Jewish cemeteries in Kraichgau

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Physical map of the Kraichgau (outlined in brown)

In the Kraichgau , a natural area in northern Baden-Württemberg , the first Jewish cemeteries were built in the course of the 17th century . By the beginning of the 20th century, their number increased to 24.

Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Where the deceased Jews of the Kraichgau were buried in the course of the Middle Ages cannot be determined. Probably first in the Jewish cemetery in Speyer . After the Jews were expelled from Speyer around 1435 , it can be assumed that the Kraichgau Jews were buried on the Heiligen Sand in Worms in the course of the 15th century until the Thirty Years' War .

First cemeteries in Kraichgau

In the 17th century, Jewish communities emerged in some places of smaller rulers . Even more than in the Middle Ages, they were dependent on the favor of the authorities in order to be able to lease or acquire a piece of land for the burials of their deceased. Most of these were plots of land that were located far outside the towns and that could not be used for agriculture (e.g. northern slopes or wooded parcels ). After the Jewish cemetery in Heinsheim was laid out on the edge of the Kraichgau in the 16th century , five more Jewish cemeteries were built in the Kraichgau in the 17th century, which have been preserved to this day: Oberöwisheim (1629), Obergrombach (1632), Wiesloch (called 1661) , Flehingen (mentioned in 1688) and Waibstadt (before 1690). These served as the central association cemeteries for the Jewish communities that existed in a wide area. For a long time, the cemetery in Waibstadt was the common burial place for Jews from 30 places.

  • Jewish cemetery Oberöwisheim

  • Jewish cemetery Obergrombach

  • Jewish cemetery Wiesloch

  • Jewish cemetery Waibstadt

Lost cemeteries

In the period between the 16th and 18th centuries there must have been Jewish cemeteries in numerous other places, as the tradition in the field names suggests. In most cases, it is likely that the facilities were only used briefly before the community in question joined an association cemetery. In some of the places, however, no written sources are known to date that prove Jewish settlement during this period. The field names Judenfriedhof , Judenkirchhof or Judengottesacker can be found in the following places: Adelshofen (east of the village, hall at Judenkerchhof ), Ehrstädt (forest parcel Judenfriedhof in hall Grund ), Gondelsheim (southwest of the village of hall Judenkirchhof ), Großgartach (on the southeast slope of Heuchelberg , Flur Judenkirchhof ), Massenbach (former field name Judenkirchhof ), rows (parcel Judengottesacker ), Rohrbach (probably 17th / 18th century, parcel Judenkirchhof in the Gewann Untere Hälden ) and Rohrbach a. G. (on the road to Bahnbrücken , corridor Judenkirchhof ). Most of these burial sites will have been obscured by natural decay. There was hardly a Jewish cemetery in a rural community in the 16th and 17th centuries. Century surrounded with a wall. Gravestones were also not found in all cases. Nature has quickly overgrown such burial sites.

From the end of the 18th to the 20th century

In the course of the 19th century, the desire for their own cemetery in the immediate vicinity also grew in smaller Jewish communities. Due to the growth of the Jewish rural population up to the middle of the 19th century, it was no longer possible in some cases to expand the association cemetery, so that the previous communities of the cemetery association were advised to create their own cemeteries. Likewise, for health reasons , the Baden district authorities endeavored to have their own Jewish cemetery in their district, provided that there were Jewish communities there.

Cenotaphs in Jewish cemeteries in Kraichgau

Memorial to Jewish fallen in the Jewish cemetery in Eppingen

After 1918, war memorials and honor groves were erected in many Jewish cemeteries for those who died in the First World War . The monuments give evidence of the ties between the German Jews and their fatherland, for which they went to war.

Memorial stones for the victims of the Nazi persecution in Jewish cemeteries in Kraichgau

In many Jewish cemeteries in Germany, including Jewish cemeteries in Kraichgau, memorial stones for the murdered Jews were erected by surviving relatives or by the political communities after the era of National Socialism .

  • Jewish cemetery in Meckesheim

  • Jewish cemetery Obergrombach

  • Jewish cemetery Obergrombach

  • Jewish cemetery Wiesloch

Chronological list of the Jewish cemeteries in Kraichgau

literature

  • Joachim Hahn : History of the Jews in Kraichgau . In: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research , volume 9/1985 (Ed .: Heimatverein Kraichgau ), pp. 157–169.
  • Peter Beisel: Jewish traces in our homeland . In: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research , volume 17/2002 (Ed .: Heimatverein Kraichgau), to the cemeteries p. 99-100.
  • Jüdisches Leben Kraichgau eV (Hrsg.): Torn from oblivion. Jewish life in the Kraichgau. Exhibition catalog for the traveling exhibition . Eppingen 2011, pp. 18-20.

Web links

Commons : Jewish cemeteries in Baden-Württemberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files