Obj. ID: 46189
Jewish Funerary Art Holocaust Memorial in the Jewish cemetery in Kroměříž, Czech Republic, 1962
To the main object: Jewish cemetery in Kroměříž, Czech Republic
Name:
No official name
Who is Commemorated?
Three hundred Jews of Kroměříž, victims of the Holocaust,
Description:
A path paved with square cobblestones on the corner of the cemetery leads through a grassy area shaded by trees to the monument. The surviving gravestones of the cemetery are in the area behind the monument. The cemetery ceremonial hall, now used by the municipal cemetery, is to the right.
The monument has a low flat base of polished black granite set on the ground at the end of the path. The front of the base bows out slightly. A tall, inscribed slab of black granite rises vertically from the base. There is a memorial inscription in Hebrew and Czech. A simple Magen David is inscribed above the text. The back of the monument is unadorned and left rough. There is a narrow thicker stone attached to the back of the slab to give it greater support.
Inscriptions
In Hebrew
לכבוד שלש מאות בני קהלנו
שנהרגו על קדוש השם
בשנים תרע"ט, תש"ה
ת נ צ ב ה
Translation: In honor of three hundred members of our community who were killed for the Holy One in the years 1939-1945 / May their souls be bundled in the bundle of life.
In Czech
K UCTĔNI PAMÁTKY
TŘÍ SET ŽIDOVSKÝCH OBČANŮ KROMĔŘÍŽSKA,
KTEŘÍ BYLI UMUČENÍ V DOBĔ DRUHĔ SVĔTOVÉ VÁLKY,
POSTAVILA HRSTKA PŘEŽIVŠÍCH TENTO PAMÁTNÍK,
ABY NABÁDAL K SNÁŠENLIVOSTÍ A MÍRUMILOVNOSTI
Translation: To honor the memory of three hundred Jewish citizens of Kroměříž who were tortured during the Second World War, a handful of survivors built this monument, to encourage tolerance and peace.
In Hebrew
זכר קדשים וצדיקים לברכה
Translation: May the memory of the martyrs and righteous ones be a blessing
Commissioned by
Jewish Holocaust survivors
sub-set tree:
About 300 Jews of Kroměříž were deported from the city and died from deprivation or execution.
Only a small part of the new Jewish cemetery is intact. It was founded in 1924 and was mostly destroyed by the German occupiers of the town during the Second World War. A small part remains intact adjacent to the municipal cemetery on Vážanská Street, but only five gravestones are preserved. This small part of the cemetery has been used for a few Jewish burials in the post-Holocaust period. A matzevah-type monument to Jewish victims was erected on the site by survivors and dedicated in 1962.
Fiedler, Jiří. Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia (Prague: Sefer, 1991), pp. 101-102.
Gruber, Samuel D. “Czechia: An Unlooked for Holocaust Monument in Kroměříž (Moravia)” Samuel Gruber’s Jewish Art & Monuments, July 6, 2022., https://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2022/07/czechia-unlooked-for-holocaust-monument.html (accessed August 26, 2022)