cemetery photos and town image Town dates from at least the 11th century. The earliest known Jewish community in this town was most likely from the second half of 17th century. The Jewish population in 1930 was 23 people in Prcice and 23 in Sedlec. The present town population is 570 inhabitants with no Jews. The old synagogue still on the town square now it houses a small sports equipment factory with no commemorative plaque. or sign In a field beyond the town is the old Jewish cemetery with a small number of gravestones hidden in overgrowth. In 1984 the Czech government gave permission to destroy the cemetery to use the plot for farming, but shortage of labor and equipment mean thisnever happened. Jews weres hopkeepers and carpenters, tailors and tanners in a centuries old community destroyed on a September morning in 1942 when eight families, twenty-six Jews, were herded from the town into cattlecars to Auschwitz. Sedlec alternate name is Selz. See Prcice torah. Schematic of cemetery. [February 2009]
US Commission No. CZCE000259 (Part of twin towns SEDLEC-PRCICE)
Alternate name: Prtschitz, Pertschitz in German, Sedlec-Prčice in Czech.. Prcice is located in Bohemia, Benesov at 49°34′03″N 14°31′50″E , is 21 km NNW of Tabor, 40km ESE of Pribram. Cemetery: 1.5 km N. Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with probably no Jews.
- Town: Mestsky Urad, 257 91 Sedlec-Prcice.
- Regional: Jewish congregation: ZNO Praha (Ms Jana Wolfova), Maislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 0301/2318664; Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, 256 01 Benesov u Prahy; and PhDr Jiri Twoniak, District Conservator of Monuments, Zapova 601/22, 256 01 Benesov u Prahy; tel. 0301/23618.
- Interested: Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34. Okresni Muzeum Benesov, Male namesti 74, 256 01 Benesov u Prahy. Jaroslav Horyna-local historian-257 91 Sedlec-Prcice 226. MUDr Ondrej Bazant, Obrancu miru 660, 259 01 Votice; tel. 0302/2430. Vaclav Sustr St., Husova 287, 259 01 Votice; tel. 0302/2397.
Earliest known Jewish community was perhaps second half of 17th century. 1930 Jewish population was 23 in Prcice and 23 in Sedlec. The Jewish cemetery originated before 1725 with last known Conservative Jewish burial in 1939 or 1940. Strezimir, 6 km away, used site. The isolated rural (agricultural) flat land on a slight slope has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a continuous masonry wall and non-locking gate. The pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is 0.174 ha.
20-100 stones date from 1782-20th century. The granite and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones or multi-stone monuments have Hebrew, German and Czech inscriptions. Some have iron decorations or lettering and/or metal fences around graves. The cemetery contains no known mass graves but has a wall. Praha Jewish community owns the cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Rarely, private visitors stop. Vandalism occurred during World War II, occasionally 1945-1991 with no maintenance. Very serious threat: vegetation. Serious threat: vandalism. Moderate threat: uncontrolled access and pollution. Slight threat: weather erosion, existing and proposed nearby development.
Ladislac Mertl, mgr of geography, Kubanske namesti 1322/17, Praha 10-Vrsovice; tel. 02/743213; and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on June 1992. Documentation: H. Gold: Die Juden...Bohemens… (1934); Jewish Cemeteries in Bohemia and Moravia(1980); notes of Statni Zidovske Muzeum Praha from research in 1959; letter of J. Horyna -(1984); and censuses of 1724, 1930, 1991. Other documentation was inaccessible. Bazant and Sustr were interviewed several times during autumn 1991 and spring 1992.