Jewish cemeteries in Speyer

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Three Jewish cemeteries are documented in the independent city of Speyer in Rhineland-Palatinate : the no longer existing Medieval Cemetery , the no longer existing St. Klara cemetery and the so-called New Cemetery , which is a department of the Speyer cemetery .

Medieval cemetery

The medieval cemetery of the Jewish community in Speyer was in the first known Jewish quarter of Speyer. This was outside the then city of Speyer in the village of Altspeyer (later the suburb of Altspeyer) and was settled in 1084 when Bishop Rüdiger Huzmann accepted a large number of Jews, although Jews may have lived here before. In 1084 the quarter was also walled. The cemetery of this quarter, on which probably from 11./12. Until the 17th century Jews were buried, was located directly on the western wall of the suburb. On a city map from 1525, it stretched from the tower to the fir tree in the south (today around the corner of Bahnhofstrasse and Prinz-Luitpold-Strasse) to the tower to the alder in the north (today around the corner of Bahnhofstrasse and Schubertstrasse) to around today's Richard-Wagner Road to the east. As a result of the pogroms in 1349, the cemetery was plowed, but in 1358 it was leased to individual Jews. After the expulsion of the Jews in 1405, the property became the property of a Christian before it was returned to the Jews in 1429. In 1435, after the expulsion of the Jews, the land became the property of the city and was leased to Christians. In the 18th century, the Elendsherbergsacker was created on the site.

After the cemetery was closed, the tombstones were used as building material, which is why Jewish tombstones from the 12th to 14th centuries were found during demolition work in the 19th and 20th centuries (e.g. demolition of the old salt tower bridge). These were stored for many years in the depot of the Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer, which they only left for exhibitions, and were finally exhibited in the SchPIRA Museum.

St. Klara cemetery

Former Hall of the dead and east wall of the former Jewish cemetery in what was then the suburb of Altspeyer

The cemetery on St.-Klara-Kloster-Weg was created after the resettlement of Jews during the French rule over Speyer at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1888 the Jewish community gave up the cemetery because it was completely occupied and there was apparently no way to expand it. In return, the Jews were given permission to bury their dead in an area of ​​the New Cemetery . Today only the preserved mortuary hall (today the garage) and the also preserved east wall on the street Am Nonnengarten remind of the cemetery. Gravestones have not survived.

New cemetery

Speyer Jewish cemetery

The New Cemetery is located in the "Judengärtel" ( 49 ° 19 ′ 59.3 ″  N , 8 ° 25 ′ 41.5 ″  E ), a section of the New Speyer Cemetery on Wormser Landstrasse and was laid out in 1888 when the St Klara was completely occupied. In 1940 the burials ended temporarily. There were individual burials in 1965 and 1973. The cemetery, which has been occupied again since 1980, has 257 gravestones. This area is also listed as a monument zone in the list of cultural monuments in Speyer .

Web links

Commons : Neuer Jüdischer Friedhof (Speyer)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files