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Wednesday, January 26, 2000
Fifteenth-century Jewish cemetery at center of controversial building plan By Magnus Bennett The row centers on Czech insurance company Ceska pojistovna, which gained building permission two years ago for a high-rise block and underground garage in central Prague. The problem is that the site in Vladislavova street in Prague 1 stands directly over part of a 750-year-old Jewish burial site. The cemetery was relinquished by Prague's Jewish community in the 15th century. Its existence was confirmed by archaeologists before construction began. Initially, 88 undisturbed graves were discovered. The contents of some of these graves were later handed over to the Jewish community for reburial, but discussions continue over what should be done with as many as 300 other graves that remain. The building project has infuriated Jewish groups around the world. Tempers flared when The Jerusalem Post reported a member of the international Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries Committee as claiming that 36 sacks of bones had been dug up from the cemetery and left unattended in a warehouse. That report has been dismissed by members of the Czech Jewish community as well as archaeologists involved in research at the site. Seeking a compromise Karol Sidon, the Czech Republic's chief rabbi, has been a focal point of anger over the building project after he hammered out a compromise with Ceska pojistovna last November. Under the compromise, the insurance company agreed to lower a 100-square-meter (1,075-square-foot) section of soil containing the remnants of graves to the bottom of the construction site. The compromise reportedly came under attack from the chief rabbis of Britain, France and Holland and the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. The controversy was further heightened by misleading information relayed over the Internet that Czech Jewish leaders had sold off part of the famous Old Jewish Cemetery, a quite separate burial ground in the city's Jewish Quarter. Sidon has accused media outlets outside the Czech Republic of inaccurately reporting the case. He has also maintained that the agreement struck with the insurance company was the best offer available, given that Ceska pojistovna owns the land in question. "Of course I would be happy if the cemetery would stay where it is now, but there are two parties in this case. Given the circumstances, I could not see a better option," he told The Prague Post. But the agreement may still have to be torn up. On Jan. 17 the chief rabbi of Israel, Yisrael Meir Lau, sent an emissary to Prague to establish the facts of the case. Sidon has indicated that he will walk away from the issue if the chief rabbi of Israel expresses disapproval of the agreement. Sidon is firmly backed by the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic. The federation's executive director, Tomas Kraus, described the compromise as a "minor evil," adding, "Rabbi Sidon's decision in our opinion was more favorable to the relics than other options." In the meantime, Ceska pojistovna remains in a bind of its own. All construction at the site was halted in December pending a decision by the Ministry of Culture on whether the cemetery should be proclaimed a protected monument. A great deal of money rides on the outcome of the dispute. "If the conclusion is that we have to stop construction," said Ceska pojistovna spokesman Michael Urban, "it could lead to losses of hundreds of millions of crowns." Magnus Bennett's email address is mbennett@praguepost.cz
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