Old Jewish Cemetery (Friedrichstadt)

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Old Jewish cemetery in Friedrichstadt
Memorial stone on the old Jewish cemetery in Friedrichstadt

The Old Jewish Cemetery Friedrichstadt is a Jewish cemetery in Friedrichstadt in the district of North Friesland in Schleswig-Holstein .

history

The cemetery was first mentioned in 1677. However, the actual purchase of the property must have taken place in 1713. Since this burial place was the only one for the Jews in northern Schleswig-Holstein, it soon turned out to be too small despite being expanded several times. Around 1887 it must have been fully occupied, so that the Friedrichstadt Jewish community had to try to find a new cemetery area. A piece of land was found that belonged to the Lutheran parish of Friedrichstadt and was next to their cemetery on Schleswiger Strasse. The old cemetery was in use at least until 1912. On a photograph from 1926, around 55 gravestones can still be seen on the cemetery grounds.

In 1939 the Jewish community had to agree to the “request” of the city administration to move the existing tombstones and cover them with a layer of earth. The Jewish cemetery was "no longer allowed to appear" as such. At the expense of the city, the tombstones were placed on the associated graves and covered with earth. It was later agreed that the tombstones should be buried "a groundbreaking deep". In this contract, the city administration undertook to "respect the dignity of the square". However, the city administration did not adhere to this contract. She tolerated tombstones being dug up and removed by the later users.

After 1939 the cemetery area was first used as an allotment garden and later as a storage area for building materials. Presumably the allotment gardeners came across the gravestones resting in the ground while digging. You will have hacked these up and removed them. Several tombstones were probably also used in the surrounding houses and courtyards as building material and paving slabs. In 1948 children playing found a fragment of a tombstone on the banks of the Treene ("An der Klint"). They handed it over to Hermann Hansen, a local researcher from Friedrichstadt, who, according to his own statements, is said to have had it in his care until 1988. In 1996, however, this tombstone fragment could no longer be found with him. In 1953 the cemetery was fenced in, the remaining tombstones were dug up and put back together with tombstones found elsewhere. In the middle of the cemetery area, the remaining tombstones and fragments were placed in a circle around a memorial stone. The tombstones were erected without a base or foundation, so that most of them have the lower lines of text in the ground.

In 1963, Hermann Hansen found the fragment of a tombstone that had been used as a keystone in the curb on Prinzessstraße. He picked up the fragment and took it home. This tombstone fragment could not be found with him in 1996 either. In 1964 (or 1961) municipal workers found a completely preserved tombstone 110 cm high outside the cemetery grounds at a depth of around 40 cm below the surface of the earth. In 1985 the city of Friedrichstadt erected a new memorial stone on the edge of the cemetery outside the fence. In 1992, on behalf of the Friedrichstadt City Council, the entire cemetery area was examined with the help of probes, and two completely preserved gravestones were found in the northeast corner of the cemetery area. These were uncovered and, after consultation with the Hamburg Jewish Community, set up again at their location. The tombstone of the Röschen Hirsch from 1842 was found completely undamaged. The inscription on the other tombstone - only in Hebrew script - is partially damaged. The damage apparently dates from 1939 to 1953, when the cemetery was used as garden land and the gravestones just below the surface were scratched while digging.

In 1996 the tall trees on the cemetery grounds were felled for safety reasons. The semicircular tombstones were rearranged. Several fragments lying behind other tombstones and a tombstone that was leaning against a bush have been re-erected.

description

The old cemetery is between the streets “Am Treenefeld” and “Flachsblumenstraße”. The cemetery grounds are freely accessible. 17 old tombstones can still be found there. 15 are grouped around a plaque , 2 stand apart in a corner. In memory of the Jews who used to live in Friedrichstadt, the city of Friedrichstadt placed a memorial stone on the western side of the cemetery.

See also

literature

  • Hermann Hansen: Our Friedrichstadt Jews. H. Hansen, Friedrichstadt 1976.
  • Hermann Hansen: My 2nd Friedrichstadt Jewish Book. H. Hansen, Friedrichstadt 1994.
  • Gunda Köster: Jews in Schleswig-Holstein. 1871-1905. Especially in Friedrichstadt. Kiel 1981, (Kiel, University, state examination thesis, 1981).
  • Dieter Peters : The old Jewish cemetery in Friedrichstadt an der Eider. Manuscript. Aachen 2016.

Web links

Commons : Alter Jüdischer Friedhof (Friedrichstadt)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 54 ° 22 ′ 44.5 "  N , 9 ° 5 ′ 12.7"  E