The Oldest Jewish Cemetery in Europe: Josefov Prague Old Town Cemetery

Josefov was Prague's Jewish ghetto and it holds the one of the (if not the most) breathtaking “speak without words” cemeteries in all of the world. In the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov, there are more than 100,000 burials (graves being layered 12 deep in some places) with approximately 12,000 tombstones of all shapes and sizes, crowded closely together. This cemetery was used from 1439 to 1787, though never intended to hold so many Josefov residents; the amount, small space and natural age wear and tear are why at first glance one might get the impression this cemetery is forgotten and neglected. But this is far from the case- it is one of the most beloved places on earth. [The Nazis made it a policy to destroy all Jewish cemeteries, but Hitler ordered that this cemetery be left intact because he planned to build a Jewish museum in Prague after all the Jews in Europe had been exterminated]

The oldest grave in the old Jewish cemetery in Prague is that of rabbi, poet and physician Avigdor Kara, who died in 1439. Kara was one of the few survivors of a pogrom at Easter time in 1389 when approximately 3,000 Jews, almost the entire Jewish population in Prague, were killed by the Christians living in the city, after local Catholic priests accused the Jews of desecrating the Host used in the sacrament of Holy Communion (His original tombstone was recently replaced by a replica). There are also hundreds of unique and elaborate tombstones with inscriptions in Hebrew, detailing the lives of the more prominent Jews buried here. Many well-known Jews are buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery, most famous being Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, legendary creator of the golem, Jewish version of Frankenstein. There of course are thousands of simple, tombstones which to me, are just as beautiful as the ornate ones.

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