Jewish cemeteries in Emden

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Jewish cemetery in Emden

There were at least two Jewish cemeteries in Emden . The oldest was established by the local community outside the city in the 16th century in today's Tholenswehr district on Treckfahrtstief , the second in 1703 on a site on today's Bollwerkstrasse. A total of 798 tombstones have been preserved there. This makes it the largest Jewish cemetery in East Frisia.

history

Entrance gate to the Jewish cemetery in Tholenswehr
The memorial in the cemetery

A Jodenkerckhoff on Konicks-Rebersweg in Emden is mentioned for the first time in 1586 . It is unclear whether it is the cemetery in Tholenswehr or whether it is just an economically unusable piece of land.

The oldest known and definitely locatable cemetery in the community was located outside the historic city center at the Treckfahrtstief in Tholenswehr. It served the Jewish population of Oldersum , Weener , Bunde , Jemgum and Stapelmoor as a burial place until 1670. That year, the representatives of the Rheiderland Jews turned to Princess Christine Charlotte . They asked "to consent with grace that we may buy our endts in the said area (Leerort) about half or all of Diemat land at a fair price and use the same for a church in front of our dead". The princess granted this request so that the Rheiderlanders could set up their own cemetery in Smarlingen near Weener. The cemetery in Tholenswehr was then occupied by the Emden community until 1703. Today no stones are visible there. Many have probably sunk into the soft sand on the edge of the canal. On a photo published in 1933, only three grave slabs can be seen. During the construction of a road in 1953, workers discovered 26 gravestones that were brought to the cemetery on Bollwerkstrasse a year later in 1954. Today there is a green area on the area of ​​the former cemetery. A memorial stone reminds of the former function of the site. The inscriptions on some grave slabs from the 17th century are also documented.

In 1703 a new cemetery was built within the city fortifications above a former mill kennel on Schoonhovenstraße (later Sandpfad , today Bollwerkstraße ). How the community came into possession of the property is unclear. Marranen lived in Emden from 1703 to around 1708 . They also used the cemetery, possibly even bought it and handed it over to the Emden Jewish community after they moved away. The source situation is contradictory. The cemetery served the community as a burial place until the end of the National Socialist era .

After the war, some returned families tried to rebuild a Jewish community in Emden. However, this project failed when many members emigrated after the establishment of the State of Israel. The site then went into disrepair. In 1980 strangers desecrated the cemetery. They overturned about 150 monuments. Part of the tombstones broke. The city then closed the cemetery to the public. The gate to the cemetery was built by students from the vocational schools in Emden in 1982.

In 1989 the city of Emden decided to erect a memorial on the cemetery grounds. On August 28, 1990, State Rabbi Henry Brandt from Hanover inaugurated this memorial. It consists of three granite steles on which the names of 465 murdered Emden Jews are listed. In 2001 the renovation of the grave sites began. The German Foundation for Monument Protection, the city of Emden, the Thyssen company, the regional association of Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and the Working Group of Jews in Emden eV (today's Max Windmüller Society ) financed the measure with around 400,000 euros. Today only a few funerals take place in the cemetery (last time in 2006). It is now open to the public again.

description

The cemetery on Bollwerkstrasse has a total of 4,863 square meters. The oldest graves date back to 1706. A total of 798 tombstones and 15 fragments have been preserved.

See also

literature

  • Marianne Claudi, Reinhard Claudi: That we have lost. Life stories of Emden Jews. With a story of the Jewish community in Emden's Wolf Valk . Aurich 1988 ISBN 3-925365-31-1
  • Jan Lokers : The Jews in Emden 1530 - 1806. A social and economic historical study on the history of the Jews in Northern Germany from the end of the Middle Ages to the emancipation legislation , Aurich 1990 ISBN 3-925365-50-8
  • Herbert Reyer, Martin Tielke (ed.): Frisia Judaica. Contributions to the history of the Jews in East Frisia . Aurich 1988, ISBN 3-925365-40-0
  • Max Markreich , Das Memorbuch der Judengemeinde in Emden , in: Yearbook for the Jewish Communities of Schleswig-Holstein 5 , 1933/1934, p. 29 f.
  • The end of the Jews in East Frisia. Catalog for the exhibition of the East Frisian landscape on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Verlag Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1988, ISBN 3-925365-41-9
  • Jan Lokers: Emden. In: Herbert Obenaus (Ed. In collaboration with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . Wallstein, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-753-5 , pp. 533-569.

Web links

Commons : Jewish cemetery on Bollwerkstrasse (Emden)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Jan Lokers: Emden. In: Herbert Obenaus (Ed. In collaboration with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . Wallstein, Göttingen 2005; ISBN 3-89244-753-5 ; Pp. 533-569
  2. ↑ Herbert Reyer, Martin Tielke (Ed.): Frisia Judaica. Contributions to the history of the Jews in East Frisia . Aurich 1988, ISBN 3-925365-40-0 , p. 83
  3. ^ Alemania Judaica. : Emden Jewish cemetery. , accessed January 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Emden (old cemetery). In: Overview of all projects for the documentation of Jewish grave inscriptions in the area of ​​the Federal Republic of Germany. Lower Saxony.
  5. ^ Emden Touristik: Memorial Jewish Synagogue / Jewish Cemetery , viewed on January 22, 2012.
  6. ^ Epd-Landesdienst Niedersachsen-Bremen: Emden: Jewish cemetery restored again , viewed on January 22, 2012.
  7. ^ German Foundation for Monument Protection: Lower Saxony. Emden, city. Jewish cemetery , viewed January 22, 2013.

Coordinates: 53 ° 22 ′ 11.7 "  N , 7 ° 12 ′ 45.2"  E