Jewish Families from Jičín, Bohemia, Czech Republic

This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from the town of Jičín (Titschein, Gitschin or Jitschin) in Bohemia, Czech Republic.

Located 50°26' N, 15°21' E, 46 miles ENE of Praha (Prague) in the scenic region of the Bohemian Paradise (Český ráj) under the Prachov Rocks (Prachovské skály). Jewish population: 358 (in 1880), 90 (in 1939). The town is landmarked due to its significant architectural character. The town was home of Jacob Bassevi (1580-1634), Jewish court financier.

The community's Torah survived and was salvaged by the Westminster synagogue in London.photo [February 2008] website in Czech with photo: landmarked. "The cemetery located 1.5 km NE of the fields at the edge of Forest Industries was founded in 1651, the oldest tombstones extant from the same period. The last burial took place in 1949 (Dr. Ida Šindelková - Yong, diplomate in the School of Political Sciences in Paris). The rectangular 1,822 m2 has about 360 visible gravestones, among them Baroque and Classical and valuable Gothic examples. A small mortuary with a Holocaust plaque was repaired in the early 1990s and early 21st century. Devastated several times, gradual reconstruction commenced in the 1990s when bushes and self-seeded vegetation was cleared. Later, repairs were made to the quarry stone enclosing wall and the mortuary. Maintained for several years, vegetation took over again to be destroyed in 2000-2004. At that time, the most endangered historic 19th and 20th century gravestones also were restored. By 2007 the remaining were knocked down. Currently cemetery maintenance and completion of repairs ceremonial hall is necessary."

[http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/czech-republic/jicin.html]