Polná

Jews in Polná

The oldest records of Jews in Polná come from 1532 and 1554, with more detailed reports from 1582 and 1608. Towards the end of the 16th century, a Jewish cemetery was founded on the hill verlooking Ochozský Creek. In September 1676, Ferdinand Dietrichstein issued special regulations for Polná’s Jews, which limited the number of Jewish families to 16 and allowed them to engage in any form of business and to establish their own government headed by a “mayor”. Based on an agreement between the town and the Jewish community, he also ordered the establishment of a new Jewish settlement out­-side the Upper Gate on the eastern edge of town. In 1680–1682, the land was surveyed and the first 16 Jewish houses were built, on a stone base, each with a main room, storeroom, kitchen and hallway. In 1710–1713, the authorities constructed several additional Jewish houses, and following a fire in 1734 the last additions were made to the Jewish Town with the construction of several buildings around Rabbi Square. From the middle of the 18th century, the number of Jewish houses remained unchanged at 32. In 1811, Polná was home to 87 permitted Jewish families, and by 1830 this number had climbed to 128 (as many as 770 individuals – 12 percent of the population). In 1915–1917, the town became refuge for hundreds of Jewish refugees from Galicia, and in 1938 it hosted Jewish refugees from Austria and the Czech border regions. In the spring of 1942, 98 local Jews were deported via Třebíč to Terezín and the Nazi extermination

camps; only five women returned. During the war, Polná native Otto Heller fought with the RAF.