Jewish Cemetery
The photo of the week is actually two photos taken at the old Jewish Cemtery in Josefov, Prague, The Czech Republic. While Prague is probably one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, it has this somber part as well where more than 100,000 Jews are buried in a very small space in this very old cemetery. Some people say the burials are layered 12 deep with the old tombstones being moved up to the new level. There are more than 12,000 tombstones here dating back from 1439 to 1787. It is Europes oldest surviving Jewish cemetery. The Jewish people in Prague were not allowed to bury their dead outside the ghetto, so they had to adapt and buld the tombs one of top of the other.
Hitler decided to erase not only the Jewish population but also the Jewish synagogues and burial grounds. He ordered, however, for the old and impressive cemetery in Prague to be left intact, as he wanted to transform it into a museum after killing all the Jews in Europe.
The cemetery today is views by thousands and thousands of people and is a rich part of not only European history, but Prague history as well.
These photos were taken in 2009.
Wow….these pictures speak volumes….the story is so interesting, I wish there was a whole book with more of these pics and stories…(is there?) This is something I will show my son, who’s father is jewish, and grandfather was in a concentration camp. I wish I knew more of his heritage, but to see that somnething like this exists, makes you think, makes you wonder, makes you want to learn more. GREAT pics, Frank!!