. Main Square with the Town Hall: The symbol of the city is a chalice, since the watchout tower on the Town Hall has this shape. There are numerous cellars connected by an extensive web of underground passages beneath the town. In some places the cellars were built in three floors. The passages are about three kilometers long and belong to one of the longest in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, only 336 meters of these underground ways are open to public. One can notice the ancient town wall when entering the town. The original town wall was built in the Gothic style." [February 2009]
Litomerice regional information [February 2009]
CEMETERY:
US Commission No. CZCE000304
[Used the cemetery at Lovosice] Alternate name: Leitmeritz in German. Litomerice is located in Bohemia, Litomerice at 50º32 14º08, 15 km SSE of Usti nad Labem and 52 km NNW of Praha. Cemetery: 900 m W of the main square. Present town population is 25,000-100,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.
- Town: Mestsky Urad, Mirove namesti, 412 01 Litomerice; tel. 0416/2806; Director member of town council: PhDr. J.Smetana.
- Regional: Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, Na valech 525/10, 412 01 Litomerice; tel. 0416/2019; Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Moskevska 26, 400 01 Usti nad Labem; tel. 047/227-10.
- Interested: Vlastivedne Muzeum, Mirove namesti 1, 412 01 Litomerice; tel. 0416/2019.
- Key-holder and caretaker: Mestska hrbitovni sprava, (Custodian of Municipal Cemetery), 412 01 Litomerice
Earliest known Jewish community was probably late 14th century. 1930 Jewish population was 425 people. A pogrom and banishing of Jewish community occurred in 1541 when both synagogue and cemetery ceased to exist. 1-2 families permitted since second half of 18th century. Jews moved from surrounding villages to Litomerice after 1848. Congregation originated in 1863. Jewish population peaked about 1900. Expulsion of Jewish inhabitants by Nazis was in 1938; forced labor camp (branch of Flossenburg Camp) with crematorium existed in suburb in 1944-45. Inmates of Terezin ghetto were sent to work to local rocket armory. The unlandmarked Jewish cemetery originated in 1876-1878 (Jewish part) with last known Conservative or Progressive/Reform Jewish burial in 1987. The flat suburban, part of a municipal cemetery, has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a continuous masonry wall and locking gate. The size of cemetery before WWII and currently is approximately 0.045 ha s (Jewish part of municipal cemetery) but individual Jewish burials are in other parts of the cemetery.
20-100 stones are all in original locations. The late 19th-20th century marble, granite, slate, and cement finely smoothed and inscribed stones or multi-stone monuments have Hebrew, German and Czech inscriptions. Some tombstones have bronze decorations or lettering and/or other metallic elements. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims in Jewish portion but no known mass graves or structures (Jewish part). The municipality owns Jewish cemetery property. Adjacent properties are non-Jewish parts of cemetery. Occasionally, Jewish or non-Jewish private visitors and local residents stop. Vandalism occurred occasionally 1945-1991. Individuals or groups of non-Jewish origin and local/municipal authorities did restoration occasionally. Now, authorities occasionally clean or clear. The caretaker of municipal cemeteries is paid by a local contribution. Slight threat: vegetation and vandalism.
Jan Marek, Na hranici 208, 405 05 Decin; tel. and fax for messages: 0412/23-622 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: Census of 14th-20th centuries. Die Juden un Judengemeinden Bohemens. (1934); Jan Herman: Jewish Cemeteries of Bohemia and Moravia (1980). The site was not visited. Dr. J. Smetana and Dr. Kolek from Muzeum and inhabitants of Litomerice were interviewed in 1992.