Klingenteich Jewish cemetery

Wrought iron entrance gate

The Klingenteich Jewish Cemetery is the older of the two remaining Jewish cemeteries in Heidelberg . It is located on the southern edge of Heidelberg's old town .

A Jewish cemetery in Heidelberg was first mentioned in 1344. It was located in Plöck in the area between Sandgasse and Theaterstrasse, east of today's gym of the Theodor-Heuss-Realschule, and was expanded in 1369. When the Jews were expelled from the Electoral Palatinate in 1391, the cemetery was also closed and then cleared, traces are no longer there today. The fragment of a tombstone from the 14th century, which was discovered in 1971 during restoration work in a house on Unteren Strasse, is now in the archaeological department of the Kurpfälzisches Museum , a replica in the new Heidelberg synagogue in Weststadt .

In the centuries that followed, Jews from Heidelberg were probably buried in Worms , and in the 17th century in Wiesloch . In 1688 a Jewish cemetery was set up again in Plöck, this time to the east of St. Anne's Church on the property with today's house number 6. It was given up again in 1702 at the latest, remains have not been preserved.

Having had settled from 1648 permanent Jewish families in Heidelberg, was 1701 again a Jewish cemetery opened in the city, this time in the approximately level with the Peter of today's Friedrich-Ebert-Anlage uphill to Koenigsstuhl leading Klingenteichstraße, approximately 100 Meters above the blade gate. It was not only used as a burial place for Jews from Heidelberg, but also for those from the surrounding area. In 1876 the Jewish community was allocated part of the communal mountain cemetery for their burials, which are still taking place there today. The old cemetery was closed and is therefore not freely accessible, but a visit is possible after registering with the Jewish community. There are 180 tombstones , the oldest from 1784. The area of ​​the cemetery is almost 20 ares . The wrought-iron entrance gate is decorated with two round panes on which a dove with a palm branch in its beak can be seen as a sign of life and an arm with a sickle as a symbol of death .

Web links

• Klingenteich Jewish Cemetery on the website of the City of Heidelberg
• Klingenteich Jewish cemetery near Alemannia Judaica
• Klingenteich Jewish Cemetery and its predecessors at the Central Archives for Research into the History of Jews in Germany
• Klingenteich Jewish Cemetery on the website of Via Monumentum, Association for the Preservation of Monuments in Heidelberg Cemeteries

Coordinates: 49 ° 24 ′ 28 "  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 28"  E