Měcholupy is a market town in the Louny District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of Bohemia within the Czech Republic It has about 1,000 inhabitants. Zelec is a very small village about five kilometres from Měcholupy. It is made up of an estate with a large Manor House and a few cottages surrounding a village pond.
The manor house was built in the second half of the sixteenth century. From 1747-1810 the Zelec estate belonged to the Zessner of Spitzenberg and consisted of a stone building constructed with beautiful spacious rooms on the ground and first floors and with a free-standing mill in a near-by building.
The area is well known for its hops and beer making. Eventually some of the local hops were taken to the USA and the beer Michelob was developed from them.
The Hapsburg censuses in the 18thC record just a handful of Jewish families living in Mecholupy and only one or two in Zelec.
There was a small synagogue in Měcholupy dated from 1857, which was later converted into a home. The remains of a cemetery also dated from 1857 can be seen, but most of it was destroyed by the Nazis.
In Zelec A prayer room was recorded in the 19thC, along with the remains of a small Jewish quarter.
Rachel Frankl
The matriarch of the whole family
