WRITTEN WORKS

Author: Petr Veselý, Gymnázium Kadaň, June 2000

Maštov is a small town which lies on the borders of three districts - the districts of Chomutov, Louny and Karlovy Vary. Although I live in Radonice, I went to elementary school in Maštov. Now, I study at the high school in Kadao. In all of these three locations, I found traces of the holocaust which I would like to tell about.
In school in Maštov, we paid visits to the castle park, to the old castle walls, to the Chapel of Mladots of Solopysky and other interesting sites. Sometimes we went to the old Jewish cemetery. It lies outside of the town on an oblong hillside on the other side of the stream. It is surrounded by a stone wall. Until last year it was covered by a dense tangle of bushes, wild roses and undergrowth. The bushes were so dense, with large and sharp thorns, that it was impossible to enter.
Last year, town mayor Slunéeko arranged the cemetery to be cleared. The old bushes were cut and burned, branches and garbage picked up. This revealed the tombstones. Some of them must be very old. Their surface is harsh and weathered, the inscriptions are often illegible.
When I was told about the project Holocaust and Disappeared Neighbours, I decided to find out more reminders of past Jewish population in Maštov and its neighborhood. And, that I could make a record of the fate which met the people who lived here and had to undergo the terrors of war, racial hatred, murdering and Holocaust. I named the individual stories "Testimonies".

The First Testimony: The Old Jewish Cemetery

Before our visit to the old Jewish cemetery in the spring of this year, with my grandfather, I checked out the book "Jewish sights in Bohemia and Moravia", by Jioí Fiedler, in order to find out more about its history, when it was founded and who was buried there.
Here is a passage from the book: "Maštov (Maschau) 8km SWW, the last synagogue built in 1830, taken down in 1960, the remainders of two Jewish streets, the remainders of a cemetery which is said to come from the 15th century, demolished by the Nazis, approximately 50 stones moved to Teplice museum in 1982."
Still, there once existed many more synagogues and cemeteries in our county. Last year I visited the synagogue in Žatec with my grandfather and cousin Lukáš. It was on memorial day, the synagogue is usually closed for the rest of the year.
I knew about the ghetto in Široké Toebeice which we have often passed. J. Fiedler also writes about other important sites in Podbooany, Kryry, Podbooanský Rohozec. Mr. Ondrejka from Radonice told me about the Jewish cemetery in Nová Ves, that it is nicely preserved and has interesting tombstones. Some cemeteries have disappeared entirely. In Podbooany, only a wall of red sandstone is left. Some settlements in the Doupov mountains which had Jewish quarters don't exist anymore. They were leveled when the military training area was being enlarged. This is the fate of Saar (Žiár) a town in the vicinity of my own, which had a Jewish quarter and a praying room from the 18th century.
Every day, on my way to high school in Kadao, I walk past a site where a synagogue stood from 1890 to 1938. It was hidden by an old wall near to St. Ann's Church, across the street from the high school. All that is left today is a small rise in the turf. Even earlier in history, a praying room existed in one of the former bastions in the wall. Later it was used by some residents and now it is a small shop.
Our cemetery in Maštov was closed down and demolished, as well as any other Jewish object in the area, upon the arrival of the Nazis in 1938 to the borderland or "Sudetenland" as it was called. I was told that many tombstones were overturned, the most precious taken away and all the Jews were persecuted by Nazi laws.
The archive of the town contains a note that lawyers Wilhelm Kreisin and Karl Strunz made a report to the Podbooany Landrat on 15. 7. 1940, that a Jewish community was in existence in Maštov prior to the war. The office in Podbooany sent a letter dated 21. 8. 1942, which ordered the cemetery to be leveled with the ground and the tombstones moved to a destined location.
No one looked after the cemetery after the end of the war. It slowly disappeared under dense undergrowth. At one time it was used to gather cattle for the night. Some was obscured by grass, rest destroyed by vandalism of some people.
Around the year 1984, a Czech-American movie with the US actress Barbra Streisand in lead role was filmed on a site near Maštov. It was a story of a Jewish girl from Halie who took on the appearance of a boy in order to be able to go to school. The filmmakers chose a village named Roztyly at the Nechranice dam for the background. It is entirely hidden in a gorge, so even the chimneys of the Tušimice power plant are disguised. It was transformed to look like a village in Halie. Some scenes were filmed in Žatec at the old synagogue and in the streets of the old town. The scene at the cemetery was made with the help of a few tombstones from Maštov. They promised to return all as soon as the production is over. However, the old tombstones never returned to Maštov. Mr. Fiedler writes in his book, that they are now kept in the Teplice museum. Nevertheless, as we found out, it isn't so. The stones are stacked by the wall of the Teplice cemetery and the lower half of the Maštov cemetery is still empty. People in Maštov think, that everything should be returned to its right place. I do too.
What does the cemetery look like? I measured it to be approximately 100m by 50m. It has a prolonged shape and its uppermost end points to the North. The gate is located in the South-East corner. Next to it, there is a sort of hollow space in the wall. We wondered what its use could have been. Maybe there was a wash basin where on could wash his hands when leaving the cemetery. This, I was told, was the "kijor".
The wall is built with basalt stones. The Doupov mountains are of volcanic origin and the surrounding fields provide a bounty of this material. Many years ago, the masons most likely dug several quarries here - to the right of the cemetery, there are gorges where stone was cut. One similar gorge is also in the upper end of the cemetery in the shape of a small pond. Reputedly, there was water at one time. When I came here in the spring, however, there was no water and the gorge was filled with periwinkle.
In the book, I read about the shapes and symbolism used on the Jewish tombstones, called steles. I examined al the tombstones closely and took photographs of the most interesting ones. I made a few drawings. Several had the hands motive, which are the blessing hands of the Cohens. As long as they lived, they were not allowed to enter the cemetery through the main gate and had to use separate smaller gate. It is possible, because the upper end of the wall has several small openings in it. There are also the ruins of the mortuary walls.
The engravings in the upper section of the cemetery are Hebrew, in the middle section they are bilingual (Hebrew and German) and at the lower end, they are only German. We measured and recorded everything with my grandfather in a map which is attached.
But I must not forget, in the very beginning, when we came to the cemetery, I placed a small stone on one of the tombstones. It is an old Jewish tradition to bring stones to the graves instead of flowers.

The Second Testimony: The History of the Old Synagogue

The stream in our town is named Dubá. On the left side, there once stood three buildings - the Jewish school, praying room (synagogue) and one family house. They are depicted on the map of Maštov from 1901 (Judische Schule, Judische Tempel, Goldhahn).
Following the occupation of the frontiers by the Nazi Germany in the fall of 1938, the first to be attacked were the Jews. During the night of 9th and 10th November 1938, which was later called "Crystal Night", Nazis set fire to synagogues in every town, broke windows of Jewish apartments and destroyed shops. The night is remembered under this name, because it is said that broken glass was heard clattering.
The synagogue in Maštov wasn't burned. Perhaps because it was very close to houses on the town square and the fire would have been likely to spread. The local Nazis were satisfied when they destroyed and threw out the furnishings and closed the building. They banned Jews to enter, later they banned all free movement and finally sent them to concentration camps. The Maštov synagogue was given to the local woodworker Mr. Burger to serve as a workshop. It wasn't reopened after the war, but continued to serve as a workshop and warehouse and sometimes around 1960 it was taken down as "useless". Today there is not a single trace of the former Jewish school and the synagogue, where they once stood.

Third Testimony: Richard, The Only One of His Family Who Has Returned

Most likely, no one will ever be able to put together a complete list of all Jewish inhabitants of Maštov before the war. Some information was given to me by Mr. Kytl who got them by post from Mrs. Edith Enzianová. She was born in Maštov, but now lives in Germany. Her husband was Czech and her sister married a Maštov Jew Stefan Kohler. Some more was told by Mr. Erhard Weiss, who often visits Maštov, but lives in Germany. And Mrs. Anna Fantlová told me a lot. She lives in Maštov right next to the school, and I had a chance to talk with her in the spring when we visited her with my grandfather. Further on I will describe the story of her husband. Now I will try to write about the people who lived in our town and what was their fate in the war.
Everyone recalls that Mr. Neumann lived in Maštov before the war. They cannot come to an agreement whether his name was Franz of Josef. They say that he made his way to Palestine shortly before the war and he hopefully survived.
In house number 94 lived Mr. Otto Fischer and most likely planned to marry Wilma just before the war began. They were both sent to the concentration camp. Mr. Otto didn't survive. Mrs. Wilma survived the concentration camp and married Leo Holzar after the war. It is said that they met in Terezín.
Nor did Mrs. Heller survive the war and genocide of Jews. Some recall, that when Jews in Maštov were grouped at the fountain in the town square, one of the Germans thrust the pole of the Czechoslovak flag in her buttocks.
Another family who lived here was Bruno Löbl and his sister Ella who was nicknamed Mitzi. They managed to flee to England shortly before the war and so to avoid persecution and certain death. The Löbls still often travel to Maštov today, to visit Mrs. Fantlová and the Cemetery, where their ancestors are buried.
The fates of two girls - or women - who once lived in Maštov are still covered by a veil of mystery. They literally disappeared. As I was told, Esel Hirsch was very poor. She lived in solitude and no one knew how or when she came to Maštov. It is said, that while the Germans began grouping Jews in the square, she left her house and walked off across the fields, to where - no one knows. No one has ever seen her or heard of her again.
The story of Jella Iserová is similar. We only know that a family of that name lived in the "K Námistí" street (before the war it was called Barborastrasse, because it led to the lower church of St. Barbora) house number 54 and was one of Maštov's oldest families. She disappeared in the torments of war.
There are still many names that no one can remember after all those years. Yet there were many more Jewish families that have disappeared or are still being searched for. The lost neighbors.
The house which belonged to the Fantl family stood near the synagogue, below the castle. The parents - Heinrich and Julie Fantl had 5 children: Richard, Ernst, Josef, Helena and Frieda. All of the family members were met by the fate of all Jews. First they were expelled from Maštov. They came to Merklín near Plzeo and were assigned for labor in the Chlumeany kaolin factory.
On the photograph from 1940, you can see Mr. Fantl at the age of 19 or 20 years with a few of his friends. His brother Joseph, when he was a little older than 20 years, was killed by SS-men in Carlsbad. Then the family went to Terezin and then the Mathausen and Auschwitz camps. Both parents perished in its gas chambers. The fate of the girls isn't known. The only one who returned to Maštov was Richard. As he remembered later, he survived because he led a pony in the concentration camps, with whom he shared the oats. In the summer of 1945 he returned to Maštov with undermined health. He was 26 years old. The six years of concentration camp, cold and hunger had left him with an advanced stage of tuberculosis.
He got back to work right away. In the appendix, I included a note which bears the signature of Richard Fantl as the chairman of the local farming committee in Maštov. It was lent to me by Mr. Kytl and comes from August 5th 1946. It is a list of applicants for the restitution of confiscated farming properties and buildings. It contains the names of people who lived in Maštov as Czech citizens before the war and had to leave in 1938 (for example Mr. Šíma), the names of original residents (Mr. Fantl) and names of newer immigrants, mainly soldiers, who have returned with the army of General Svoboda and who fought the Nazis in the west (Mr. Davidovie, Kytl brothers, Mezenský, Behno, Houžvic, Mach, and others).
One afternoon we sat, me and my grandfather, with Mrs. Fantlová at her house for a rather long time. She was expecting our visit and had a few photographs of her husband on the table. She recollected her memories and we asked. She recalled how they saw each other again in the summer of 1945. She was from a mixed family, her father was Czech and her mother German.
She knew Richard already in her school days, when he used to joke about marrying her sometimes. He was a handsome man, she said, and he kept his word. She and the rest of her family had their luggage packed for the deportation. She spent six weeks in Podbooany, where all the Germans were kept together before the deportation. Richard came for her and later married her.
She recalls, that they had no possessions. He learned the skills of a butcher before the war, but he worked in agriculture for many years. He fought various diseases for the rest of his life, tried to cure himself in spas several times, but never was healthy again.
Of the photographs which Mrs. Fantlová has shown us, the one which I thought was the most interesting, was a photo from her weeddding. Next to Mr. Fantl, a Jew who underwent the concentration camp for his origin and religion, sits Anna Fantlová, German from a Czech-German family. The two wittnesses: Mr. Václav Šíma, a Czech who fled from Maštov after München in 1938 and came back later. Next to him stands Mr. Houžvic, a Volyni - Czech, who fought the Nazis in the Polish Krajowa Armada and then returned to Czechoslovakia, long after he had left it. An international group of people, who trusted each other, on one photo.
The old Fantls' house bellow the castle didn't survive the ages. During the war it was used by some German family from the east and on some unfortunate occasion, their small child, a girl, fell from a window and killed herself. The house was said to be under some strange spell. Then the family left the house, which was gradually taken apart by local people until it disappeared completely.

Fourth Testimony: Photographs From 1946

On July 6th 1946, a festival in remembrance of the burning of Mr. Jan Hus took place in the Maštov square. This was the setting for the photograph of marching Czechoslovakian soldiers who served at the Maštov castle. The marching unit was led by Bene Davidovie, a Jew from Subcarpathian Ruthenia. He was about the same age as Mr. Fantl whom I have mentioned earlier. He was born around 1919 in the village named Kalinka. His family being poor, he worked as a driver for the family of his future wife. In 1938, Subcarpathian Ruthenia, which was a part of Czechoslovakia became occupied by Hungary. Bene had to enter the Hungarian army. The Jews, considered unreliable, were placed in labor units and fought on the side of Hitler. He often used to recall how many insults and degradation he had to face, how poor the food and clothing was. While the Hungarian officers had fur coats, they had to wear old and bad uniforms, often soaked to the skin and cold. He always planned to desert to the Soviet side, which he succeeded to. But he was disappointed. More terrible conditions and hunger. The head of a salted herring was a treat then. He ended up at a hospital where he was helped by a doctor - Jewish, and his health improved.
Around this time, he got a word that a Czechoslovak division is being formed in the USSR. He enrolled himself, he received a uniform, but there were no shoes left for him. His feet were too large. So he had to hold on to his old and torn ones. Following one attack, he found a dead Hungarian officer with the same size of feet as his own. He pulled of his boots and later walked in them all the way to Maštov.
His friends in his unit used to tell, that Bene was a good and brave soldier. during one attack, the Germans came pouring in and panic was about to take over. But Bene took charge and they set the cannons and held off the attack. He was awarded the Army Cross 1939-45 and promoted to squad leader.
As it is told, Bene and his brother remained alone, the rest of their family perished in the holocaust. At the end of the war they wound up in an unknown town in Northwestern Bohemia, named Maštov. They settled here in house number 123 (next to our school) with their cousin Cvi. Later they were joined by Ester, her brother Erdan Srul and her sisters Fany and Lilli. When the marriage of Bene and Ester took place in Maštov, Richard Fantl was their witness.
They survived the war, concentration camps and holocaust. But their fates even after the war, were complicated and many have disappeared. In 1946 Bene Davidovie and his wife moved to Kadao, where he established his transportation firm. They had a daughter named Hana, however, she died very soon and is buried in the Most-Souš Jewish cemetery.
Then came the year 1948 with all the changes. The state of Israel was being founded and the Davidovie family decided to move there, taking a small motor truck for the start. For the following 40 years, people in Maštov and those in Israel never heard much about each other.
The first visit came already in 1989. The first to come was brother Bernard Davidovie. He was recovering in Carlsbad, where he hired a taxi to make the trip to Maštov. He paid a visit to the Kytls and they talked about the things which happened to people they knew. Later, also Bene and Ester came to visit. They saw the grave of their daughter in Most, spent three days in Maštov with the Kytl family and when they heard the Jáchymov band play the Sokol hymn "Lets Carry On", it made them cry. Since then, also their Daughter Sarah has come here together with her husband and the families of their friends.
The photograph of the Ceremony of Mr. Jan Hus from 1946 shows 16 soldiers. In 1989, 8 of them were no longer alive. Three emigrated following 1948. One to Canada one to the USA and one - Bene Davidovie - to Israel.

Fifth Testimony: Elisabeth - Where Did She Come From And Where Did She Go?

The old files of the Radonice school contain this entry from the school year 1945/46: On the day of February 1st, Alžbita Feldman (Elisabeth Feldman), born July 6th 1932 in Barkosovo, Mukachevo district, Czech nationality, Czechoslovak citizen, Jewish faith, entered the 3rd grade of the general school in Radonice. She entered first class on September 1st 1938 in Barkosovo in Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Next there is a note: Both parents died in Auschwitz concentration camp. She is an orphan. A second note says: On May 14th 1946 left to USA. Who was the girl who spent 3 and a half months of her life in school in Radonice? Who gave her protection? With whom did she move to USA? What happened to her since?
We were looking for even the slightest traces of her, because Jews were never settled in Radonice. Maybe we have found a clue. A group of Jewish immigrants from Subcarpathian Ukraine supposedly had among them a couple Alex and Eliška Feldman. They settled in house number 117 and 118 on the right side of the street leading from the town square to the upper church.
Some recalled that they had a small girl and that they emigrated very soon. Some say to USA, some say to Israel. Maybe they adopted the little Elisabeth, a war orphan, and it is possible she is still alive somewhere today. She would be 68 years old.
Mr. Kytl has promised to ask Erdan Srul from Canada, if he could look for her and also to write to Bene Davidovie to Israel. Mr. Narwa from Chomutov advises to write her name on the internet, someone will surely answer. He says that he is searching for his own family this way. I would like to try it, but someone must help me. It would be interesting and exciting to discover the path to someone who went to the school in my home town for a few months 54 years ago.

Sixth Testimony: Letters from Tel Aviv

It would really be nice if she was found. Perhaps she will make herself be heard as did Mr. Ariel Avriel from Tel Aviv. The people at the town hall in Maštov were so kind and provided me with a copy of his letter from November 7th 1999. It is in Yiddish, fortunately it came together with a German translation. They helped me to understand it.
Mr. Avriel is looking for his family which lived in Maštov before the war. He writes that his grandfather was born in Maštov and his father is buried in Maštov. He would like some information about the Hirsch family. He names Aloisia, Berta, Anna, Fani, Margaret and Kernst. He writes that a part of his family moved to Vienna already at the beginning of the century, and that is where his grandmother is buried. All other members of his family died in the holocaust.
Mrs. Klímová (registrar of births) has found out in the old files from 1890, that there were four families with the name Hirsch: in number 88 Aloisia Hirsch in number 119 Ludevít Hirsch, in number 146 Josef Hirsch, in number 175 Matys Hirsch. Several identical names can also be found in the old Jewish cemetery.
Already on January 18th 2000, Mr. Ariel Avriel writes back. this time the letter is written in Czech. He added the punctuation marks by hand. He writes that Aloisia Hirsch in number 88 is his great grandmother, mother of his grandfather, who was born in 1890 in Maštov. He asks for more information about the inhabitants of the house number 88. One more family to be searched for, and what happened to its members in the holocaust and where are those who survived.
In this paper, I wrote about all the things which I heard from my grandfather who is presently writing a history of our county and has a plentiful archive of documents and notes. A lot of the information was given to us by Mr. Kytl, who moved to Maštov from Volyni in 1945. His brother, a WWII soldier, lives in Canada and is in contact with many people.
I listened to a story told by Mrs. Fantlová, and I borrowed some old photographs from her. The school has provided us with maps and the town hall with the letters. I found a lot in the magazine published by the Jewish Museum in Prague. I borrowed it from Mr. Narwa, a member of the Union of Fighters for Freedom in Chomutov. I made copies of the articles "Pogrom Named Crystal Night" and " To Pay For a Jew". I opened the internet to see the list of people who perished in the holocaust. There too I found names identical to those in Maštov, but the list does not include the places of residence.
And mainly, I made a thorough examination of everything in the old Jewish cemetery. And also, I saw an interesting film about Jewish cemeteries on the Czech TV not so long ago, the title of which I have forgotten.
The latest expansion of my archive is the guide SHALOM brought to me by my grandfather from the Chomutov Museum. It comprises of chapters from the history of Jews in Northwestern Bohemia, published by the Chomutov Museum. Its facility in the former Jesuit school houses an exposition titled Shalom and there, in one of the displays, is a painting of the old Jewish cemetery in Maštov.
The word Shalom stands for peace, health, harmony and proper life of a human being.