Boskovice

The Jews in Boskovice

For centuries, Boskovice was among the most important centers of Jewish settlement in Moravia. The Jewish community here is estimated to date back to the time when Jews were expelled from all Moravian royal towns in 1454. Jews had significantly limited rights relative to other inhabitants; this continued until they received full civil rights in the mid-1800s. The local Jewish community reached its peak size just before that. In 1857, it had 1,810 members: a third of the population of Boskovice. The work of a number of significant Jewish figures is integral to this town. The community’s fall came from Nazi racial persecution during World War II. The local Jewish quarter is among the most interesting of its kind in the Czech Republic. The central blocks near the synagogue form its oldest part. The outer sites come from later expansion. This 5-hectare area once contained 138 housing units. Today, sadly, there are 60 fewer. This Jewish quarter was home to three synagogues – the Greater and Lesser Synagogues and the Löw-Beer prayer hall – plus buildings for other Jewish institutions: the municipal house, the hospital, the rabbi’s office, the school, the ritual bath, and the butchery. The Jewish cemetery is situated along Potoční Street, on a sharp slope about half a kilometer below the Boskovice chateau’s game park. Its complex shape is due to the rugged local terrain and gradual expansion. The morgue, built in 1763, stands roughly in its center. Its roughly 1.5 hectares contain about 2,500 gravestones, in irregular rows grouped by relation. The oldest dates to 1670. Most noteworthy here are the generously ornamented Baroque headstones, rich in symbolism.