The fate of the cemetery was probably decided before the communist takeover of the country. Even though burials were still taking place there, neither the new regime nor the newly arrived inhabitants clearly wanted to preserve any foreign, “German” history for the future.
In 1948, the chief regional rabbi and the main spiritual authority for Bohemia and Moravia, the former chief rabbi of the Czechoslovak exile army, Dr. Hanuš Rezek, tried to prevent the liquidation of the Jewish cemetery, citing the impossibility of “abolishing” the existence of the remains in the soil. However, his efforts, like in many other cases of confrontation with the communist power, came to nothing.
Minutes of the meeting on the fate of the New Jewish Cemetery in Ústí nad Labem. Archive of the Jewish Museum in Prague.
The Jewish community unsuccessfully requested the city to fence off the Jewish section and prevent its devastation by the public. However, this cemetery was also eventually abolished by the decree of the Unified National Committee of November 22, 1953.
What exactly happened to the remains of the buried people is still unclear: according to some sources, they were left in place, according to others, they were dredged up and taken to a landfill, there is also evidence of burning the remains in the Střekov crematorium. If relatives actively requested it, their dead were moved elsewhere. The city sold the tombstones of the buried persons to interested members of the public.
Why do you think it was so important to eliminate the Ústí nad Labem Central Cemetery without a trace “for health reasons”? What is in place today?