town (in partial English) website. in English. Slaný ( German: Schlan) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region located about 25 km northwest of Prague. The town is situated in the Slaný Plain (the northwestern part of a geomorphologic whole called the Prague Plain). A creek called Červený potok (Red creek) flows through it from SW to the NE. The villages of Dolín, Želevčice, Lotouš, Blahotice, Netovice, Kvíc, Kvíček, Trpoměchy and Otruby are all administrative parts of Slaný. The town of Slaný is situated at the crossing of the Prague - Louny, Prague - Karlovy Vary roads. The Prague - Most railway goes through the town. Discovery of a salt spring meant that in the year 750 a settlement existed near Slaný Hill. The medieval royal town of Slaný has 13th century Church of St Gothard on a site once occupied by a Romanesque basilica. The Renaissance Modletický House featuries a bay window. Facades of burghers' houses, the town hall, and the former Piarist College with the Chapel of the Betrothal of the Virgin Mary surround the square. Velvary Gate, 38 metres, is the last surviving gate of the town's medieval fortifications. A Jewish community established in 1861 built the synagogue 1865. The synagogue had two parts - the entire house of prayer and a two-story residential section used by the rabbi. The synagogue is decorated with a massive facade with Tablets of Moses. Lined by stately buildings, including the District House, the Julius Wiehl House with sgraffiti, and the renovated Town Theatre, Wilson Street features modern, mostly neo-Renaissance architecture. On the eastern outskirts of the town is Slánská Hill of volcanic origin (330 m above sea level). Historical sites. Jewish cemetery's Ceremonial hall and mortuary were converted to slaughterhouse for animals. see photo. Reconstruction of the cemetery is done by Temple Brith Shalom in Prescott, Arizona. Memorial Torah Scroll. A Jewish community was sporadically settled in Slany during the 14th and 15th centuries until in 1458, Jews were expelled from the town. A small Jewish community reestablished in the first half of the 19th century, with 207 Jews in 1880. 81 Jewish residents of Slany were deported to Terezin in 1942. No Jews returned home after the war. The Jewish cemetery established in 1881has 80 gravestones. For more information, e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. [February 2009]
US Commission No. CZCE000400
[Used the cemetery at Zlonice before 1880] Alternate name: Sclan in German. Slany is located in Bohemia, Kladno at 50°13′50″N 14°4′53″E , 9 km NNW of Kladno and 29 km NW of center of Praha. Cemetery: 700 meters NE of main square between Lazenska and Nosecicka Streets. Present town population is 5,000-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.
- Town: Mestsky Urad, Velvarska 136, 274 01 Slany; tel. 0314/2571 or 2893.
- Regional: Okresni Urad-Referat Kultury, namesti 17 listopadu 2840, 272 01 Kladno; tel. 0312/6741 and Jewish Congregation: Ms. Jana Wolfova, Zidovska Nabozenska Obec v Praze, Maislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-69-25.
- Interested: Vlastivedne Muzeum, namesti 9 kvetna 159, 274 01 Slany; tel. 0314/2209 and okresni Muzeum, zamek, 272 01 Kladno; tel. 0312/3758 and Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34 or 231-07-85.
- Caretaker with key: Engineer Bohumil Srom, Dvorakova 1603, 274 01 Slany and Vitezslav Ambroz, Zizkova 1538, 274 01 Slany.
Earliest known Jewish community was 1850s. 1930 Jewish population was 85. Settling of Jews was prohibited until 1848; first prayer-room after 1850. Independent congregation was established in the 1860s. Peak Jewish population was late 19th century: 290 people in congregation in 1890; Later, Jews moved to big towns. Independent congregation disbanded in 1936. Playwright and novelist Arthur Breisky (1885-1910) lived here. The unlandmarked Jewish cemetery originated in 1880 with last known Conservative or Progressive/Reform Jewish burial in 1951. The suburban hillside, separate but near cemeteries, has a Czech sign or plaque ("Cultural Monument") and Jewish symbols on gate or wall. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open with permission via continuous masonry wall, a continuous fence, and locking gate. The approximate size of cemetery before WWII was 0.3188 ha and is now 0.2361 ha.
100-500 stones, all in original location, date from late 19th-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 portraits on stones and/or metal fences around graves. The cemetery contains no known mass graves but had a pre-burial house with a catafalque and gravedigger's house, both sold in 1982. Praha Jewish community owns the cemetery site. Adjacent properties are agricultural and residential. The boundaries are smaller than 1939 because of agriculture and property sale. Occasionally, private visitors stop. This cemetery was not vandalized. Jewish individuals and groups within country did restoration before and after 1982. There is regular unpaid caretaker. Serious threat: vegetation. Slight threats: uncontrolled access and vandalism.
Vlastmila Hamackova, Zabelska 37, Engineer Mojmir Maly, Ve Stresovi ckach 58, 169 00 Praha 6; tel. 35-57-69 and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 29 August 1992. Documentation: Jahrbuch fur die israelische Cultusgemeinden Bohemens (1893-1894); Jan Herman: Jewish Cemeteries of Bohemia and Moravia (1980); Hugo Gold: Die Juden und Judengemeinden Bohemens (1934). The site was not visited. Someone was interviewed-no details were given.