A publication on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Chewra Kadisha (Holy Society-which takes care of burials) in Znaim, a town in S. Moravia, Czech Republic. Although Jews are mentioned in a document dated 1052, the document itself is considered a 13th-century forgery. A Jewish tombstone in Znojmo, dated 1256, is the oldest to be found in Moravia; another tombstone there is inscribed 1306. A Jewish quarter was established when the town obtained independent status and is described in a document dated 1330. A synagogue is mentioned in 1341. The community were victims of the massacres following the Desecration of the Host libel of Pulkau and during the Black Death (1348). An assessment of an impost on Moravian communities in 1421 indicates that the Znojmo community was then the largest in Moravia. The Jews were expelled from Znojmo in 1454, and subsequently were permitted to enter the town only on payment of a body tax (Leibzoll); there was a special inn for visiting Jews.

The first Jews having permission to reside in Znojmo resettled there in 1851, and a congregation (Kultusverein) was subsequently founded. When a new cemetery was opened in 1868, bones collected from the medieval site were reinterred. The establishment of an organized community was confirmed in 1870 and its synagogue dedicated in 1880. The Jews pioneered the canning industry, and contributed to the town's economic development. The Jewish residents numbered 19 in 1848; 36 in 1857; 357 in 1869; 674 in 1890; 629 in 1900, and 675 in 1930 (2.6% of the total population). At the time of the Sudeten crisis (1938) most Jews left Znojmo; the few remaining were sent to concentration camps. The synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht. The congregation was not reestablished after World War II.