The New Jewish Cemetery () in Žižkov,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, 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 declared as a cultural monument.

History

The cemetery that was founded in 1889 was officially opened on 6 July 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.
Prague City Tourism 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 Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

. 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 ''beit tahara'' (house of purification) and a mortuary designed in a classic style, that is used by the Funeral society. The second ceremonial hall was built in 1933 by architect Leopold Ehrmann, in a functionalist style at the new eastern area .

Gravestones

In the cemetery there are around 25,000 preserved gravestones in the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

style. Some of them are memorials and symbolic graves for

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

victims. Other memorial gravestones belong to well known people in various fields, including 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 Wenceslas Square (Czech language, Czech: , colloquially ''Václavák'' ; German language, German: ''Wenzelsplatz'') is one of the main city squares and the centre of the business and cultural communities in the New Town, Prague, New Town of Pr ...

famous statue of St. Wenceslas, and Bondy family. Other notable people buried there are the authors

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, Jiří Orten,

Ota Pavel Ota Pavel (born ''Otto Popper''; 2 July 1930, in Prague – 31 March 1973, in Prague) was a Czech writer, journalist and sport reporter. He is primarily an author of autobiographical and biographical novels. Biography He was born in Prague a ...

, František R. Kraus, Arnošt Lustig, and Lenka Reinerová, artists Jiří Kars and Max Horb (whose tomb was designed by Jan Štursa in the form of a mourning peacock), and 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 * Hanuš (Hans) Bonn (1913–1941), lawyer and poet * 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 Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

* Max Horb (1882–1907), painter * Juraj Herz (1934–2018), director K * Saul Jicchak Kaempf (1818–1892), Prague rabbi and professor *

(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 * Heda Margolius Kovály (1919–2010), author and translator * 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 *

/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

, and politician *

References

External links

Information at the Jewish Community of Prague website

{{Authority control 1891 establishments in Austria-Hungary 19th-century establishments in Bohemia Art Nouveau architecture in Prague Art Nouveau cemeteries Cemeteries in Prague Jewish cemeteries in the Czech Republic Jews and Judaism in Prague Tourist attractions in Prague Žižkov 19th-century architecture in the Czech Republic Cemeteries established in the 1890s