|BLEVICE: Kladno, Bohemia|
website in Czech with photo: "The [landmarked] cemetery is located on the southern edge of the forest road to the village called Zákolany. Founded probably in the first half of the 17th century and since enlarged several times, the cemetery served the Jewish religious community of Ješina, later Velvary at 50°17′N 14°15′E. The cemetery has about 300 tombstones from the early 18th century through 1945 (tombstone of economic manager Julia Munk). The tomb of Rabbi Jacob Utitze Velvary remains. The building reportedly built in 1884, once served as undertaker's dwelling and was sold and permanently is inhabited by the cemetery manager who until 1998 maintained the cemetery without financial remuneration. On the facade of the house is Hebrew inscription "dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return." Portal pedestrian gate is inscribed with the year 1885. A smaller portion of the cemetery is sold and used as a garden, the greater part of the cemetery with tombstones is continuously maintained. In 2008, the damaged part of wall of quarry stone was fixed and in 2009 restoration of dozens of valuable tombstones, That work continues." [September 2011]
US Commission No. CZCE000216
Alternate/former German name: Blewitz in Kladno, Bohemia at 50°12′36″N 14°14′12″E , 6 km SW of Kralupy nad Vltavou and 19 km NW of Praha. Cemetery: S edge of the village. Present town population is under 1,000 with no Jews.
There was no Jewish community in Blevice. The cemetery belonged to the Jewish congregation of Jesin (established perhaps in the second half of the 18th century) and in the 20th century to the congregation in Velvary. 1930 Jewish population (census) was Blevice: 0, Jesin: 3; Velvary: 54; and Kralupy nad Vltavou. Jews moved of villages (as Jesin) to the towns (such as Velvary and Kralupy n. V.) after 1848. The Jewish cemetery originated possibly in the first half of the 17th century with last known Jewish burial in 1945. The following Conservative or Reform communities within 2 to 8 km of Blesice used this landmarked cemetery: Jesin since 18th century; Kolec in the 19th century; Velvary (Ger.: Welwarn) since mid-19th century; Mikovice (Ger.: Minkowitz) in the second half of the 19th century; and Kralupy nad Vltavou since the second half of the 19th century. The isolated suburban flat land and hillside between fields and woods has a sign in Hebrew reading: "From ashes to ashes." Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open with permission via a continuous masonry wall and locking gate. Size of cemetery before and after WWII is 0.4 ha.
100-500 gravestones, in original location with less than 25% broken or toppled, date from 1720-20th century. Stones removed from the cemetery are either in a museum or incorporated into roads or structures. 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 contains no known mass graves. Prague Jewish community owns property used for Jewish cemetery and for a garden/agriculture. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Occasionally, private visitors stop. The cemetery has not been vandalized in the last 10 years. Since 1980, individuals or groups of non-Jewish origin and Jewish groups within country re-erected stones, cleaned stones, cleared vegetation, fixed wall, and fixed gate. Praha Jewish Congregation pays a regular caretaker. Within the limits of the cemetery are a pre-burial house, a well, and a gravedigger's house. Security (uncontrolled access) and vandalism are moderate threats because of the seclusion of the site. Vegetation overgrowth seasonally prevents access.
Jiri Fiedler, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 25 June 1992. Documentation: 1. Hugo Gold: Die Juden...Bohemens...(1934); 2. Prokop F. Masner: Zide, jejich modlitebny a hrbitovy na Kralupsku (1938); 3. Jarhbuch fur die israelische Cultusgemeinden Bohemens (1893-94); 4. Cadastre [a public record, survey or map of the value, extent and ownership of land as a basis of taxation] [a public record, survey or map of the value, extent and ownership of land as a basis of taxation] of 1840 and 1857; and 5. Letter S of R. Votavova, 1984. Other documentation exists but was inaccessible: recordsnumber No. 26, 35, 36, 59, 60, 62, 62a in archives of the Jewish Congregation in Praha. Fiedler visited site in 1991 and interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman.
|Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 September 2011 17:24|