Poslední židé v soudním okrese Bezdružice
The last Jews in the judicial district of Bezdružice

Author(s): Markéta Novotná
Subject(s): Jewish studies, Ethnohistory, Recent History (1900 till today), Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Židovské Muzeum v Praze
Keywords: Bezdružice; Jews; judicial district; 20th century;
Summary/Abstract: The 1930 census recorded that 48 Jews were living in ten villages of the judicial district of Bezdružice (Weseritz) in West Bohemia, in addition to the district town itself. In 1960, six of these villages were incorporated into the district of Tachov (Tachau), while four villages were included in the Pilsen-North district. Some of the Jews listed in the census were domiciled in other villages. However, a number of local Jews who were domiciled in villages of Bezdružice studied, worked and had families outside the district and region – and, less frequently, even outside Bohemia. After the 1930 census, some of the local Jews were the last to move out of the villages, and some of them died there. After the annexation of the Czechoslovak border region to Germany, the rest fled to Pilsen or Prague and did whatever they could to obtain the necessary documents to resettle anywhere. Some died prior to deportation, others succumbed to the squalid conditions in the Terezín/Theresienstadt ghetto. Most of the Jews perished in the transports and in the extermination camps. Only a few individuals made it to safety abroad. It is not know what became of some of them. Apparently, none of the Jews from Bezdružice received any of their property back after the end of the war. Most of their houses are still standing, and many of them still retain traces of the businesses that used to be located there.

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