International Jewish Cemetery Project
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies

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town website. The Jewish cemetery dates from 1662. A synagogue was built in the Jewish neighborhood in 1688. The synagogue was renovated in 1767 after the 1760 fire and used to stand next to the house No. 39. 1760  On July 18,1767, a great fire in the town destroyed 130 houses, the church, and the rectory. On November 23,1904, the synagogue had a fire. In either 1930 or 1938, the synagogue was demolished. [February 2009]

 

US Commission No. CZCE000271

Cemetery: 900 meters W of square, near Hotel Bristol and railway station; close to the intersection of roads leading to Nova Ves and Tisova. The alternate/former German name of town was Petschau. Bečov nad Teplou [Cz], Petschau [Ger], Bečov n.T. Located in Karlovy Vary, Bohemia at  50°05' N, 12°49' E, 15 km SSW of Karlovy Vary, 34 miles NW of Plzeň (Pilsen), 10 miles SSW of Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), and 73 mi W of Praha. [The town name is sometimes abbreviated as Becov n.T.] Present town population is 1,000-5000 with no Jews.

  • Town: Mestsky Urad, 364 64 Becov nad Teplou; tel. 017/993-18.
  • Regional: 1. Okresni Urad, Referat Kultury, 360 01 Karlovy Vary; tel. 017/266-21; 2. Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Ceskoslovenske armady 39, 360 10 Karlovy Vary; and 3. Zidovska Nabozenska Obec, Semtanovy sady 5, 301 17 Plzen; tel. 019/357-49.
  • Interested: 1. Dr. Stanislav Burachovic, Karlovarske Muzeum, Zamecky vrch 2, 360 01 Karlovy Vary; tel. 017/269-95; 2. Engineer Stanslav Weiser, Charkovska 2, 360 01 Karlovy Vary; and 3. Statni Zidovske Muzeum, Jacymova 3, 110 01 Praha 1; tel. 02/231-06-34 or 231-07-85.

Earliest known Jewish community was the second half of the 17th century. 1930 Jewish population (census) was 18. Noteworthy historical events: The Jewish population peaked in the first half of the 19th century with 38 families permitted. After 1848, moving to big towns; independent congregation disbanded after 1922; Krisallnacht; and the 1938 expulsion of Jews. Noteworthy individuals who lived in Becov and Teplou were three Loewy brothers: 1. Engineer, Erwin Loewy (1897-1959 New York), co-founder of Hydropress Ltd., NY, designer of US military rockets; 2. Engineer Alfred Loewy, co-founder of Hydropress Ltd, NY; and 3. Ludwig Loewy, founder of Loewy Engineering Co. (arms industry) in England. The date Jewish cemetery originated before 1663. Famous Rabbis and Loewy ancestors are buried in this cemetery with last known Conservative Jewish burial was before 1939. Other towns and villages that used this unlandmarked cemetery probably were Utvina (Ger: Uitwa), 9 km away, and Touzim (Ger. Theusing), 12 km away, before the cemetery in Utvina was founded. The isolated suburban, flat land and hillside has no sign. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open with permission with no wall, fence or gate. The present size of cemetery is 0.09 ha.

No gravestones are visible. Some stones removed from the cemetery are in another cemetery. A few were used as a stone wall in the street near the railways. Some gravestones were used as both pavement and foundations of a road in the village of Vodna, about 2 km away. Three gravestones are in the lapidarium of the local castle of Becov n.T. Before the Nazis, the oldest known gravestone was 1662. No known mass graves. Either the local Jewish community of Karlovy Vary or the municipality ownsproperty used for Jewish cmetery and a broadened street. Adjacent properties are residential. Compared to 1939, the cemetery boundaries enclose either the same or a smaller area because of new road or highway. Rarely, private visitors stop. Vandalism by the Nazis in 1938 completely destroyed site. Within the limits of the cemetery are no structures.

Dr. Peter Braun [Komenskeho 43, 323 13 Plzen; tel. 019/52-15-58], Rudolf Lowy [Jesenicka 33, 323 23 Plzen; tel. 019/52-06-84] and Jiri Fiedler, z"l, Brdickova 1916, 155 00 Praha 5; tel. 02/55-33-40 completed survey on 29 October 1992. Documentation: 1. Censuses of 1570, 1675, 1724, 1830, and 1930; 2. Topographie der historischen and Kunstgeschichtlichen Denkmaler in den Bezirken Tepl und Mariendbad (1932); 3. "Stanislav Burachovic Pohrbeny hrbitov" [in: Arnika, 1992, US Commission No. 31]; 4. The Jews of Czechoslovakia, I, p. 402; 5. Notes of Mrs. de Beaufort-von Croy and Mr. Von Croy (see 79 [?]); and 6. Letter of Engineer S. Weiser (see 12) [?], 1992. US Commission No. 35, 36, and 53 in the cadastral archives were not accessible for the survey. Dr. P. Braun and R. Lowy visited site on May 1992 and interviewed Prinz Alexis von Croy, 8359 Aicha vorm Wald, Germany, N.B. in consultations in Praha from 1982-1989.