cemetery photo [February 2009]

US Commission No. CZCE000224
Alternate name: Diwischau; Sternberg in German. Divisov is located in Bohemia, Benesov at 49º47 14º53, 13 km E of Benesov and 42 km SE of Prague. Cemetery: 2 km NE (on the cadastre of Mechnov). Present town population is 1,000-5,000 with no Jews.

• Town: Obecni urad, 257 26 Divisov.
  
• Regional: Jewish congregation: Zno Praha (Ms Jana Wolfova), Mislova 18, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/2318664 and Okresni urad PhDr Jiri Tywoniak (District Conservator of Monuments) Zapova 601/22, 256 01 Benesov u Prahy; tel. 0301/23618 and Okrensni urad, Referat Kultury 256 01 Benesov u Prahy.
  
• Interested: Okresni Muzeum Benesov, Male nemesti 74, 256 01 Benesov u Prahy; and Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jachymova 3 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/2310634.

Earliest known Jewish community originated in 1776. 1930 Jewish population was 20. The Jews moved to big towns after 1848. Independent Jewish congregation disbanded in 1930. Writer Frantisek Kafka (1909-1991) spent his childhood here. The landmarked Jewish cemetery originated in perhaps 1776 with last known Conservative Jewish burial probably in 1930s. The flat isolated rural (agricultural) site without sign or marker. Reached by crossing private property off a public road road and a field. Open to all, the cemetery is surrounded by a broken masonry wall (but still quite sturdy) and non-locking gate. The pre- and post-WWII size of cemetery is 0.3072 ha.

20-100 stones date from the end of 18th-20th century. The granite and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration, double tombstones or multi-stone monuments have inscriptions in Hebrew, German and Czech. The cemetery contains no known mass graves. Within the limits of the site is a pre-burial house. Prague Jewish community owns the Jewish cemetery. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Occasionally, private visitors and local residents stop. Vandalism occurred during World War II, occasionally 1945-1991. Local non-Jewish residents and Jewish groups within country did last repair about 1914--mortuary. There is no maintenance. Moderate threat: uncontrolled access, weather erosion and pollution. Slight threat: vegetation, vandalism, and existing and proposed nearby development.
Ladislav Mertl, mgr of geography and Kubanske nam.1322/17, Praha 10-Vrsovice; tel. 02/743213 and Jiri Fiedler, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/553340 completed survey on June 1992 using H. Gold: Die Juden...Bohemens...(1934), Jahrbuch fur die israelische Cultusgemeinden Bohemens, (1893-94, 1894-95) and Jewish Cemeteries in Bohemia and Moravia(1980) and census 1724, 1930, 1991. Other documentation was inaccessible. The site was not visited. F. Kafka (see above) son of chairman of Jewish congregation in Divisov was interviewed for this survey (1982).