Jewish cemetery in Dambořice

There is a Jewish cemetery in the village of Dambořice, which consists of about 400 tombstones. The oldest preserved gravestone is dated to the 17th century. The cemetery is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Dambořice is located in South Moravia in the northwestern part of the Hodonín district, 36 km southeast of Brno, 22 km west of Kyjov and 35 km northwest of Hodonín. The Jewish cemetery is located about 150 m above the church of St. Martin , behind the Catholic cemetery. The cemetery was probably founded at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. The oldest tombstone professionally identified at the beginning of the last century dates from 1657 . The last burial took place in the 1940s.

The area contains about 400 tombstones. Older tombstones embedded in the ground usually end in a semicircle and have a flat relief decoration with a Hebrew inscription. Some of them are provided with symbolismrelated to the name, occupation or characteristics of the deceased, e.g. crown, wreath, tree, lion, veil, kohen’s hands, Levitical vessels. The material is sandstone, granite and limestone.

The new, so-called post-emancipation gravestones have a simpler appearance and German texts. The material is granite and marble . Some gravestones are also written in Czech.

The history of Jewish settlement in Dambořice dates back to the very beginning of the 16th century. Jewish settlement reached its peak in the middle of the 19th century, when they made up almost ¼ of the village’s population. In 1930, however, only 15 Jewish families lived here. During the Second World War, the fates of the majority of the Jewish inhabitants of the village are inextricably linked with Auschwitz, and none of them returned after the war .

Organizer

Municipal office of Dambořice
Under the Church 69
696 35 Dambořice

• Tel.:+420 518 631 325
• www.damborice.cz
• GPS:49.041110 16.920861Region:South-Moravian region
  Region:Slovakia
  Tips for a trip:Damborice and surroundings

Admission

free

Duration

1 – 2 hours