The Kolin synagogue, which is the second oldest in the Czech Republic, was constructed after 1642. Jews resided in the city as early as the 14th century, but the community was virtually wiped out during the Nazi deportations to the Terezin concentration camp in World War II.
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Jews resided here as early as the 14th century . In the first half of the 19th
century there lived 313 lived there and in 1854 1700 persons. The number of
Jews dropped in the following years , only 430 persons are recorded in 1930.
2,202 persons were deported to Terezin from Kolin and its vicinity in 1942 and
only about 105 survived the Nazi occupation .
The Kolin J. community gave birth to many significant personalities in the field
of culture, politics and economics, e.g. Bernard Illowy ( died in 1971 in
Cincinnati ) ,a prominent Orthodox Rabbi in the USA , Otokar Fischer, a
Czech-Jewish poet and literary historian , members of Petschek family ,
well-known bankers. A part of the former Jewish ghetto survived The synagogue
survived . The chandelier and a part of the furnishing are kept today in Temple
Emmanuel in Denver , USA.
The old cemetery can be open on request in the Regional museum .The earliest
preserved tombstones date from the 1st half of the 15th century, burials until
1887. there is buried the son of the Prague Rabbi Jehhuda ben Becalel, there
are over 2600 tombstones . There was founded also the second oldest chevra
kadischa .
The new Jewish cemetery is still used, can be open on request .
The Kolin synagogue, which is the second oldest in the Czech Republic, was
constructed after 1642. The synagogue served its original purpose until the
year 1955. It is also time when the Torahs from Kolin were send to the
different Jewish communities all over the world. Only the early baroque Aron ha
kodesh, acquired at the expense of the Viennese financier Samuel Oppenheimer,
uncle of David Oppenheimer, the provinncial rabbi in Bohemia, remains in its
original location. The inscription in the frieze reads " This is a gift from
the prince and high official Samuel Oppenheimer at the King�s Court and in the
capital city." However, the title of prince does not imply noble status but
expresses the importance of the offerer in the eyes of the Kolin Jewish
community.
The whole complex of the Kolin synagogue and the former Jewish school underwent
demanding reconstruction work at the end of the 1990s and at the present time
it is partially used for cultural purposes.
The uncle of Franz Kafka - Filip Kafka - had the shop in the main square of
Kolin.
1 hour to drive from Prague to E