Old tombstones in Czech town return to Jewish cemetery

Seven tombstones have been returned to a Jewish graveyard in the eastern Czech town Lipnik nad Becvou after a family found them in the yard of their grandparents' house, an official said yesterday. A spokeswoman for the town told the Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz" that the tombstones, which date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, had been found earlier this year. They had now been returned to the town's old Jewish cemetery where they belonged, she said. The old cemetery was founded in 1567 and was used for burial until 1883, when a new Jewish cemetery was built in the town. The old cemetery and its 1,800 tombstones were destroyed in 1942 by Nazi soldiers, and many of the tombstones served as construction material in the town. It was renewed in the early 1990s, but only about 150 tombstones were recovered.