See photo of cemetery. [February 2009]
US Commission No. CZCE000091
Alternate names: Ivančice [Cz], Eibenschütz [Ger], Aybshitz [Yid], Eibenschitz. Town is in Morava-Brno-Venkov at 49°06' N, 16°23' E , 13 miles WSW of Brno (Brünn). Cemetery: 0.5 km NW on Mrenkova Street. Present town population is 5000-25,000 with fewer than 10 Jews.
- Town: Mayor (Magistrate) Dr. Roman Sladek, Mestsky Urad, Palackeho namesti 1, 664 91 Ivancice; tel. 0502/921843.
- Regional: Engineer Jan Klobasa, Okresni urad þReferat Kultury, Moravske namesti 2, 602 00 Brno; tel. 05/2197.
- Interested: 1. Okresni Muzeum Brno-venkov, dir. Mgr. Antonin Recek, Palackeho nam., 664 91 Ivancice; tel. 502/921131. Josef Husak, Kounicke 85, 664 91 Ivancice; tel. 0502/921673.
- Caretaker with key: Jaromir Beran, Mrenkova 36, 664 91 Ivancice; tel. 0.
Earliest known Jewish community dates from 15th century. 1900 Jewish population was 332. 1930 Jewish population was 141. Jewish quarter transferred in 15th century. Self-standing political community existed 1850-1919. Rabbi Jonathan Eibenschitzer; Guido Adler, 1855-1941, musicologist; Rabbi Beer Oppenheim, +1859, and Hugo Weissgall, b. 1912, composer lived here. The landmarked cemetery (Nr. 0753 S.M.) originated in the 16th century with last known Conservative Jewish burial about 1950. The urban isolated hillside by water has sign in Czech mentioning the Jewish Community. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a continuous masonry wall, a continuous fence and locking gate. Size of cemetery before and after WWII is 1.2634 ha.
500-1,000 gravestones, in original location with less than 25% toppled or broken, date from 1552-20th century. The marble, granite, limestone, and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration, or double tombstones have Hebrew, German, and/or Czech inscriptions. Some have traces of painting on their surfaces, iron decorations or lettering, bronze decorations or lettering, and/or metal fences around graves. Some stones removed from the cemetery are in a museum of conservation. The cemetery is divided into old and new parts. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. Brno Jewish community owns Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural and residential. Occasionally, private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized between 1945 and ten years ago. Local non-Jewish residents, regional or national authorities, and Jewish groups within country cleaned stones, cleared vegetation, and fixed wall and gate in the 1970s and 1980s. Brno Jewish Congregation pays a regular caretaker. Within the limits of the cemetery is a pre-burial house with wall inscriptions. Security (uncontrolled access), weather erosion, pollution, vegetation, vandalism, and incompatible development pose slight threats. Vegetation overgrowth seasonally prevents access.
Engineer arch. Jaroslav Klenovsky, Zebetinska 13, 623 00 Brno; tel. 0 completed survey form on 1 March 1992. Documentation: 1. Hugo Gold: Die Juden Bohemens (1934); and 2. Jan Herman: Jewish Cemeteries in Bohemia and Moravia (1980). Other documentation was inaccessible. Klenovsky conducted no interviews but visited site in December 1991.