The mountain synagogue in Hartmanice is a cultural monument

Hartmanice (Klatovy District) - The Ministry of Culture declared the mountain synagogue in Hartmanice in the Šumava region a cultural monument. Officials made this decision 11 years after the original proposal from the cultural department of the District Office in Klatovy. Michal Klíma, chairman of the civic association memorial Hartmanice, which operates the synagogue, said this to ČTK.
"This is an additional confirmation of the importance of the mountain synagogue, which is the only one preserved from many dozens that previously existed in the Šumava region and were irretrievably destroyed during the Nazi and communist regimes,” he added.
The proposal for inclusion in the list of cultural monuments was supported by the Sušice town hall, the heritage care department of the regional office, and the National Heritage Institute in Plzeň and Prague. When it was submitted 11 years ago, the synagogue was a ruin deteriorating without support from state or local authorities. In the meantime, however, it underwent reconstruction organized by a civic association that was established in 2002 with the aim of saving the synagogue, Klíma stated. The repaired synagogue was opened to the public after decades on May 16 of this year.
The building with a new blue-and-white facade serves mainly cultural and educational purposes. A permanent exhibition recalls the coexistence of Czechs, Germans, and Jews in the Šumava region. The memorial features an exhibition of photographs of Šumava municipalities destroyed after 1948, photographs of Old Šumava, and documentation of the reconstruction itself.
"The monument attracts new tourists to the village and its surroundings,” said Mayor Jiří Jukl. The thousand-strong Hartmanice would never have raised the funds for the renovation costing seven million crowns. The state contributed three million crowns, the Czech-German Fund for the Future donated 2.4 million crowns, and the rest came from various foundations and companies.
The rescue of the dilapidated building was initiated by Klíma, who wanted to buy a cottage in the region. In searching for a property, he stumbled upon the synagogue and decided to renovate it. "I was intrigued that Czechs, Germans, and Jews lived together here without major problems," he stated at the ceremonial opening.
The building, which is more than 120 years old, had long been deteriorating. When the association started repairing it in 2003, it was on the brink of collapse. The reconstruction was also complicated by a lack of original photographs and documents. For example, the gable had to be rebuilt by masons according to the only preserved photograph. Later, original plans were found in the archive in Klatovy and others in Jerusalem at the Yad Vashem documentation center. Everything except for four supports has been restored. Last year, after decades, two stone tablets with the Hebrew Ten Commandments returned to the gable of the building. The Hartmanice synagogue was built by the Jewish community in 1883. After the annexation of the border region to Germany in 1938, it was converted into a carpentry workshop, and after the war, it deteriorated. It escaped planned demolition because it was adjacent to two houses.