<ins>Revelation of the Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust in Klatovy</ins>

Jewish victims from Klatovy have thus far been commemorated only by a monument located in the Jewish cemetery and a memorial plaque on the SPŠ building.
On December 3, 2012, at 3 PM, a dignified monument to the Klatovy victims of the Holocaust, crafted by sculptor Václav Fiala, will be ceremoniously unveiled at the intersection of Randova and Denisova streets in the city center.
The monument consists of a block of Vahlovice granite measuring 80 x 130 x 300 cm and weighing nine tons, which from the front view bears the structure of a broken stone with impressions of working tools. The lateral sides are smooth. The left side has been cut through the entire depth of the stone block, removing half of a seven-branched candlestick, which is absent here—hence the name of the monument, The Vanished Candlestick.
The right side is covered with the names of Holocaust victims in an uninterrupted sequence. The names are arranged alphabetically, without any punctuation marks or spaces between them, to suppress the impression of individuality and instead emphasize the tragedy brought upon the Jews by the calculated genocide. Above the names is a Hebrew inscription that is written on memorial sites commemorating Jewish martyrs: Remember, and beneath the list of victims, God will avenge their blood. The monument is positioned so that the side with the names faces the nearby synagogue. This relationship is enhanced by an access walkway made of large granite slabs, into which fragments of rails are embedded. The site for the monument was chosen near the synagogue, with Klatovy's Black Tower in the background.
The unveiling of the monument will be attended by representatives of the town, witnesses, and relatives of the victims, as well as distinguished guests. The monument will be unveiled by the provincial chief rabbi Efraim Karol Sidon.
The ceremonial unveiling will be preceded by a memorial program at 2 PM in the ceremonial hall of the Klatovy Town Hall, where a short historical excursion concerning the history of the Klatovy Jewish community will be presented.
After the unveiling of the monument, a retrospective exhibition of the prominent Czech sculptor Aleš Veselý will be opened at the nearby private Gallery 172 on Čs. legií Street, where he will present, in addition to his new works, his project titled Kadesh Barnea Monument for the Negev Desert in Israel.



Jews settled in Klatovy to a greater extent in the second half of the 19th century. During this period, they established a Jewish cemetery and also basic Jewish institutions: a synagogue and a school. Until World War II, they formed a natural part of Klatovy’s population. In Klatovy, they established and ran a number of leather and textile businesses; production continued here long after the war when only a handful of Jews remained from the once relatively numerous Klatovy community. Their businesses were nationalized and merged under new names (for example, KOZAK or Šumavan).
At the end of November 2012, we commemorate 70 years since the time when more than 250 citizens of Klatovy of Jewish origin were gathered in the building of the Vocational School (now SPŠ) and subsequently transported to Terezín and then to extermination camps.
The first transport marked Cd left Klatovy station on November 21, 1942, carrying six Klatovy Jewish citizens. The vast majority of the deported then left with transport Ce on November 30, 1942, and the last individuals from Klatovy departed on December 1, while those from Prague to Terezín left on December 3, 1942, with transport Ez-St.
However, there were other Holocaust victims who were transported to Terezín and extermination camps in different ways than the November transports. For instance, František Kraus and Pavel Wiener were arrested as hostages and taken into so-called protective custody at the very beginning of the war—on September 1, 1939. Their lives were extinguished in Buchenwald and Oranienburg. Several Jewish citizens were arrested while distributing anti-Nazi flyers, etc. Among the victims is also Selma Černá, who committed suicide to protect her non-Jewish husband. The total number of Klatovy Holocaust victims thus reached 266. However, it cannot be entirely ruled out that this number is not final and may increase following further research.