Z průzkumů židovských hřbitovů. Židovský hřbitov ve Stříteži

Zprávy památkové péče 2013, 73(6):532-535

Surveys of Jewish cemeteries. The Jewish cemetery in Střítež

Iva Steinová

The Jewish cemetery in Střítež near Jihlava is one of the smallest Jewish cemeteries in the country. A detailed survey provided new datings of its gravestones. It was shown that the existence of the Střítež cemetery goes back to the beginning of the 18th century at the latest, and the oldest gravestone dates back to 1713. Another surprising finding was that the gravestones from the 18th century make up more than of a third of all the gravestones that were preserved.
The Střítež cemetery holds Jews that lived scattered throughout several nearby villages and usually worked as tenants of the manor farm buildings. The first mention of a Jewish settlement comes from 1720. It can be assumed that Jews came to Střítež from nearby Polná. A gravestone inscription from 1732 mentions a family origin in Turobin in eastern Poland.
After the mid 18th century, the Levite family of Landsmann, who was closely connected with the local manor, settled in Střítež. Their gravestones are located in the northeast corner of the cemetery, the oldest one dating from 1758. The Landsmann family and other families related to them were buried at the Střítež cemetery up to the end of the 19th century.
The level of craftsmanship displayed on the stone grave markers of the Střítež cemetery, including their creative decoration, is relatively high. The material (granite and marble) was also good quality, so the gravestones were not eroded and are now in good technical condition; some of them still even bear the original polychromy of the carved Hebrew letters.
The Jewish population in Střítež and surroundings declined in the 20th century, and there are only nine gravestones preserved at the local cemetery from this period. The youngest gravestones were placed after 1945 and bear the inscriptions in memoriam of those murdered in concentration camps.