Boskovice
A History
Boskovice 1825 - source unknown
Boskovice is set in the Drahanska Highlands of Moravia about 22 miles north of Brno and has Jewish associations stretching back to the 14th century. Today, following extensive restoration of its Jewish Quarter, most notably the miracle performed on its mid-17th century synagogue, much of the town is now classified as a national monument.
1222 - Boskovice was first mentioned on a charter of king Přemysl I. Landowners were descendants of local noblemen.
1343 - The first mention of a Jew in Boskovice.
1454 - Jews of Brno went to Boskovice after they were banished from the Moravian Royal towns. At that time the Jews had restricted rights and paid high premiums to be allowed to live in the town.
1463 - King Jiří from Poděbrady decrees the right to an annual market (Boskovice was then allowed to call itself a small town).
1547 - There was a change in the ruling House to the House of Eder from
Štiavnice.
1567 - There was again a change of the ruling House to the Mouse of Morkovský from Zástřizly - the town developed a Renaissance character.
1589 - There were 148 Jews living in 25 family houses.
1677
- In a real estate survey, Jews owned nearly 23 hectares including arable land. Main
professions were butcher, tailor, barber, purse maker, goldsmith, red and white
tanner, leather worker, sword blade maker, cabinet maker, furrier, cap maker and others.
1691 - There was a further change in the ruling House to the powerful House of Dietrichštejn - Baroque buildings
were built in the town.
1715 - Boskovice affected by plague (and again in 1716). In Jewish Quarter there were 200 deaths.
1726
- Familianten order issued by the Habsburg ruler Charles VI
whereby the number of Jewish families was limited by quota to 8,541 in Bohemia and 5,106 in Moravia. According to this order, only the first-born son of each Jewish family was given permission to marry. The permits could also be sold if there were no son to inherit them.
The Familianten law allowed residence of only 326 Jewish families in
Boskovice. The order was in force until 1848. Many Jews, unable to obtain marriage
permits emigrated from Bohemia and Moravia, chiefly to Hungary.
1728 - Jews were forced into a ghetto. The first complete register
written indicated that the numbers had grown to 1531 Jews living in 38 family houses, 97 extensions and 40 cottages.
1789 - Boskovice started calling itself a "town".
Late 18th/Early 19th Century - the beginning of manufacturing in Boskovice (mostly weaving)
1799 - Tax census conducted. A Yeshiva now
active.
1823 - Major fire resulting in almost two-thirds of the town being destroyed.
1848 - Jews were released from the ghetto, a new community in
the Jewish Quarter was founded.
1849 - Boskovice was for 111 years the local administrative centre. Jewish population comprised one-third of all Boskovice inhabitants.
1851
- Boskovice Rabbi Placek was appointed Chief Rabbi of Moravia until 1884.
1856 - Boskovice was inherited by the Mensdorff-Pouilly family.
1857
- Restrictive laws on Jews repealed. There were 1,810 Jewish people in
Boskovice at the time.
1919 - The Jewish Quarter was unified with Boskovice.
1942 - The forced transportation of Jews from Boskovice, and the beginning
of the ghetto´s decline.
Post-1948 - Industry was nationalised; the
expropriation of all Mensdorff-Pouilly family property.
Post 1990 - The reconstruction of the ghetto and other historical
sights; restitution of Mensdorff-Pouilly family property.
Further information on Boskovice may be obtained from http://www.jewishgen.org/austriaczech/TOWNS/Boskovice.htm,
