Handschuhsheim cemetery
The Handschuhsheim cemetery , with 6.5 hectares, is the second largest of the 17 cemeteries in Heidelberg . It was inaugurated on March 26, 1843 as the first communal cemetery of the Handschuhsheim community, which was independent until 1903 .
history
The original burial of the Handschuhsheimer was in the churchyard around the Vituskirche , which was divided between Reformed and Catholics. When the population of what is now Heidelberg's largest district rose rapidly in the 19th century, the old churchyard was no longer sufficient. As early as 1812 there were complaints that the grave sites were being occupied again too quickly. For a long time it was not possible to agree on a place for a new burial site, so that the old cemetery remained for decades. The Mannheim Countess Spencer acquired the right to burial in the old cemetery from the Catholic community, even if it would no longer be used when she died. However, when she died in 1840, the old cemetery was still in use.
Finally, in 1842, a new cemetery was laid out on Neugasse. The planned inauguration on March 19, 1843 was delayed by a week because strangers had destroyed a stone cross erected by the Catholic community. Because of the stone cross there was still a dispute in the period that followed, as the majority of the Calvinist population had spoken out against it. In 1851 Pastor Mühling (1795–1859) let his mother Agathe Mühling, nee. Bury Hauck in the place of the first stone cross and donated a new cross.
When planning the first expansion in 1869, there was a conflict between Pastor August Eberlin, who favored an expansion to the north into the flat Dallgarten, and the local council, who prevailed with his wish for an expansion to the rising terrain to the east. Pastor Eberlin never entered the upper cemetery, which was completed in 1872, but completed the funeral rituals at the stone cross and then had the coffins carried to the grave without him.
After the First World War, there were plans to stop using the cemetery, as a central cemetery for Handschuhsheim and Neuenheim was to be created in Neuenheim in addition to an existing military cemetery. The plans were not carried out, so the cemetery continued to be used and expanded. In 1931 a makeshift small expansion of the cemetery took place, as there was still disagreement about a larger expansion.
In 1932 the first morgue was built, which in 1934 received an outdoor organ from the Eberhard Friedrich Walcker company (Opus 2460). The organ pipes were placed outside, the console was inside in the sacristy. In 1949 the morgue received a bell tower in which a bell from 1784 from the former Lutheran church (Obere Kirchgasse 20) was hung.
From 1948 to 1962 the cemetery was expanded a total of four times in order to take into account the rapid population growth. In addition, the old cemetery in Neuenheim was closed and the residents of this adjoining Heidelberg district received their burial in Handschuhsheim.
In December 1965 a new cemetery chapel with a mourning hall was put into operation without a special consecration ceremony. The chapel replaced the old morgue. The outdoor organ and the old bell were no longer attached. Instead, the new chapel received an electronic organ in 1978.
In 1980 the cemetery was expanded for the last time, to the north as far as Steinbergweg. With the population growth soon stagnating and the trend towards urn burials, the cemetery area, which is still sufficient today, was achieved.
As space in the Jewish part of the Bergfriedhof became scarce, a 4,000 square meter area at the Handschuhsheimer Friedhof was created as a new Jewish cemetery and consecrated in September 2016.
Famous people are buried in the Handschuhsheim cemetery
Only a few historical tombs from the 19th century have been preserved in the cemetery. Mention should be made of the tombs of Carl Uhde (1792–1856) and John Benjamin Graham (1813–1876), as well as the tomb of Wilhelmine von Krusenstern († 1851), a sister of the poet August von Kotzebue .
Well-known people buried in Handschuhsheim in the second half of the 20th and 21st centuries include:
- Walther Bothe (1891–1957), physicist, Nobel Prize winner (physics) (Dept. E, grave 451-452)
- Karin Bruns (1918–1997), graphic artist, draftsman and stage designer (Section B, grave 132)
- Hans von Eckardt (1890–1957), political scientist
- Walther Eisinger (1928–2014), theologian, university preacher (Dept. H, grave 487-488)
- Eugen Fehrle (1880–1957), German folklorist and university professor
- Lili Fehrle-Burger (1907–1991), art historian (Dept. E, grave 388-389)
- Fritz Frey (1881–1962), teacher and local historian
- Herbert Haag (1908–1977), regional church music director
- Gert Haller (1944–2010), economist, manager, State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery
- Erich Hübner (1917–1985), church musician
- Else Jaffé (1874–1973), social scientist (grave A152)
- Walter Jellinek (1885–1955), legal scholar (Dept. C, grave 236-237)
- Hermann Maas (1877–1970), theologian, honorary citizen of Heidelberg
- Annemarie Jeanette Neubecker (1908–2001), Classical Philologist (Dept. K, Grave 302)
- Werner Rauh (1913–2000), botanist, professor at Heidelberg University (Dept. K, grave 593)
- Christiane Schmidtmer (1939–2003), Hollywood actress and model
- Walther Sommerlath (1901–1990) and Alice de Toledo Sommerlath (1906–1997), parents of Silvia von Sweden
- Rolf Wagenführ (1905–1975), statistician, 1st General Secretary of the EC Statistical Office
- Viktor von Weizsäcker (1886–1957), physician and researcher in psychosomatics (Dept. E, grave 449-450)
- Georg Wittig (1897–1987), chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (chemistry) (Dept. B, grave 158)
literature
- Hans Heiberger: Handschuhsheim. Chronicle of a Heidelberg District , Heidelberg 1985, pp. 139–141.
- Karl Kollnig, Inge Frese: The Handschuhsheimer Friedhof . 3 volumes, Heidelberg / Ubstadt-Weiher 1999–2002. ISBN 3-924973-83-0
- Alfred Bechtel: The cemetery in Handschuhsheim , in: District Association Handschuhsheim Yearbook 2008 , pp. 77–89.
Web links
- Handschuhsheim cemetery at heidelberg.de
- Via Momentum , Monument Preservation Heidelberger Friedhöfe eV
Individual evidence
- ↑ Micha Hörnle: Heidelberg has a new Jewish cemetery in Handschuhsheim. , Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung of September 23, 2016
Coordinates: 49 ° 25 ′ 58 ″ N , 8 ° 41 ′ 13 ″ E