Třebíč Vital Records

This database contains 9,440 records of Jewish births, marriages, and deaths recorded in the city of Třebíč [Trebitsch], dating from 1784 to 1942.

The Jewish Community of Třebíč

Třebíč [German: Trebitsch] is located on the Jihlava river, 34 miles west of Brno (Brünn), in southwestern Moravia.  Its existence can be traced back to at least 1286.  Almost from the outset, the Jewish settlement, known as Zamosti, was separated from the Christian.  At its zenith in 1890, the Jewish population reached over 1,700 — nearly half of the total population of Třebíč.  These numbers began to decline in 1861, when Emancipation edicts allowed Jews to travel freely within the Empire, opening up Vienna and other larger towns to Jewish settlement.  Still, many Třebíč Jews fought and lost their lives in the Great War.  Their names are commemorated on the cenotaph in the Třebíč Jewish cemetery.

By the end of WWI, the Jewish population had declined to 344.  In 1942, the remaining inhabitants joined 1,370 other Jews from the surrounding areas of Moravia, who were deported to concentration camps; only a small number of women returned after World War II.

Under Communist rule, the old ghetto's buildings deteriorated rapidly.  Only a last minute reprieve allowed the planned razing of the community to be aborted, in no small part through the interest and support of UNESCO.

Today many of the buildings have been restored, and old landmarks such as the Neuschul, hospital, and mikvah have been opened.  The interest in the restored ghetto has made it a mecca not only for today's descendants of Třebíč Jews who increasingly are visiting and re-connecting with their heritage, but also as a historical stopping point of interest for many visitors of different faiths.  Although Jews no longer live in the old ghetto (the last Jew to live there died in 1996), it has once again become a center of Czech Jewish cultural expression and history.

The Vital Records of the Jews of Třebíč

The history of the Jewish community of Třebíč is written in part in the records of its residents’ births, marriages and deaths.  The registration of vital events began in 1784 and continued for more than 150 years thereafter.  Until the turn of the 18th century, many names were recorded in the Hebraic style according to traditional patronymics; others, according to the State's requirements, with surnames (historical or newly acquired) and forenames in the Germanic style.  After 1800, only surnames and given names were used.  The reporting of events were witnessed by elder members of the community and verified by the ghetto's rabbi.  Most of these records were passed on to local priests, who often duplicated the registers.  The Nazis destroyed many of the original registers, but their contents were salvaged for many towns by preservation of the duplicate regional registers.  These ultimately were transferred to the Czech Archives in Prague, where for several decades researchers could examine and photograph them.

In 2012-2014, the monumental task of digitizing all of the Jewish records of the Czech Republic was completed by staff of the Czech Archives, under the direction of Dr. Lenka Matušíková.  These were placed online, on the Czech Archives' "Badatelna" website, where they can now be freely viewed from one’s own computer.  Digitized records are found in two fonds (collections), each with its own URL designation:

• http://badatelna.eu/fond/1073 (inv. Folio #s 2164-2175)
• http://badatelna.eu/fond/241 (inv. Folio #s 995-999)

Use of the database

Records within each fond are placed in several folios (volumes).

The Třebíč records in this JewishGen database have been compiled from indices appearing in some of the folios.  There are nearly 5,300 recorded births, more than 1,200 marriages, and nearly 3,000 death records.  A few records appear in two different folios.  Similar to other searchable databases on JewishGen, searches are initiated by entering a desired surname into the JewishGen Austria-Czech Database.  Including the given name narrows the search, but is not required for generating results.  Researchers are encouraged to select the option “sounds like”, since surnames in Třebíč were often recorded using different spellings (e.g.: "Fuchs" and "Fux").  When the ensuing results appear, select the kind of database you wish to search (Třebíč Births, Marriage or Deaths), and when the list of names appears, click the desired name.  This leads the researcher directly to the relevant record on the Badatelna website.

Search results include not only names but other information, as explained below.

BIRTHS

• Name:
  Surnames are listed in alphabetical order or as variant spellings of other similar surnames.
  Duplicate names within a folio can be differentiated by the event dates.
  Illegible parts of records are indicated with “?” or “__”.
• Date of birth:
  Indicated as YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY.
• Father / Mother:
  The first name of either or both parents are given for some, but not all, birth records.
  Some records appear in more than one folio.
• Fond / File #:
  The archival collection where this record was found.
• Data image page # / Folio page #:
  Each record retrieved in a search has assigned both a “record image page number” and a “folio page number”.  The record image page number is the actual page on which the record images can be found in the online (Badatelna) version of the database.  The folio page number is the number assigned to the specific page in the original record.  These numbers appear in either the upper right or upper left hand corners of the record pages.  (Some pages have more than one number, just to confuse things a bit.)  Together with the fond and folio number, folio page numbers should form part of the source citation for particular records.  When a record exists in an index but the data record cannot be found, the full record will be designated as “not available”.
• Index image page # / Folio page #:
  Most, but not all records in a folio have been indexed.  The index image page number is the page in the online Badtaelna file where the indexed record is found.  The index folio page is the page number in the original register assigned to the indexed page.  If the full data record for a particular searched name does not exist, a limited amount of the vital data may still be found in the folio’s index.  A few folios are not indexed at all, while others may be indexed but lack the detailed records.  When a record has not been indexed, the missing index page is designated as “not available”.

MARRIAGES

• Groom / Bride:
  Surnames are listed in alphabetical order and as variant spellings of these surnames.
  Only the first name of brides were recorded in most records of the late 18th century.
  Some identical records appear in more than one file.
  Illegible parts of records are indicated with “?” or “__”
• Date of marriage:
  Indicated as YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY.
• Fond / File #:
  As per birth records.
• Data image page # / Folio page #:
  As per birth records.
• Index image page # / Folio page #:
  As per birth records.

DEATHS

• Name:
  Surnames are listed in alphabetical order or as variant spellings of other surnames.
  Some records appear in more than one file.
  Stillbirths are not included.
• Date of death:
  Indicated as YYYY or DD-MM-YYYY.
• Fond / File #:
  As per birth records.
• Data image page # / Folio page #:
  As per birth records.
• Index image page # / Folio page #:
  As per birth records.

Acknowledgements

Dr. Arthur W. Spira, from British Columbia, Canada was the compiler of this database.  Arthur is a retired professor of Anatomy, whose family stems from Třebíč and Vienna.  His interest in genealogy and in Trebic goes back 30 years.  Please address queries regarding search difficulties to him, using this form.  Appreciation is extended to Dr. Lenka Matušíková, Director of the Czech Archives.

Searching the Database

This database can be searched via the JewishGen Austria-Czech Database.