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Czech Republic |
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OTHER
NAMES/SPELLINGS: Ckyn, Czkyn, Kieselhof,
Tschkyn, Tschkyn HISTORY*: Chartered in 1537. The earliest known Jewish community in this town was perhaps 17th century, recorded in the 1724 census. A small Jewish community (about 10 families) existed in the 18th century growing to about 40 families (140-240 persons) in the 19th century. As the population moved to larger cities, the seat of the congregation moved from Čkyně to Vimperk. Only 3 Jewish families (11 persons) lived in Čkyně in 1930. The present town population is 1,000 - 5,000 with none Jews. ![]() "From the Jewish History of Čkyně" - also- An enlightening account of a 2000 visit to Čkyně in "A Visit to Bohemia" - by Alexander Woodle Click on map above to see the rest of an 1874 regional map
NOTABLE
RESIDENTS AND DESCENDANTS: The grandfather
of Henry Horner, governor of the State of
Illinois, came from Čkyně. Čkyně is the
native town of Alois Zucker (b. 1842 Čkyně, d.
1906 Prague), a famous attorney and dean of the
Prague Faculty of Law, member of the Czech Academy
of Sciences and Arts, the first president of the
National Union of Czech Jews (founded in
1894). Rabbi Mathes (Mendel) Bloch (b. 1778)
was the rabbi and mohel in Čkyně in the early 19th
century. His granddaughter, Rosalia Feitler
geb. Bloch (b. 1852 Čkyně, d. 1921 Vienna), moved
to Cesky Budejovice (Budweis) and later
Vienna. She was the maternal grandmother of
(and a negative influence on) the composer Eric Zeisl (b.
1905 Vienna, d. 1959 Los Angeles). Eric
Zeisl's grandson, E. Randol
Schoenberg, is a moderator of Jewishgen's Austria-Czech
SIG and the submitter of this
page. ![]() SYNAGOGUES
(photo at right): The Čkyně
Synagogue is
in the southern part of town, between the main
road and the railway station, house No. 105.
Built in the Empire style in 1828, regular
services held until 1895, occasional services
until World War I. The synagogue was sold in
1922 and later converted into a workshop.
The cemetery is 500m SE of the synagogue, near the
road to Hradcany. The oldest preserved
tombstone dates from 1688, burials until
1942. The total of about 500 burials.
Remarkable baroque tombstones. The cemetery
has been repaired recently, as the result of an
appeal. The type of Jewish community which
used this cemetery was Conservative. Vimperk
(German: Winterberg) 8 km used this
cemetery. The cemetery is listed and/or
protected as a landmark or monument. The
cemetery location is rural (agricultural), on a
hillside, isolated, marked by inscriptions on
pre-burial house (Czech; small rest of Hebrew
inscriptions.). The marker mentioned Czech
information about Jews, the Holocaust, the Jewish
Community. It is reached by turning directly
off a public road. It is open to all. The cemetery
is surrounded by a continuous masonry wall (photo of entrance, below). There is a gate that does
not lock. The approximate size of cemetery
before WWII and now is 0.1849 ha hectares.
There are 100-500 stones, most in their original
locations. The cemetery has special section
for children. Stones are datable from 1688
to 20th century. The cemetery has tombstones
and memorial markers made of marble, granite,
limestone and sandstone. The cemetery contains
tombstones that are flat shaped stones, finely
smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with
carved relief decoration, multi-stone monuments
and obelisks. The cemetery has tombstones
portraits on stones and metal fences around
graves. Inscriptions on tombstones are in Hebrew,
German and Czech. The cemetery contains no
known mass graves. Within the limits of the
there is a pre-burial house. The pre-burial
house has a tahara (board for tahara, meanwhile
deposited in museum in Volyne), wall inscriptions
and other distinctive features (bier). The
present owner of the cemetery property is the
local Jewish community (Praha). The cemetery
property is now used for Jewish cemetery use
only. Properties adjacent to it are
agricultural. The cemetery boundaries has
not changed since 1939. CONTACTS: Town officials: Obecni urad, 384 81 Čkyně, 0339/921-70 or 922-13; and mayor: Jan Zloch, home: 384 81 Čkyně 255, tel. 0339/923-67. Regional officials: Okresni urad, referat kultury (head: Ms Sarka Fidlerova), 383 01 Prachatice, tel. 0338/223-61 or 228-61; and Pamatkovy ustav jiznich Cech (Marie Bartyzalova), namesti Premysla Otakara 34, 370 21 Ceske Budejovice, tel. 038/237-92; and Zidovska nab.obec v Praze, Maislova 18, 110, 01 Praha 1, tel. 02/231-69-25. Interested parties: Okresni muzeum, Horni 13, 383, 01 Prachatice, te. 0338/216-52; and Statmi Zidovske muzeum, Jachymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1, tel. 02/231-06-34 0r 231-07-85; and PhDr. Jan Podlesak (see below). Caretaker: PhDr. Jan Podlesak, Bezdrevska 1021/8, 370 11 Ceske Budejovice, tel. office 038/371-41, office: Jihoceska Univerzita pedagogicka fakulta, 370 01 Ceske Budejovice; or Bosice 46 384 81 Čkyně. SOURCES: Die Juden und Judengemeinden Bohmens, Hugo Gold ed. (1934), pp: ; Jiri Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (1991), pp. 58-59 (photo); International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Cemetery Project, Czech Republic, Čkyně; Petr Ehl, Arno Parik, Jiri Fiedler, Old Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Cemeteries (1991), p. 84 (photo).
Compiled by E.
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