Jewish families from Hořovice (Horowitz), Bohemia, Czech Republic

This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from the town of Hořovice (Horowitz) in Central Bohemian Region in the Beroun district. Czech Republic

Links:.

https://www.mesto-horovice.eu/history-and-sights/synagogue: Synagogue, (Church of the Evangelic Church of Czech Brethren)

First of all, six Jewish families moved to the town. In 1873, 78 of total 3,500 inhabitants of Hořovice were Jews. The number had increased to 300 until 1903. Due to a numerous Jewish community in Hořovice, there was founded Israeli Religious Community in 1875, and at the same time there was also founded a prayer hall (a rented room in a house in the town), which served this purpose until 1903.

A proposal to build a synagogue, which would become a dignified prayer place, came from Julius Bondy, Chairman of the Jewish Religious Community. Until the end of the 19th century, there existed just a project on paper, and it was not until shortly after the beginning of the new century, when substantial steps to proceed the construction were made. Financial contributions for the construction of synagogue delivered primarily members of the Jewish community themselves. However, one of the greatest gifts was contributed by Count William Hanavský, who was a Protestant himself, but he lived in a town with Catholic superiority. His contribution of 500 gulden was enough to purchase a new construction area from Mr. Bedřich Nový.

In 1947, Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren bought it from Jewish Religious Community in Příbram for the amount of 145 000 CZK. As a part of the purchase contract, there was a clause on installation of a commemorative plaque with an indication that the building originally served Jewish worship purposes. The plaque is still placed in interior of the building. Since 50s of the 20th century, evangelical masses are held in the building of former synagogue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho%C5%99ovice: Hořovice (German: Horschowitz, Horowitz) is a town in Beroun district. .. Jewish legacy: One of the most worldwide spread Jewish surname Horovitz/Horowitz/Gurvich/Hurwicz/Hurwitz/Horvitz, etc., originates from the town of Hořovice, which during the late Middle Ages had one of the most substantial Jewish populations in the Bohemian Kingdom and rabbis and communal leaders such as Isaiah Horowitz or Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz traced their lineage from this town...

https://www.facebook.com/mestohorovice: Město Hořovice 1.1K likes • 1.6K followers

https://solel.ca/horovice: Honouring the Jews of Hořovice, Czechia. Solel is proud to be the custodian of one of the 1,600 Torah scrolls rescued by the Memorial Scrolls Trust from an abandoned warehouse in the Czech Republic. These scrolls were looted by the Nazis from synagogues across Bohemia and Moravia during the Second World War. These scrolls have been distributed to Jewish communities all around the globe as a symbol of the resilience of the Jewish people. The scroll held by Solel Congregation of Mississauga (#683) was originally used in the synagogue in the Czech town of Hořovice.

This town in Bohemia is about 50 kilometres southwest of Prague was chartered in the 14th century CE. Jews settled in Hořovice as early as the 15th century, but were not permitted to reside in the town during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the mid-1800s six Jewish families lived in Hořovice. Later, other families came from the surrounding villages. A religious congregation was established in 1875. Fifty Jews lived in Hořovice in 1930. The synagogue of Hořovice was built in 1903 in Valdecká Street, near the town square. Services were held there until the Nazi occupation. Only some members of three Jewish families survived the Shoah to return to Hořovice and the synagogue was not re-established after the war. Since 1947 the synagogue has been used by the Czech Brethren’s Protestant Church. There is a memorial tablet from 1903 and a showcase in the building displaying documents about the Jewish community of Hořovice. The current congregation’s website describes some of the history of the building and the Jewish congregation who built it.

These Jews of Hořovice are known not to have survived the Shoah. By safeguarding their Torah scroll, Solel honours the memory of these victims of genocide:

Klára Benešová
Hilda Beštáková
Karel Fischmann
Josef Fuchs
Arnoštka Fuchsová
Robert Glaser
Marta Glaserová
Max Goldstein
Mirek Goldstein
Jiřina Goldsteinová
Julie A. Goldsteinová
Marie Hrdinová
Eduard Kőrper
Vilém Kőrper
Julie Kőrperová
Vilemína Kőrperová
Olga Krausová
Oskar Lederer
Marie Ledererová
Ida Poláková
Arnošt Roubíček
Karel Roubíček
Leo Roubíček
Rudolf Roubíček
Viktor Roubíček
Gréta Roubíčeková
Helena Roubíčeková
Marta Roubíčeková-Spitzer
Hanuš Schlesinger
Heřman Schwarz
Luisa Schwarzová
Žofie Steinová
Oskar Witz
Milada Witzová
Anna Žaludová
© 2023 Solel Congregation. All rights reserved. PRIVACY POLICY. 2399 Folkway Dr Mississauga, ON L5L 2M6 Office:(905) 820-5915 Fax:(905) 820-1956

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY - The district governor's office in Hořovice began its activities in 1850. From 1855, the political administration was connected with the district court (the so-called Mixed District Office). In 1868, the district governor's offices were restored and the Hořovice district was established, including the former district offices in Beroun, Hořovice and Zbiroh. In 1918, the new state took over the political division of the country virtually unchanged, and only the designation of the district governor's office was changed to the political district administration. From 1928, the designation of the district office was re-introduced, but as early as 1942, the district office was abolished and the municipalities it previously administered were affiliated to the Beroun district. On June 1, 1945, the District National Committee was established in Hořovice.

ARCHIVAL HISTORY - The file material of the first four handling periods (1850-1909) was handed over to the archives of the Ministry of the Interior in Prague in 1932 after a previous accidental appraisal, and in 1960 the State Archives in Prague handed it over to the District Archives in Beroun. The other material was stored for a long time together with the registry of the Hořovice district council in the registry office of the district office and the District National Committee in Hořovice. In 1960, the entire fonds was concentrated in Beroun and organized, an inventory and a catalog of presidium files being made, too....

• https://vademecum.nacr.cz = Archivní VadeMeCum
  • https://vademecum.nacr.cz/vademecum/permalink?xid=2d544d4f-52d0-49b... = KNIHY ŽIDOVSKÝCH FAMILIANTŮ (1799) 1823 - 1848; Hluboš (fol. 1), Hořovice a Jince (fol. 17), Hostomice (fol. 27), Vysoký Újezd (fol. 57), Svatý Jan pod Skalou (fol. 74), Vrchotovy Janovice (fol. 81), Jablonná (fol. 89), Kamýk nad Vltavou (fol. 93), Karlštejn (fol. 119), Krchleby (fol. 127), Zbraslav (fol. 139)
• https://biblio.hiu.cas.cz/records/e259b393-a93d-4e99-b550-eea6120f4... - Hořovice (okres Beroun) - Bibliografie dějin Českých zemí