The Old Prague Jewish Cemetery and the Lost Kafka’s Grave

“Why all cemeteries are so frightening at nights?” I asked my spouse as I explored the dense Old Prague Jewish Cemetery, full of mossy, cracked tombstones, placed with no visible order between the yellowing trees. He thought and then said, that we all are victims of horror movies filmed in cemeteries. I argued, that during my childhood I wasn’t allowed to see the horror movies, and still was spooked to my bones when passing through random graves. Not far from my home was an abandoned Catholic cemetery, which turned into a park full of beautiful ancient trees, but none of my friends agreed to go there as evening came. Some of us even believed, that a demon named “the black hand” lives there and is walking around the cemetery after the sunset. My mate said, “This fear is probably a consequence of a collective memory”.
I tend to agree, that cemeteries – especially the old ones – are marinating a lot or memory, and probably creating the new –the collective ones. The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, founded in 1478, is Europe’s oldest surviving Jewish cemetery. Its density is explained by the fact that people were buried on top of each other because of lack of space. There are about 12 layers and over 12,000 gravestones. It is estimated that about 100,000 people have been buried here.

We surrounded the cemetery many a times, trying to find Kafka’s grave. Finally, the Jewish Museum’s employees explained to us that the last one who has been buried here was Moses Beck in 1787. As for Kafka, he has been buried in the new Jewish cemetery.
The next day we found out, that in order to visit Kafka’s grave we had to take the A (green) Metro line to Želivského station. My advice is to avoid asking others for help in locating this grave. Believe me we tried– but nobody could help us. Finally, we entered a tiny café, and the old friendly waitress told us, “Of course I can help you with finding Kafka. Here you are” – and suggested a small cup of coffee.
So, the best way to get there is this: after exiting the Želivského station you should turn north on Jana Želivského to the entrance of the New Jewish Cemetery. About 300 meters ahead, on the right side of the cemetery (follow the signs), is the two-meter obelisk marking the graves of Franz Kafka and his parents.