CHEB: Boehmia

town images [February 2009]

Frommer article [February 2009]

In the 13^th century, the privileges were granted to the founders of the Cheb Jewish community. In 1322 the town was pawned to the king ,but the privileges of the Jews were included explicitly in the agreement and restated in 1347 and 1385. Almost all of the 3,000 Jews were massacred in 1350 when the Jewish street was renamed "Mordgaesschen, ("Murder Lane") although the name is Jewish street today. Jews resettling in Cheb in 1352 were forbidden residence in the former Jewish street. Charles IV confirmed their right to a synagogue and cemetery in 1364. In 1386, four "Judenmeisters" were appointed to the town council. Sigismund I, who granted some privileges to the Jews in 1430, expelled them at the request of the townspeople. The synagogue was converted into a church and the cemetery closed. Jews returned to Cheb in 1435 and again were expelled in 1502. King George of Podebrad permitted them to build a synagogue in 1463. From about 1600 to the middle of the mid-18^th century, a few Jewish families lived there but left for unknown reasons. A new congregation was established in 1862, but about 1900, the name of "Eger" was synonymous with rabid antiSemitism. Jewish population: 515 Jews in 1921 and 491 in 1930 (1.5% of the total population). On September 23, 1938 the city's two synagogues burned, but the Jewish community had fled Cheb. In January 1945. a Nazi prisoner transport from Auschwitz stopped at the local railroad station  to create 139 dead bodies at the local crematorium. At nearby Pořiči, another 180 bodies, had died en route or been shot,  from the same train were cremated or buried at the cemetery. A congregation of about 200 reconstituted in 1945 but dispersed in 1947. IThe cemetery's Holocaust memorial was dedicated in 1950. In 1962 , ten Jewish families lived in Cheb. In 1969 a memorial marked the site of the Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis.

REFERENCES:

Bondy-Dvorsky, 1; A. Stein, Die Geschichte der Juden in Boehmen (1904), 22–30.

US Commission No. CZCE000032
Alternate name: Eger in German. Located in Bohemia at 50º04' 12º03', 38 km WSW of Karlovy Vary. Cemetery: 1500 m S of the main square, in ulica [street] Osvobozeni. Present town population is 25,000-100,000 with probably than 10 Jews.

• Town: Mestsky.urad namesti Krale Jiriho 14, 350 02 Cheb; tel. 0166/224-71 or 225-81 (mayor: F. Linda).
  
• Local: Mestsky Urad, odbor kultury, namesti Karle Jiriho 14, 350 02 Cheb; tel. 0166/221-14.
  
• Regional: Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, Obrene brigady 30, 350 02 Cheb; tel. 0166/308-21 or 309-21 and Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Smetanovy sady 5, 301 17 Plzen; tel. 019/357-49.
• Interested: Chebske Muzeum, namesti Krale Jiriho, 350 11 Cheb; tel. 0166/223-86 or 223-87, and Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34 or 231-07-85.
  
• Other sources: Ms. Hana Mayerova, Kfar Hanoar Hadati, 204 94 Kfar Hassidim, Israel.

Earliest known Jewish community was first half of 14th century. 1930 Jewish population was 491. A bloody pogrom occurred in 1350; Jewish community banished in 1430 or in 1502 and probably in mid-18th century. New Jewish population existed since mid-19th century. Expelling of Jews by Nazis in 1938. Holocaust resulted in new congregation after WWII from 1945-1947 only (aliya). Poet Hugo Zuckermann (1881-1914); pioneer of puppet theatre and Israeli stage designer Paul Loewy-Levi (1891-1970); and pianist Rudolf Serkin (1903, residing in Philadelphia) lived here. The Jewish cemetery originated in 1872 as the third recorded cemetery of local Jewish community. Five tombstones of the medieval cemetery are kept in local museum. Buried in the unlandmarked cemetery were rabbis and poet H. Zuckermann (see above) with last known Conservative or Progressive/Reform Jewish burial was before 1943 (probably before 1939) then after 1945. The flat isolated suburban site has no sign but has Jewish symbols on gate or wall. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via no wall, fence, or gate. The pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is probably 0.2324 ha.

None of the granite stones is in original location. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to monument to both the extinct cemetery and poet H Zuckermann. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. Within the limits of the site are car-barns. The municipality owns the property used for recreation (park, playground, athletic field) and small car-barns and car-sheds. Adjacent properties are commercial or industrial, agricultural, and residential. Occasionally, private visitors and local residents stop. Vandalism occurred probably prior to World War II, in 1938 by Nazis, during World War II (many tombstones stolen, air raids in 1945, explosion of ammunition dump built by Nazis on the cemetery), and 1945-1981 (rest of cemetery liquidated in 1968-1969). Work [?] was done by local/municipal authorities and Jewish groups within country probably after 1945 and 1969. Now, authorities occasionally clean or clear. Slight threat: uncontrolled access and pollution.

Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 10 August 1992 using Die Juden und Judengemeinden Bohemens.. (1934); Vinzenz Prokl: Eger und das Egerland (1877); letters and notes of H. Mayerova, (see above)(1985-1988); recordsof Cemetery Commission of Jewish congregations (about liquidation of cemetery in 1968). Other documentation was inaccessible. The site was not visited but H. Mayerova in Prague was interviewed 1985-1988.