A tombstone and memorial for Jewish remains removed from a
construction site in Prague were dedicated at Prague's New
Jewish Cemetery. Last year the remains were returned to the
Jewish community, and were reburied at the New Cemetery in a
ceremony conducted by the country's chief rabbi, Karol
Sidon.
The insurance company that owns the construction site gained
permission three years ago to build a high-rise apartment
block and underground garage at the site on Vladislavova
Street. When workers encountered a 13th-century burial site,
the construction plans drew the attention of Orthodox groups
dedicated to preserving Jewish cemeteries throughout
Europe.
The medieval cemetery that was unearthed had been voluntarily
relinquished by Prague's Jewish community in the 15th
century.
The memorial ceremony, which was organized by the Prague
Jewish Community, paid tribute not only to the 160 remains at
the New Cemetery but also to the hundreds of graves currently
being encased in concrete at Vladislavova Street. That
arrangement was part of a compromise with the Czech state
that enabled construction to proceed with minimal harm to the
medieval burial site.
Attended by the Israeli ambassador to the Czech Republic, the
ceremony also marked a warming of relations between Prague's
Jewish community and the Committee for the Preservation of
Jewish Cemeteries in Europe
A London-based Orthodox group, the Committee had organized a
series of protests at the Vladislavova Street construction
site, as well as at Czech embassies in London and Brussels.
Prague's Jewish Community, on the other hand, preferred a
negotiated settlement with Czech officials that allowed work
to continue.
The memorial thanks the Czech state, Prague's Jewish
community and "foreign Jewish institutions" for preserving
the remains.
It reads, in Czech: "Let them be in everlasting memory, as
well as those holy remains that still rest in their place of
original burial at the cemetery in Vladislavova Street.
"If only G-d grant compassion over those whose graves are in
a concrete sarcophagus built into the new building" in
Vladislavova Street.
Plans are well advanced for a memorial at the original burial
site, which is part of a much wider cemetery thought to
stretch for hundreds of yards under the center of Prague.
