The Jewish settlement in Písek has been documented in written sources since the end of the 14th century, but the Jews were expelled from the city in 1424. They began to settle here again in small numbers from the first quarter of the 17th century; by the fi rst half of the 19th century, there were six to eleven Jewish families living here. More Jews began moving to Písek in the late 19th century: 449 Jews lived here in 1880 (4.2% of all inhabitants), in 1900 there were 395 Jews (2.6% of the population), and in 1930 there were 254 Jews, merely 1.6% of the city’s population.
The new synagogue is located on Soukenická Street, 100 meters east of the square. It was built in 1872 in oriental style with neo-Romanesque elements. This was the work of lawyer JUDr. Israel Kohn (1818-1874), who even served as Mayor of Písek in 1871-1872. It served for worship until the Second World War, aft er which it was used as a warehouse. At that time, the main prayer hall was divided into two stories by a ceiling. It is currently undergoing reconstruction and will be used for cultural purposes.
The new cemetery is located 1.7 km northwest of the Velké náměstí town square, on the outskirts of the city near the street named U Židovského hřbitova. It was founded in 1876 and was used for burials until 1942, then exceptionally even aft er the war. The cemetery was fi lled to about one-third of its area with graves. Aft er the war the cemetery was greatly devastated; in the years 1968-1969 the ground-fl oor gravedigger’s house was destroyed, in 1981 most of the tombstones were taken away and sold, and the cemetery became part of a military training ground. Aft er 1991, the cemetery was reduced to about two-thirds of its original area, and the rest of the cemetery was fenced with a new wall. At present, about 40 tombstones and a number of pedestals and other elements are preserved over an area of 4,461 square meters. The cemetery is locked.
Interesting: Kamila Stösslová (1892-1935), a friend and trustee of Leoš Janáček, is buried in the Písek cemetery. She inspired him, for example, to write the opera “Káťa Kabanová”. Her tombstone is no longer identifi able today. The remains of the important poet and novelist Richard Weiner (1884-1937) were exhumed on 6 November 1987 and reburied at the Forest Cemetery in Písek.