Entrance to the Site of the Destroyed Synagogue, Trutnov, Czech Republic, 2023

Trutnov

In German: Trautenau

A city in the Hradec Kralove Region, Czech Republic

Until 1918 Trutnov was part of the Austrian Empire. During the interwar period, and between the end of World War II until 1993, it was part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia. Between 1938 and 1945 Trutnov was one of the municipalities of the Sudeten Region.

21^ST CENTURY

In 2003 fifteen graves in the Trutnov cemetery belonging to Jewish women killed by the Nazis were desecrated on the 65^th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Since 1990, Trutnov has hosted an annual open air music festival, "Trutnov Woodstock." In 2013 the festival was dedicated to those expelled after the annexation of the Sudeten Region, including the Jews.

HISTORY

As a royal town, Trutnov was granted the privilege of not allowing Jews to settle within its borders ("privilegium de non tolerandis judaeis"); however, the town’s leaders did not take advantage of this privilege and documents from 1545 mention two Jewish families living in the town, as well as the fact that a Jew worked as the local hangman.The earliest Jewish settlers worked as merchants, leasers, and distillers. In 1775 Jews won the ability to sell tobacco.

Trutnov's modern Jewish community was formed in 1870, following the 1848 emancipation of Jews throughout the Austrian Empire and the subsequent removal of residence restrictions. The community included Jews from the region of Oberen Aupatal, which included the settlements of Vrchlabi (German: Hohenelbe) and Hostinne (German: Arnau).

The Jewish cemetery was consecrated in 1870, and was located on Hohenbrucher Street. The synagogue on Rinnel Street was consecrated in 1885; until then public prayers were held first in a private home and then in the building housing the secondary school. The synagogue was expanded in 1898.

The Jews of Trutnov became very involved in the industrialization of northeast Bohemia. They established factories in Trutnov for processing flax, weaving, and manufacturing yeast, toys, brushes, and carts. Many of the town's shops were owned by Jews, particularly those that dealt in textiles. Alexander Videky of Trutnov was the chairman of the Czech union of the trade in flax for many years. There were also Jewish doctors, dentists, lawyers, language teachers, and piano teachers. Rabbi Jacob Bader was the community’s rabbi during the early 1920s. Oscar Ricks was the head of the community during the 1930s.

Documents from the 1880s record two Jews who were appointed as tax collectors. That year, there were 418 Jews living in Trutnov and the surrounding area. In 1910 the Jewish population was 505 (478 of whom lived in the town itself). After this population peak the number of Jews living in Trutnov decreased; in 1921 there were 397 Jews in Trutnov (7.2% of the total population).

Between the two World Wars, when the Republic of Czechoslovakia recognized the Jews as a national minority with concurrent rights, the Jews of Trutnov were active politically, both in political parties and within the Czech national party. Additionally, during the 1920s Zionism began to be popular among the Jews of Trutnov. Many of the town's youth became members of the Zionist youth movement Tekhelet Lavan. In 1926, prior to the 15th Zionist Congress, the Jews of Trutnov acquired 200 shekels (membership and voting rights). When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the community of Trutnov established agricultural training centers, in order to prepare young Jews, both from the Republic of Czechoslovakia and from Germany, to emigrate to Mandate Palestine. Thirty-seven Jews from Trutnov participated in the elections to the 20th Zionist Congress in 1937, twenty-three of whom voted for the general Zionists.

In 1930 there were 369 Jews living in Trutnov.

THE HOLOCAUST

The Munich Agreement of September 1938 formally dissolved the Republic of Czechoslovakia and annexed the Sudeten Region, which included Trutnov, to Nazi Germany. Most of the Jews left Trutnov before the German occupation; many emigrated to Western Europe and the USA, some left for Mandate Palestine, while others moved to other areas within the protectorate, mostly to Pardubice and Dvur Kralove.

The Jews who remained at Trutnov were subject to increasing discrimination and violence. They were forbidden from holding public prayers. The synagogue was set on fire on Kristallnacht (November 10, 1938) and Jewish men were arrested imprisoned. A few days later the Jews were moved to Reinberg near the German border, and from there they were taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany.

In March, 1939 the region of Bohemia and Moravia was occupied by Nazi Germany, and became a protectorate of the Third Reich. Those Jews from Trutnov who had moved to other areas within the protectorate were expelled in 1942. From Dvur Kralove and Pardubice they were sent to the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Ghetto. From there they were deported to concentration and death camps, where most were killed. Several Jews from Trutnov served in the Czech Army during the war.

The Germans built a forced labor camp for women in the small town of Parschnitz near Trutnov. The prisoners, who were both Jewish and non-Jewish, arrived mainly from Poland, Hungary, and Germany.

The Jewish cemetery was demolished during the war and the tombstones were used as building material.

POSTWAR

After the war, 4-5 survivors of Theresienstadt and one Jew from the Czech Army returned to Trutnov. They were joined by a few dozen survivors from the Parschnitz labor camp, as well as Jewish refugees from Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. A new community was organized under the leadership of Pavel Nettl, a native of Trutnov. In 1948, the number of Jews in Trutnov and the surrounding area was about 70. A memorial plaque was placed in the general cemetery in memory of the Jews of Trutnov who perished during the Holocaust and a statue was erected in memory of the 41 Jewish women who were killed at the Parschnitz labor camp.

When Pavel Nettl died in 1950, Herman Berman (later known as Harry Berman) took over as the leader of Trutnov’s small Jewish community. Nettl’s widow, though she herself was not Jewish, allowed the community to use her apartment for holiday celebrations, and other Jewish activities. During this period there were 5 Jewish families, and 5 mixed families living in Trutnov.

Ultimately, after Berman immigrated to the United States in 1964, Trutnov's small postwar community ceased to exist. The vast majority of the remaining Jewish families immigrated to the United States or Israel.