Jewish Religious Community of Březnice

Collection description

Scope and content:: The fonds contains the statutes of the Jewish Religious Community of Březnice (1896), meeting minutes, charitable foundation documents and records of the burial society (chevra kadisha). The bulk of the fonds comprises material relating to associated communities. The largest group is that of the records of the associated community of Kasejovice: books/registers of the community, official memoranda, registry files, financial records, records of a Jewish school and a register of the burial society (1790). The fonds also comprises extant material from the Jewish Religious Community of Mirotice (hazkarot and a burial society register), from the Jewish Religious Community of Mirovice (community statutes from 1896, meeting minutes, a circumcision register from 1769-1838 and burial society books/registers) and from the Jewish Religious Community of Rakovice and Zalužany (cash books from the late 19th century until the 1930s). There are also death certificates and coroner's reports from Kasejovice and fragmentary files of the burial society in Mirovice, all of which were kept until the period of Nazi occupation.

Archival history:: The records were incorporated into the archives of the Jewish Museum in Prague during the Second World War as part of shipments of material from Jewish religious communities that had been disbanded.

Administrative/biographical history:: Jewish settlement in Březnice is documented from the end of the 15th century. A Jewish religious community may have existed there around 1500. Březnice was the headquarters of the regional rabbi in the 18th and 19th centuries. The community was expanded in 1933, when it annexed the area of the disbanded Jewish religious communities of Blatná, Kasejovice and Mirovice. (The Jewish communities of Mirotice, Rakovice and Zalužany had probably been annexed in the 1890s). The Březnice community was disbanded by the Nazis during the Second World War and did not subsequently resume its activities.

Access points: locations:: Březnice; Kasejovice; Mirotice; Mirovice; Rakovice; Zalužany

Subject terms:: Burial; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Hevrah kadisha; Jewish community; Jewish community records; Jewish community records--Mohel books; Synagogues; Vital records; Vital records--Death records; Wills

System of arrangement:: Material in the fonds is arranged thematically as follows: books/registers and files of the Jewish community, books/registers and files of the burial society (chevra kadisha), books/registers and files of associated communities.

Finding aids:: Dolista K, Heřman J: Židovská náboženská obec Březnice, Prozatímní inventární seznam, 1971, 5 s., ev. č. 10.

Links to finding aids:: http://c.jewishmuseum.cz/files/documents/archiv-sbirky-a-fondy/inventare/010ZNOBreznice-prozatimniinventarniseznam.pdf