Navigation
The History of Jews in Turnov
- 1527 The first mention of Jews in Turnov: the names of Moses the hatter and his son-in-law James were mentioned in the town records
- The end of the 16th century – the beginning of the 17th century: the Jewish settlement in Turnov ceased to exist after the banishment of the Jews from the Czech Kingdom by Ferdinand I
- 1623 Albrecht von Wallenstein invited new Jewish settlers to Turnov
- 1625 Jews purchased a property for a cemetery which is still there today (in Sobotecká Street)
- 1627 The Jews built a synagogue on the site of the pharmacy in what is now Antonín Dvořák Street
- 1643 The synagogue burnt down during an accidental fire caused by Swedish troops
- 1647 The Jews built a new synagogue and a Jewish school next to it in what is now Krajířova Street (on a different site than where the synagogue stands today). A Jewish Quarter, later a ghetto, was established on one bank of an arm of the Jizera River (the so-called Little Jizera) between Krajířova, Palackého and Trávnice Streets.
- 1707 The synagogue and Jewish school burnt down during the Great Fire of Turnov.
The fire also destroyed a burgess’ house, the burnt remains of which the Jews later purchased and used as the site to build another, this time stone, synagogue. - 1719 The completed synagogue was entered in the property registers
- 1905 The synagogue was renovated: electricity was introduced to the building, the bimah (orator’s podium) in the middle of the male chapel was demolished and the synagogue armchairs were removed and replaced with benches to increase the building’s capacity
- 1938 After the Munich Agreement and the annexation of the border areas, almost 450 Jewish refugees arrived in Turnov from the area of the so-called Sudetenland, especially from Liberec and Jablonec
- 1941 The synagogues in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia were closed at the order of the Reich Protector, R. Heydrich. Items began to be removed from synagogues and sent to the Jewish Museum in Prague.
- 1943 In January 1943, all of the remaining Jews in Turnov were called to the transports and taken to Theresienstadt (Terezín) via Mladá Boleslav. On 20th January 1943, they were taken from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz on transport Cq and most of them were subsequently murdered.
- 1945 Of the entire Jewish community, onlyaround nineteen Jews returned to Turnov after the war.
- 1961 The Jewish community (in the form of a synagogue congregation) in Turnov definitively ceased to exist
- 1964 The communist government sold 1500 Torah scrolls from Czech and Moravian synagogues, which had been placed in the Jewish Museum in Prague, to buyers overseas. The Torah scrolls from Turnov were amongst these.
They are now used by a reform congregation at Temple Adath Israel, Lexington, Kentucky, in the USA. - 1988 The construction of the motorway overpass above the Jewish cemetery in Sobotecká Street commenced
- 1997 The Town of Turnov succeeded in having the synagogue declared a cultural monument and it commenced negotiations to purchase it from its owner
- 2003 The Town of Turnov purchased the synagogue into its ownership
- 2005 The Town of Turnov applied for financial support to reconstruct the synagogue using European Union funds
- 2006 The reconstruction of the synagogue was supported by a grant from Norway via the Norwegian Financial Mechanism
- 2007 The synagogue underwent reconstruction
- November 2008 The synagogue was officially reopened
- April 2009 - October 2009 The first tourist season in the Turnov Synagogue
- 12th September 2009 A service of worship was held in the synagogue after a hiatus of almost sixty years.
The reform service was led by Rabbi Tomáš Kučera and the cantor Michal Foršt. It was attended by members of the Bejt Simcha reform congregation from Prague and the Jewish community in Liberec.
Created 21.8.2018 8:50:38 | read 14822x | hlousekm
Projekt byl spolufinancován z prostředků ERDF prostřednictvím Euroregionu Nisa - Nysa.
