The History of Mladá Boleslav’s Jews The oldest document of Jewish settlement dates back to 1471. In the year 1570, about 16 Jewish families lived in Mladá Boleslav, while in 1620 there were 126 Jews which ballooned to 775 in 1687--about 50% of the population at the time. By the middle of the 19th century, about 900 Jews lived in the town . Later, the Jewish population declined due to emigration to Prague and elsewhere. In 1880 there were 845 Jews in Mladá Boleslav which decreased to 566 persons in 1900 and then 264 persons in 1930. After the Second World War, the Jewish community was re-established for a very short time. In the early 1950’s, it ceased to exist due to natural reasons but also because of the massive exodus of Jews out of Czechoslovakia and also the forced assimilation of Jews by the newly established communist regime. Historically, Mladá Boleslav used to be one of the most populous Jewish communities in Bohemia. It was a center of Jewish thought and of Talmud, and Torah study. 18 local rabbis from the 17th century are quite well known; among them are authors of significant theological and historical writings. The Jewish surname Bumsla – a Yiddish name for the town – originates in Mladá Boleslav. Jews settled in the city as early as the 15th century. A Jew from the city, Yekutiel Zalman ben Yitzhak Dan Bumsla, who left Prague in 1515 on his way to Russia, is mentioned in early documents. Rabbi Meir Fischels “Me-Bumsla” served for 40 years as Rabbi and head of the yeshiva of Prague. In the 1634, a Jewish nobleman, the court Jew of several Holy Roman Emperors of the Habsburg Dynasty, Yaakov Bat-Shevi, was buried at the local cemetery, after fleeing from Prague where he was involved in a financial scandal. Some more recent personalities who came from Mladá Boleslav include Alfred Meissner, a leading figure of the Czech Social Democracy and government minister; poet and cartoonist František Gellner, painter Max Horb, member of the Osma artistic group. In the 1860s Siegfried Kapper, one of the founders of the Czech-Jewish movement, a poet and publicist, operated as a doctor in the town. From 1922 to the WII, an independent Jewish Museum operated in the town, possessing very valuable local Judaic collections. These were confiscated by the Nazis in WWII and are now part of the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague. The Jewish Quarter The rest of the Jewish Quarter is still preserved in the northern part of the historical town. It is found between the town hall and the valley of the river Jizera (Synagogní, Starofarní, Bělská, Vodkova and Krajířova streets). In 1599 there were 12 Jewish houses which grew to 32 houses by the first half of the 19th century. The ghetto was burnt down in 1761 and in 1859 but was rebuilt after these incidents. The last synagogue from 1785, built on the site of an older synagogue, was demolished in 1962. It was located in the Synagogní street, hence the name. A large, perfectly preserved Jewish cemetery lies in the in southern outskirts of town. It was first documented in 1584 and extended after 1715. The oldest legible tombstone dates back from 1604, but there are burials even after WWII. A renaissance matzeva of Jakob Bassevi von Treuenberg can be found here. A very valuable cemetery, it has many Renaissance, Baroque and Classical tombstones. There is an octagonal ceremonial hall that was built in 1888. A beth tahara – former Jewish Hospital – is still preserved and inhabited by the last Jew of Mladá Boleslav, Mr. Žák, who also is a caretaker of the cemetery.
Though the Jewish community of Mladá Boleslav is virtually non-existent, its remnants still remain. It’s definitely a town that is worth visiting should you ever find yourself on a Jewish vacation on the Czech Republic. Below is the Part I of this article: Part I: The Old Royal Town Of Mladá Boleslav
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