Malešov is a market town in Kutná Hora District, Central Bohemia, with a population of 906 (2006). [February 2009]
US Commission No. CZCE000128
Alternate German name: Maleschau. Malesov is located in Bohemia, Kutna Hora at 49÷55 15÷14, 5 km SW of Kutna Hora and 13 km S of Kolin. Cemetery: 400 meters SW. Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Mistni urad, 285 41 Malesov; tel. 0327/95-108 and magistrate: Zdenek Maruska, 285 41 Malesov cp. 83; tel. 0327/95-230.
- Regional: Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, Radnicka 178, 284 80 Kutna Hora; tel. 0327/2301 and Zidovska Nabozenska Obec v Praze, Maislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-69-25 and regional conservator: MUDr. Bohuslav Prochazka, Ceska 240, 284 01 Kutna Hora.
- Interested: Okresni Muzeum, Barborska 28, 284 80 Kutna Hora; tel. 0327/2159 and Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-07-85. Ms. Koutska (in former gravedigger's house), 285 51 Malesov cp. 125.
Earliest known Jewish community was early 18th century. 1930 Jewish population was 8. Jews moved to Kutna Hora and to big towns in the second half of the 19th century. The landmarked Jewish cemetery originated before 1758 with last known legible Conservative or Progressive/Reform Jewish burial 1956. Kutna Hora (from mid-19th century), 5 km away, used cemetery. The isolated suburban hillside has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a continuous masonry wall, a continuous fence, and non-locking gate. The pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is 0.2766 ha.
100-500 stones, most in original locations, date legibly from mid-18th-20th century. The marble, granite, limestone and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration, double tombstones or multi-stone monuments have Hebrew, German and Czech inscriptions. Some tombstones have portraits on stones and/or metal fences around graves. The cemetery has special section for children and no known mass graves. Within the limits of the site is a gravedigger's house. Praha Jewish community owns the site used as a Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural and residential. Occasionally, private visitors stop. This cemetery was not vandalized. Jewish groups within the country did restoration after 1985. Now, there is occasional clearing or cleaning by individuals. Serious threat: vandalism. Slight threat: weather erosion, pollution and vegetation.
Martina Chmelikova, Nad Ondrejovem 16, 140 00 Praha 4; tel. 02/69-20-350 and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Bedickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on May 27, 1992. Documentation: Jan Herman: Jewish Cemeteries of Bohemia and Moravia, 1980; census 1819, 1724, 1930. Other documentation was inaccessible. The site was not visited. Mrs. Koutska, Malesov, was interviewed in 1992.