Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague)

Artist: Gili Orr
previous browse art next

Card: US$4.99
Print: from US$21.38

Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague)

“Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague)” was featured in the groups Historic Landmarks of Europe and Bagels and Lox – Jewish Photographers Unite!

1668 views (9 November 2009)

Photo taken with a Canon PowerShot S70 camera.
Must admit: I got quite emotional while taking photos in that unique cemetery, which brought up a lot of thoughts and feelings concerning my people, the Jews. I got emotional again while going through my file, looking for the photo I would post here.

Following is info from two Internet sources:

One of the most impressive sights in Prague [Czech Republic] is the Old Jewish cemetery in Josefov, the former Jewish ghetto. This cemetery was used from 1439 to 1787 and it is the oldest existing Jewish cemetery in Europe. The Nazis made it a policy to destroy Jewish cemeteries, sometimes using the tombstones for target practice, but Hitler ordered that this cemetery be left intact, since he was planning to build a Jewish museum in Prague after all the Jews in Europe had been exterminated according to his diabolical plan.

There are more than 100,000 Jews buried in this small plot, the graves being layered 12 deep in some places. This is not unusual for European cemeteries where space is at a premium. In Germany where the graves are also 12 layers deep, the tombstones mark only the top layer of the buried coffins. In the Old Jewish Cemetery in Josefov, there are around 12,000 tombstones, crowded closely together with almost no grass between them.
Source: Josefov

The Old Jewish Cemetery lies in the Josefov (the Jewish Quarter of Prague). It was in use from the early 15th century (the oldest preserved tombstone, the one of Avigdor Kara, dates back to 1439) until 1787. Its ancestor was a cemetery called “The Jewish Garden”, which was found in archaeological excavations under the Vladislavova street, New Town.

The numbers of grave stones and numbers of people buried there are uncertain, because there are layers of tombs. However, it has been estimated that there are approximately 12,000 graves. The most important personalities buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery are Yehuda ben Bezalel known as the Maharal Rabbi Löw (d. 1609), Mordechai Maisel (d. 1601), David Gans (d. 1613) a David Oppenheim (d. 1736).
Wikipedia

Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague) belongs to the following groups:

! 100% !, All Around the Styles, All Things Poetic, Artistic, Philosophical, Amazing Graves, Bagels and Lox - Jewish themed art and writing, Bits and Pieces , European Everyday Life (add the place!), Featured Features - For Featured Art, Photography, T-Shirts, Writing, FEATURED ONLY, Heritage in Stone, Historic Landmarks of Europe, History, ImageWriting (2/24), Light In The Darkness, Live, Love, Dream: , Prize Challenges!!, Requiem, Safe Haven, THE 500 TO 5000 VIEWINGS GROUP, The Compact Group *ONE* per day with *camera details please*, The Patchwork , The Woman Photographer **7 Submissions a week only please**, The World and à EUROPA! Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints and Framed Prints

Old Jewish Cemetery (Prague) by Gili Orr

CanDuCreations

Dramatic and impressive work
Gili Orr replied

Thanks, Thea! It touched me enormously, to see this graveyard, so crowded and falling apart, reading its history, where a lot of the history of my people is enfolded… and anything concerning the combination Nazis and Jews makes me always shiver.
Isa Rodriguez

oh my dear!.. this is wow.. so powerful .. 100,000?.. so much to say here.. I love people and their life stories.. so much history here.
Gili Orr replied

Yes, a lot of history… Thanks, Isa!!
navybrat

Now this is the most amazing grave I have ever seen so far Gili, I so luv the angle and framing of this one!
Gili Orr replied

Really glad to hear that, Jotham!
I took lots of photos of this graveyard, making choices wasn’t easy… The first one I posted a few days ago was less representative, because it was sent to the Bubble Jeopardy and had to be hard to guess… the place is sooo crowded with these old headstones… I also focused in some photos on specific graves, because I wanted to read the writings later on, at home. I may post some of these later.
RoxyLust

:( my jaw hit the floor readin this such intense stuff great work xx
Gili Orr replied

Thans, Roxy! It is intense, indeed. I was feeling weird for many hours after visiting this graveyard.
itsallgoodamanda

oh this is good ,pretty crowded huh!
Gili Orr replied

Amazingly crowded…
cougarfan

WoW!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in Awwwwwwe…...... Great capture!
Gili Orr replied

Thanks, cougarfan!!
Cleburnus

I’ll definitely visit this now that I know of it. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Gili Orr replied

It is really worth a visit…
amarica

Awsome find, great shot Gili!!!
Gili Orr replied

Thanks a lot, Ann!!
rodsfotos
Gili Orr replied

See… I don’t see it… Oh, it may have something to do with the security settings…
joan warburton

I’ve heard so much about this graveyard. Wonderful photo. Thanks for posting this. What is that building on the right?
Gili Orr replied

Think it’s just one of the neighbouring (apartment) building, not sure… There is a sinagogue next to the graveyard, but I don’t think this was it… don’t remember anymore.
Cora Wandel

Gili, a fascinating shot, I love cemetery photography, and I see that you put this in a couple of groups that I would have recommended. Excellent! – Cora
Gili Orr replied

Thanks, Cora! Hope you are feeling better…
bubblehex08

Gili, thank you for adding this beautiful photo! That’s exactly the kind of entries we want for the group “historical landmarks of Europe”.
Very interesting, you did a great job!
Gili Orr replied

Thanks, MarieJo! Glad to hear I’m on the right track;-)
Carol Berliner

Awesome work!
Gili Orr replied

Thanks a lot, Carol! For the fav, too…
scoob29

great shot
Gili Orr replied

Thanks, Susan!
Ronald Rockman

Beautiful images Gili to show to the world, it was a very emotional time being there and looking for family names inscribed on the walls inside the Shul, I had just travelled to Poland to see the small village where myfamily had lived for some 600 years, they were fortunate to imigrate to Australia 10 years before the war, however my 1st wifes family lost a child and relatives in Auswitch and other terrible death camps.
Shmah Yisroel Adonai Elohainu Adonai Echud.
RR
Gili Orr replied

Thanks so much, Ronald! I am touched by your comment. and yes, I find it important, too, to show and remind and remember…
annamora

oh Gilli, we used to love this place … the history is so sad … we knew nothing .. just looked at it and loved it … I am sorry to have been so ignorant for so long even despite the fact that it was not my fault that we were kept in ignorance … I have learned to understand now …. being so far away ….. :) ... there is one very beautiful and well preserved Jewish cemetery also at the town called Mikulov situated at south Moravia near the Austrian border ….. I took some photos there four years ago … even though I am not Jew it makes me emotional too … it is such a huge matter ….
Gili Orr replied

Thanks so much for your touching and understanding feedback, Anna!
BLYTHART

It must have been incredibly emotional for you to stand here amidst all these tombstones, knowing they could have become exhibits in a diabolical museum of fascism. Our Bible tells us the Jews are God’s chosen people … and God never changes his mind … God is more powerful than fascism.
Gili Orr replied

Well, I am glad the diabolical plan saved this cemetery… I was emotional because of this knowledge, but also because it somehow gave me a feeling of connection to all the history of my people, with its ups and downs, pain, falls, persecutions and golden ages… it was somehow painful to look at these miserably crowded fallen tombstones – yet they survived… and the people as a people survived… Thanks, Dave!!
madvlad

with all this heavy stones on these poor souls, how are they going to raise up again? on judgement day?=they will be too stoned. to know it coming home day-it is a strange thing that we humens have to put up some sort of sign to say we were here,so as to make our life,more inportant ,and meant something,we fear,no one? loving us from childhood to the gave, me too. i,m human to,nice photo
Gili Orr replied

I see I wrote you an answer 21 days ago, just forgot to push the reply button and added as a comment… so here it is:
Thanks, Mad! Well, I don’t know about judgement day or end-of-days… I think what happens after I die with my things or my memory is not very important, at least that’s how I have felt up to this point… never know what I will think tomorrow;-) What can any appreciation I get after I am gone help me? If I am not there, what’s the use of people thinking of me? The stones are for the living, those left behind…
Gili Orr

Thanks, Mad! Well, I don’t know about judgement day or end-of-days… I think what happens after I die with my things or my memory is not very important, at least that’s how I have felt up to this point… never know what I will think tomorrow;-) What can any appreciation I get after I am gone help me? If I am not there, what’s the use of people thinking of me? The stones are for the living, those left behind…
MarianBendeth

Amazing shots and still amazing they still exist. Fabulous. Wish I knew what was written on them?
Gili Orr replied

Thanks, Marian! I took a few close-up shots to try and figure out at home what is exactly written on them… It’s not easy to read, but I may get back to it some day, translate and write some of them down here;-)
mimulux

so impressive…... deep.. and moving