CESKA LIPA

CESKA LIPA (Cz. Česká Lípa; Ger. Boehmisch-Leipa; Heb. לייפען), town in northern Bohemia, Czech Republic. Jews are mentioned there in 1562. Fourteen taxpayers are recorded in 1570. In 1628 there were 11 Jewish houses. From 1646 until the end of the 17th century, the jurisdiction over the Jews was contested in a protracted lawsuit between the Herrschaft (local lordship) and the municipality, as to the possession of the cemetery, where the Herrschaft had built a wall at its expense in 1670. In 1724 the community numbered 358 persons, occupying 15 houses. In 1744, 32 Jews, including the rabbi, were massacred by soldiers and 40 were wounded; a special prayer (Seliḥah ) was always recited on the anniversary of the disaster. Rabbis of Ceska Lipa included Daniel Ehrmann (1851–60) and joel mueller (1867–72). A synagogue in Moorish style was built in 1862 and a new cemetery consecrated in 1905. The Jewish population numbered 130 families in 1852, 112 in 1893, 490 persons in 1912, and 301 in 1930 (2.7% of the total). The community dispersed at the time of the Sudeten crisis. The synagogue was burned down on Nov. 10, 1938, and the Jewish street where it stood was renamed "Stuermergasse"; many of the tombstones from the old cemetery were used for building. In 1959 a small congregation was established in Ceska Lipa by Jews from Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia, former soldiers of the Czechoslovak Army in the U.S.S.R. This congregation ceased to exist as well. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bondy-Dworský, no. 650; H. Gold (ed.), Die Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens… (1934), 51–55; J. Bergl, in: JGGJČ, 2 (1930), 241–84; R. Iltis, Die aussaeen in Traenen… (1959), 36. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Fiedler, Jewish Sights of Bohemia and Moravia, (1991), 55–56.