Old Jewish Cemetery, Prague

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The Old Jewish Cemetery (Czech: Starý židovský hřbitov, German: Alter Jüdischer Friedhof) lies in the Josefov, the Jewish Quarter of Prague in the Czech Republic. It was in use from the early 15th century (the oldest preserved tombstone, the one of Avigdor Kara, dates back to 1439) until 1787. Its ancestor was a cemetery called "The Jewish Garden", which was found in archaeological excavations under the Vladislavova street, New Town.

The numbers of grave stones and numbers of people buried there are uncertain, because there are layers of tombs. However, it has been estimated that there are approximately 12,000 tombstones presently visible, and there may be as many as 100,000 burials in all. The most notable personalities buried in the Old Jewish Cemetery are Yehuda ben Bezalel known as the Maharal Rabbi Löw (d. 1609), Kli YakarShlomo Ephraim of Luntchitz (d. 1609), Mordechai Maisel (d. 1601), David Gans (d. 1613) and David Oppenheim(d. 1736).


Lion of Judah on Jewish gravestone.



Conspiracy theories[edit]

This cemetery is allegedly the secret venue of conspiracy meetings of the Elders of Zion and the place where The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (the Zionistic plan to rule the world or New World Order) was created. This information was first mentioned in Hermann Goedsche's 1868 novel, Biarritz (in English as To Sedan) which probably inspired the Russian secret police to create The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to spread antisemitism in Russia. The Protocols then took on a life of their own and were considered to be true by the likes of Hitler and many enemies of Jews. Umberto Eco's 2010 novel The Prague Cemetery refers to this topic.


  • The Old Jewish Cemetery of Prague: A Guide Through the Cemetery, by Hana Volavková, Otto Muneles, Tobiáš Jakobovitsch — Prague (Czech Republic), 1947, 15 pages. Edited by the Administration of the Jewish Museum of Prague.
