New Jewish Cemetery, Prague

New Jewish Cemetery
Nový židovský hřbitov
Entrance gate
Details
Established	1889–1990
Location	Prague-Žižkov
Country	Czech Republic
Coordinates	50°4′49″N 14°28′36″E
Type	Judaic
Style	Art Nouveau
Owned by	The Jewish Community in Prague
Find a Grave	New Jewish Cemetery

The New Jewish Cemetery (Czech: Nový židovský hřbitov) in Žižkov, Prague, Czech Republic, was established in 1890 to relieve the space problem at the Old Jewish cemetery in Žižkov, where the Žižkov Television Tower now stands. As of 1964 it is seclared as a cultural munument.

History

The cemetery that was founded in 1899 was officially opened on July 6, 1890, Even though the first funeral took place two days earlier. The cemetery was designed to be 10 times bigger than the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov and provides space for approximately 100,000 graves, therefore having the capacity to serve for a century. But in 1920 and 1933 it was expanded and a new ceremonial hall was built too.

There is also a specially designated area for urns, though the Jewish tradition does not allow cremation. The cemetery is still in use today and operated by the Jewish Community in Prague.

Ceremonial Halls

The cemetery has today two ceremonial halls. The first and oldest one that was designed by architects Bedřich Münzberger and Alfons Wertmiler, was built between 1891 and 1893. It is located at the highest part of the cemetery next to the entrance. Behind it is the ''bejt tahara'' (house of purification) and a mortuary designed in a classic style, that is used by the Funeral society.

The second ceremonial halls was built at the new eastern area that was built in 1933 in a functionalist style by architect Leopold Ehrmann.

Gravestones

In the cemetery there are around 25,000 preserved gravestones in the Art Nouveau style. Some of them memorials and symbolic graves for Holocaust victims. Other memorial gravestones belong to well known people in various fields such as: politics, culture and industry. Among the notable families are: Petschek, Waldes family that the last pieces of art made by the important Czech sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek, creator of the Wenceslas Square famous statue of St. Wenceslas and Bondy family.

Other notable people buried there are the autors Franz Kafka, Jiří Orten, Ota Pavel, František R. Kraus, Arnošt Lustig, and Lenka Reinerová. artists Jiří Kars and Max Horb who's tomb was designed by Jan Štursa in the form of a mourning peacock, singers Ladislav Blum and Rabbi Gustav Sicher.

In 2001, a symbolic tomb was unveiled in the open area of the new section, containing remains exhumed from the site of Prague's oldest Jewish cemetery, in the area known as the Jewish Garden.

Notable burials

A

• Paul Adler (1878–1946), Prague-based German-speaking author and translator
• Oskar Baum (1883–1941), German-speaking writer from Prague, member of the "Prague Circle"
• Semjon-Jevsej Biller (1931–2017), translator
• Rada Billerová (1930/1931–2019), economic geographer and author
• Mořic Bloch (1861–1934), journalist
• Ladislav Blum (1911–1994), opera singer and cantor at the Jerusalem Synagogue
• Michal Bohin (1895–1956), physician–bacteriologist and concentration camp prisoner
• Bohumil Bondy (1832–1907), businessman and politician
• Filip Bondy (1830–1907), chief rabbi
• Leon Bondy (1860–1923), businessman and banker
• Alexandr Brandejs (1848–1901), businessman and art patron
• Jana Březinová (1940–2000), actress

D

• Zeno Dostál (1934–1996), author and director

E

• Nathan Ehrenfeld (1843–1912), Prague's chief rabbi and theologian
• Alois Epstein (1849–1918), pediatrician; his nephew Berthold Epstein (1890–1962), also a pediatrician, was buried nearby in Vinohrady Cemetery

F

• Vilém Flusser (1934–1996), philosopher and polyglot, cousin of David Flusser, professor of history at Hebrew University (1917–2000)
• Heinrich Frank (1832/1833–1893), businessman and politician

G

• Desider Galský (1921–1990), author and publicist
• František Goldscheider (1924–1991), journalist, screenwriter
• Hermann Grab von Hermannswörth (1843–1900), businessman and industrialist

H

• Isidor Hirsch (1864–1940), Prague rabbi, professor at Charles University
• Max Horb (1882–1907), painter
• Juraj Herz (1934–2018), director

K

• Saul Jicchak Kaempf (1818–1892), Prague rabbi and professor
• Franz Kafka (1883–1924), German-speaking writer from Prague
• Eugen von Kahler (1882–1911), painter
• Georges Kars/Jiří Karpeles (1880–1945), painter
• Eliška Klimková-Deutschová (1906–1981), physician, professor of neurology
• František R. Kraus (1903-1967) author

L

• Egon Lánský/Löwy (1934–2013), journalist and politician
• Arne Laurin (1889–1945), journalist and author
• Salomon Hugo Lieben (1881–1942), co-founder of the Jewish Museum in Prague
• Arnošt Lustig (1926–2011) author

M

• Otto Gabriel Muneles (1894–1967), Judaic scholar and philologist

O

• Jiří Ornest (1946–2017), actor, director, and translator
• Ota Ornest (1913–2002), dramaturge, actor, director, and translator
• Zdeněk Ornest/Ohrenstein (1929–1990), actor
• Jiří Orten (1919–1941), poet

P

• Hugo Pavel/Popper (1924–2014), poet and writer, brother of Ota Pavel
• Jiří Pavel (1956–2018), poet and prose author, son of Ota Pavel
• Jiří Pavel (soldier) (1926–2011), soldier, brother of Ota Pavel
• Ota Pavel/Otto Popper (1930–1973), journalist and author
• Isidor Petschek (1860–1923), lawyer and businessman from the Petschek family
• Julius Petschek (1856–1932), lawyer, banker, and businessman from the Petschek family
• Otto Petschek (1860–1923), lawyer, banker, and businessman from the Petschek family
• Jiří Robert Pick (1925–1983), writer, lyricist, and dramatist
• Julius Popper (1855–1912), lawyer and state official
• Moses Popper (1833–1885), physician and hygienist from Prague
• Rudolfína Popperová-Epsteinová (1860–1923), polyglot, forensic expert, healer, and feminist
• Jaroslav Prager (1863–1902), doctor, cabaret actor, singer, and songwriter
• Yvonne Přenosilová (1947–2023), singer and presenter

R

• Lenka Reinerová (1916–2008), German-speaking author, translator, and journalist
• Inna Rottová (1935–2018), writer and translator
• Ctibor Rybár (1920–2013), author and editor of Olympia Publishing House

S

• Gustav Sicher, also Binjamin Ze'ev ha-Levi Sicher, (1880–1960), Prague chief rabbi, translator, and author
• Ludvík Singer (1876–1931), Zionist activist and politician
• Petr Skoumal (1938–2014), musician, lyricist, and composer
• August Stein, also Augustin Mojžíš Stein (1854–1937), lawyer, Czech-Jewish activist, co-founder of the Jewish Museum in Prague

W

• Jindřich Waldes (1876–1941), businessman, founder of the Koh-i-noor Waldes company
• Friedrich Wiener (1817–1887), politician and lawyer
• Jiří Weiss (1912–2004), director and screenwriter

Z

• Alois Zucker (1842–1906), lawyer, professor at Charles University, and politician

External links

• Information at the Jewish Community of Prague website
• Prague New Jewish Cemetery web page