Jewish cemetery (Burgkunstadt)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Entrance portal
View over the burial grounds

The Jewish cemetery Burgkunstadt was the cemetery of the Burgkunstadter district rabbinate and some neighboring places. It is located in Burgkunstadt in Upper Franconia , a municipality in the Lichtenfels district . The burial site is one kilometer northwest of Burgkunstadt on Ebnether Berg. The oldest of the approximately 2000 gravestones date from the 17th century; the last from 1940. In the local Jewish population, the name "Guter Ort" was established for the cemetery.

history

History of construction and use from 1620 to 1933

In 1620 the field at the so-called “Hutanger” was designated as a plot of land for a new cemetery to be laid out for the Jewish community of Burgkunstadt. It is possible that the deceased parishioners have found their final resting place here for a much longer time. The first Jews settled in Burgkunstadt and the surrounding area as early as the middle of the 13th century. The first burial in the cemetery took place in 1626, although one could have taken place as early as 1623, but no gravestone has survived. In 1679 the cemetery was expanded for the first time.

The cemetery was financed by the "Israelite Burial Association", which also looked after the Jewish cemetery in Küps , which was used until 1835 . The association generated income in particular through contributions that had to be paid on the occasion of weddings and which were based on the assets of the bride and groom. In 1829 this income from a total of 17 communities totaled 54.15 guilders .

Due to the strongly growing Jewish communities in the catchment area of ​​the cemetery, the three heads of the funeral association (Moritz Mack from Altenkunstadt, Michael Rothschild and Abraham Schreyer Thurnauer, both from Burgkunstadt) submitted an application to the city of Burgkunstadt on March 12, 1841 for an "expansion of the Israelite Burial place in Burgkunstadt. ”This was approved soon afterwards and planning began. The work was completed in 1844. In the course of the construction work, the outer courtyard wall was renewed, which was also provided with a large portal, next to which a new Tahara house and a new fountain were built on the inside of the wall. Most of the funerals took place in the cemetery during the heyday of the Jewish communities in the catchment area around the cemetery from 1830 to 1850. While there were still more than 2000 people around 1840, the number of Jewish community members fell to around 800 by 1867. This was mainly due to the strong emigration to larger cities such as Bamberg and Nuremberg and the emigration to the USA . In 1900 there were around 400 Jews living in the catchment area and in 1933 only 120.

Developments in the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945

Due to the anti-Jewish developments in the Third Reich , the Burgkunstadter Mayor Dr. In November 1938, Leo Feuersinger started negotiations with the funeral association to sell the cemetery and some adjacent parcels to the city of Burgkunstadt, but this did not happen for the time being. The last burial at the burial site took place in 1940. After the dissolution of the funeral association and the extermination of the Jewish community through flight and deportation in April 1942, purchase negotiations were continued with the “Reich Association of Jews, Munich District Office”. On June 2, 1943, the city finally bought it for the very low price of RM 1,000 . On March 6, 1944, the city of Burgkunstadt was requested by the Lichtenfels tax office to pay an additional 200 RM to the Reich Association of Jews, with which the purchase of the tombstones should be compensated. After the purchase, the rumor briefly circulated that the SA was planning to grind the cemetery and build a firing range on the site , but this was never planned. Politically motivated desecration of individual graves was caused by individuals in the years 1943 to 1945, some of which were completely destroyed.

Contrary to fears of leveling the cemetery, the Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany wrote to the city of Burgkunstadt in a letter dated February 18, 1943 , demanding that it immediately protect the cemetery and prevent further destruction:

“The Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany, whose main task is research into the Jewish question , has been conducting an action for a long time in agreement with the Reichsführer SS to record the Jewish cemeteries that still exist in Germany. From a genealogical and anthropological point of view, these are important for the most complete possible recording of the Jewish families and clans and their position in German popular life in the past, but also for the most possible safeguarding and deepening of our scientific knowledge for the fight against Judaism. [...] [Further destruction of the cemetery must be stopped]. In many cases, the Jewish grave monuments of earlier centuries are the work of German stonemasons, which can be of significant artistic value and therefore represent important evidence of German craftsmanship development. They should therefore not be destroyed without necessity and, if available, somehow secured even when the cemeteries are cleared. "

- Reich Institute for the History of the New Germany, 1943

In addition, upcoming measures were announced by the Reich Institute, including the photographic recording of the gravestones and excavations for "anthropological measurements". All work should be done under “racial, genealogical and art-historical” aspects. Due to the shortage of staff at the institute due to the war, none of the work was carried out. The forced sale of the cemetery to the city was reversed in 1945 and the property was transferred to the State Association of Jewish Religious Communities in Bavaria , to which it still belongs to this day. As far as possible, the damage from the Nazi era was repaired.

Development since 1945

A desecration of the cemetery on the night of February 24, 1973 caused great horror and international reporting (especially in the USA and Israel, but also in the Tagesschau , among others ). A walker discovered that more than 600 Gravestones were overturned and partially destroyed. In addition to a right-wing extremist motive, an act of revenge against the Israelis for the shooting down of a Libyan transport plane over the Sinai Peninsula by Israeli fighter planes on February 21, 1973 was also considered. After only three days of investigative work, however, the perpetrators could be caught, who were young men from Alten- and Burgkunstadt who had committed the desecration under the influence of alcohol after a carnival party . In cooperation with the Israelite State Association, the cemetery was restored by the city of Burgkunstadt.

Several institutions and groups of schoolchildren undertake voluntary maintenance work on the cemetery grounds at irregular intervals. Since 1989, every year in September by the "community of interest synagogue Altenkunstadt " in the days to Rosh Hashanah held a memorial service at the cemetery.

Structure and characterization of the cemetery

With an area of ​​144.5 acres and around 2000 tombstones ( Mazewot ), the burial site is one of the largest Jewish country cemeteries in Bavaria. The square complex is bordered by a sandstone wall and is a listed building . The wrought iron entrance gate is framed by a massive stone wall. Left behind is the built in 1844, small Taharahaus of sandstone and a fountain.

The catchment area of ​​the cemetery comprised the Upper Main area with the Jewish communities in the district rabbinates Burgkunstadt ( Altenkunstadt , Burgkunstadt, Ebneth , Fassoldshof , Maineck , Weidnitz ), district rabbinate Redwitz ( Friesen , Horb am Main , Kronach , Küps (from 1832), Lichtenfels ( until 1840), Mistelfeld , Mitwitz , Oberlangenstadt (from 1832), Redwitz ) and in parts also Bayreuth (until 1787), Coburg , Hochstadt am Main , Kulmbach , Rothwind , Seubelsdorf .

Tombstones

Schematic floor plan of the Jewish cemetery showing the occupied areas

The tombstones are set up in four larger fields, whereby the oldest two fields can be further subdivided. In the middle part (field 1) are the oldest gravestones. They can be divided into three smaller areas, with occupancy beginning in 1620, 1730 and 1784. Most of the stones from these fields have now largely overturned or completely sunk into the ground. However, the oldest stone of the cemetery from 1626 is still very well preserved.
In the northern part of the cemetery (field 2) there are gravestones from the first half of the 19th century, again arranged in three areas, which from 1818, 1827 and 1842 were occupied. To the right of the entrance, in the eastern part (field 3), there are the 720 gravestones from the period from 1844 to 1878 in regular rows at approximately the same distance. The gravestones to the left of the entrance (field 4) date from the years from 1874 to 1940 and show often German inscriptions and symbols that can also be found in Christian cemeteries.

Most of the stones in the two oldest sections of the cemetery are relatively low with a height of 80 to 100 cm, a width of mostly 40 to 50 cm and a thickness of 8 to 15 cm. The styles of Baroque , Rococo and Biedermeier are predominant , supplemented by traditional Jewish symbols such as Kohanim hands , mohel knives , Levite jugs , shofar horns and blowers and family emblems. Many of the stones have partially or almost completely sunk into the ground; however, some were also rehabilitated between 1926 and 1928 with the support of the Munich State Rabbinate.

Tahara house

The Tahara house extends over an area of ​​around 4.5 × 5 m and rises as a single-storey sandstone block construction with a gable roof. There is a small window on the west side and three small windows on the north side, one of which is embedded in the gable. Access to the Tahara House is on the east side, where there is also a stone slab with a Hebrew inscription , the translation of which is as follows:

“Praise be to you, our Gd, King of the world,
who has begotten you according to the law
and has nourished and maintained you according to the law and called you to himself according to the law.
And he knows the number of you and he will resurrect you in the future according to the law.
Praise be to you, Gd, who raises the dead. "

- Michael Trüger : Translation

literature

  • Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. 3 volumes. Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08035-2 . ( Online edition )
  • Angela Hager, Hans-Christof Haas: Burgkunstadt In: Wolfgang Kraus, Berndt Hamm, Meier Schwarz (eds.): More than stones ... Synagogue memorial volume Bavaria. Volume I. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg im Allgäu 2007, ISBN 978-3-89870-411-3 , pp. 106–111
  • Theodor Harburger: The inventory of Jewish art and cultural monuments in Bavaria - Volume 2: Adelsdorf - Leutershausen , Jewish Museum Franconia - Fürth & Schnaiitach (ed.), Fürth 1998, pp. 117-130
  • Lothar Mayer: Jewish cemeteries in Middle and Upper Franconia . Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2012, pp. 54–59, ISBN 978-3-86568-572-8
  • Josef Motschmann: The suffering of the Jews on the Upper Main - from the end of the Jewish communities in Lichtenfels, Burgkunstadt and Altenkunstadt in the years 1933–1942 . SPD district association Lichtenfels (publisher), Lichtenfels 1983
  • Josef Motschmann, Siegfried Rudolph: "Good place" above the Main valley - The Jewish cemetery near Burgkunstadt , Lichtenfels 1999, CHW Monographs Volume 1, ISBN 3-87735-146-8
  • Hans Pfreundner: Materials on the history of Jews in and around Burgkunstadt Burgkunstadt 1989, supplement to the annual report of the Burgkunstadt grammar school 1988/89

Web links

Commons : Jüdischer Friedhof Burgkunstadt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Motschmann (1999), pp. 29-36
  2. ↑ a b c Jewish cemeteries in Bavaria - Burgkunstadt , uni-heidelberg.de, accessed on March 13, 2019
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Motschmann (1999), pp. 36-39
  4. ^ Jewish cemeteries in Bavaria - Bayreuth , uni-heidelberg.de, accessed on March 13, 2019
  5. ↑ a b c Motschmann (1999), p. 42
  6. ↑ Motschmann (1999), p. 21

Coordinates: 50 ° 9 ′ 8 ″  N , 11 ° 14 ′ 58 ″  E