Jewish Religious Community of Cheb

Collection description

Scope and content:: The fonds contains the statutes of the Jewish Religious Community of Cheb (1896), a graves register (1874–1945), cemetery plans and photographs, correspondence of A. Ulrich, and fragmentary files of the associated community of Kynšperk nad Ohří.

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. The more recent records were donated to the Jewish Museum in Prague by a private person after the Second World War.

Administrative/biographical history:: Jews probably lived in Cheb as early as the 13th century. A Jewish presence there is reliably documented from the beginning of the 14th century. The first known Jewish community in Cheb was disbanded after a pogrom in 1350. The Jewish settlement was later re-established but came to an end after the expulsion of Jews in 1430. Jewish families gradually resettled the town. A Jewish community was in existence until the expulsion of Jews in 1502. A small Jewish settlement with an established community existed there at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that Jews were again allowed to live in Cheb. A new Jewish community-the fifth-was established in 1862. In 1931 it incorporated the area of the disbanded community of Kynšperk nad Ohří. The Jewish Religious Community of Cheb was disbanded after the annexation of the Sudetenland by Nazi Germany in 1938 but resumed its activities for a brief period after the Second World War after the Second World War and was attached to the Jewish Religious Community of Karlovy Vary in 1947.

Subject terms:: Cemeteries; Cemeteries--Gravestones; Correspondence; Jewish community; Jewish community records; Photographs

Finding aids:: Dolista K, Heřman J: Židovská náboženská obec Cheb, Prozatímní inventární seznam, 1971, 1 s., ev. č. 46.

Links to finding aids:: http://c.jewishmuseum.cz/files/documents/archiv-sbirky-a-fondy/inventare/046ZNOCheb-prozatimniinventarniseznam.pdf