49°07' N 14°01' E, 70.3 miles SSW of Praha. Dub u Prachatice.
website in Czech with photo: landmarked and freely accessible "The cemetery is located 1 km S of the village on a hill in the woods and dates from the early 18th century (perhaps 1706). The cemetery has more than 100 tombstones visible from the 18th century to 1940. Since 1992, they have been repaired gradually. Currently ongoing cemetery maintenance should continue with about 20 gravestones from the 19th century and early 20th century to be restored." [September 2011]
A Jewish history of the towns in Prachatice District: In the Prachatice district are three preserved Jewish cemeteries: Those in Čkyně and in Vlachovo Březí were repaired in 1980s and 1990s, the one in Dub still under repair. Also, 96 Jewish victims of the Nazis had a kosher burial in Volary. The beginning of the Jewish settlement in Čkyně dates from the 16th century when, under feudalism, Jews had no rights regarding residence. Their life was conditional on the whim of ruler, feudal nobles, church, the Christian population, and political circumstances. The small town Čkyně was a trade and market center of SE Volyně district in late 16th century where several Jewish families already lived. Only one family survived the Thirty´s War according to the Roll of Assesment of 1654: "two Jews on the Vysoký dvůr in Čkyně: Šťastný and Izák". In the years 1703 to 1728 the owner of Čkyně, Adam František Hrušovský z Hrušova, defended "his" Jews against the Volyně council. Theresian land-registry from the year 1748 indicates ten Jewish families, six of them dealt in wool, linen and feathers, two families in skin, one family in spirit and one Jew worked as a painter.August 16, 1825 administrator of authorities listed 151 Jews and 526 Christians. 34 jewish families (207 persons) in1840. After 1849, when the legislative segregation of Jewish population in Austria ended, moving of Jews to bigger towns started. In 1890, the synagogue in Čkyně was closed, 11 Jews lived there in 1930. From the Čkyně Jews comes a significant Czech lawyer professor, Alois Zucker, (1842-1906): Czech Univerzity in Prague, author of scientific work, dean of the Czech Lawyer Faculty,representative of the Reich Council in Vienna (1885-1901), and member of the Royal Czech Company of Theory and of the Czech Academy. The first postman in Čkyně was Josef Lederer (died in 1905, buried in the local jewish cemetery). In the Prachatice district were four synagogues that even before the Holocaust stopped funtioning: Čkyně, Vlachovo Březí and Dub before 1920 for lack of members. Those synagogues were sold to private buyers, who rebuilt them as residential buildings. The synagogue in Vimperk, built by the Vimperk Jewish Community in 1925 and consecrated on January 3, 1926, was torched on November 10, 1938 by the Nazis. Only the Čkyně synagogue has renovated so far. The synagogue (No. 105) stands not far from the center of the town toward the railway station and is the second one there. Jewish settlement dated from the late 16th century so the old synagogue stood within the former manor, so called "Vysoký dvůr", next to the out-buildings of the manormaybe from the 18th century. After 1827, the then owner of the Čkyně demesne (the doctor of law JUDr. Karel Claudi) settled with local jewish community to take over the building and replaced it with the new synagogue at his own expense in1828. All buildings of the former manor were pulled down in the mid-20th century for the local Standard Farming Cooperative and later blocks of flats. In the Memorial Book of the Čkyně Parochial Office (kept from 1786 in the parish ) in Latin the construction and opening of the new synagogue are described by church administrator František Stáně. The construction of the buildingbegan on April 14, 1828 and on September 26 was finished, one of the biggest and most beautiful synagogues of former "Prácheňský" district. Later the winter prayer room with heat was added to the new building on the west sideon the first floor and below the sanctuary. Other rooms on the ground floor served originally as a Jewish school and rabbi's quarters. Research of Dr. Jan Muk from Prague and reconstruction architect František Petrlík from České Budějovice confirmed that. In 19th centuryí, the Čkyně Jewish community had a rabbi and cantor. Besides local Jews, those from the surroundings area were members. Regular services were held until 1895, then they were transfered to Vimperk, but rabbis still lived in Čkyně [after 1890, Jiří Bohumil Stranský, Mojžíš Reitler (1897) and Josef Bloch (from 1903).] For occasional services the synagogue served until the end of the WWI, under Rabbi Julius Löwenbein in Vimperk, the new seat of the Jewish community. The Čkyně Jewish Community was abolished in 1890 with only 3 Jewish families (11 persons) remaining in Ckyne, while 20 Jewish families (60 persons) lived in Vimperk (including Boubská village).In 1922, the Vimperk Jewish Community sold the former Čkyně synagogue (using the proceeds for new Vimperk synagogue construction) to the Španingers, who then adapted the building for a family house and workshop. To the east part of the synagogue, where the main prayer room was the ground floor was a cabinet-maker´s workshop and the first floor residential. The west part of the synagogue with the winter prayer room has been preserved unchanged as a residence until1983. Other synagogues that survived the Crystal Night 1938, were mostly pulled down during the communism or rebuilt for other purposes. After the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, a few Jews from Vimperk found asylum in Čkyně, but with the Norimberk Race Rules, the Jewish population was deprived of civil and human rights, excluded from political, economic, cultural life, and property confiscated. Deportations to the camps in November 1942, mostly via Klatovy to Terezin, followed, with death was waiting for the great majority, 650 prisoners to Terezín on November 26, 1942 and Ce with 619 prisoners to Terezín on November 30, 1942. Both transports totalled 1,196 people dead and 72 were saved (1 prisoner was not included). 14 of 16 Čkyně citizens of Jewish origin died: 2 women in Terezín, 7 men and 5 women in Osvětim. 2 local stayed alive thanks to their mixed marriages (Karolina Španingerová and Jaroslav Lederer, now deceased). Dead also were the sister of Karolina Španingerová, Julie Červinková, and former Vimperk trader Isidor Schwager and his sons Rudolf and František. For all the victims from Čkyně and surroundings, the ceremonial hall is dedicated in the local Jewish cemetery, where their names are hewn into the stone for everlasting remembrance. The tablets also are devoted by Jan Podlešák M.A., the author of this text. [February 2009]
US Commission No. CZCE000036
Alternate names: Dub u Prachatic and Dub u Vodnan. Dub is located in the Bohemia, Prachatice region at 49º07 14º01, about 10 km NNE of Prachatice and 18 km SSE of Strakonice. The cemetery is located 800 meters S of the chateau, in the forest. Present town population is under 1,000 with no Jews.
- Town: Obecni urad, 384 25 Dub u Prachatic; tel. 0338/868-26. The mayor is Antonin Radek, 384 25 Dub u Prach. 56; tel. 0338/862-55.
- Regional: (1) Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, (head: Ms. Sarka Fidlerova), 383 01 Prachatice; tel. 0338/223-61 or 228-61; (2) Zidovska nab.obec v Praze, Maislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-69-25; and (3) Pamatkovy ustav jiznich Cech (Director: Engineer Marie Bartyzalova), namesti Premysla Otakara 34; tel. 038/237-92.
- Interested: (1) Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34 or 231-07-85; (2) Okresni Muzeum, Horni 13, 383 01 Prachatice; tel. 0338/216-52; and (3) PhDr. Jan Podlesak, Bezdrevska 1021/8, 370 11 Ceske Budejovice; tel. Office: 038/371-41.
Earliest known Jewish community in Dub was probably early 18th century, but recorded in 1724. 1930 Jewish population was 2. Peak Jewish population was in the first half of the 19th century with 18 families; after 1848 they moved to bigger towns. The independent congregation disbanded in 1906. The landmarked Jewish cemetery originated about 1706 with last known Conservative Jewish burial in 1940. The rural isolated hillside has no sign or marker. Reached from a public road through a forest, access is open to all via a broken masonry wall and no gate. The size of the cemetery before WWII and now is 0.132 ha.
100-500 gravestones, not all in original location with less than 25% toppled or broken, date from mid-18th-20th centuries. The cemetery is not divided into special sections. The marble, granite, limestone, and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration, multi-stone monuments, or obelisks have Hebrew, German, and Czech inscriptions. Praha Jewish community owns the property now used as a Jewish cemetery only. Adjacent is a forest. Rarely, private visitors and local residents stop. It was vandalized between 1945 and 1982. In 1992, local non-Jewish residents and individuals/groups of non-Jewish origin re-erected stones and cleared vegetation. The cemetery is now occasionally cleared or cleaned by individuals. The serious security threat to the cemetery is its secluded spot. A moderate threat is vandalism. Vegetation overgrowth is a seasonal problem, preventing access.
PhDr. Jan Podlesak (see above) and Jiri Fiedler, z"l (Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40) completed survey on August 3, 1992. Documentation: (1) Census records of 1724, 1849 and 1930; (2) cadastre of 1837 and 1854; (3) archives of PhDr J. Podlesak; (4) Jan Podlesak: "Zidovske hrbitovy na prachatickem okrese" in Vyber z praci clenu Historickeho klubu pri Jihoceskem Muzeum, 1984, No. 1); (5) Jan Herman: Jewish Cemeteries of Bohemia and Moravia, 1980; and (6) letter of Engineer Miroslav Vanek (regional connoisseur [sic]), 1983). PhDr. J. Podlesak and ing Milan Vlk, 373 83 Cakov 11visited site in July 1992.