Pesch Jewish cemetery
The Pesch Jewish Cemetery is located at the end of Donatusstraße in the Korschenbroich district of Pesch . It is owned by the State Association of Jewish Communities of North Rhine and has been on the list of architectural monuments in Korschenbroich since September 17, 1985 .
The cemetery is delimited by a high brick wall and a locked iron gate. On the cemetery area of 560 m² are all graves in the rear area. The funerals were carried out chronologically from back to front. Most of the tombstones are made of granite , two tombstones are made of sandstone . The free space in the cemetery would still offer space for about another 50 graves. The last funeral took place in 1940.
history
In the Trietbach valley - only a few meters away from today's cemetery - there was a previous Jewish cemetery in the second half of the 19th century. Due to floods and groundwater , however, more and more graves were endangered, so that it could no longer be used. As early as 1883, burials there had become difficult due to floods, the city archives report. Because it was not allowed to raise the area according to the Jewish rite, it was decided to relocate the cemetery. Therefore, the Jewish community of Korschenbroich asked the government in Düsseldorf in 1884 for permission to build a new cemetery. In October 1884, the application for a new burial site in Donatusstrasse was approved.
The old cemetery in the Trietbach lowlands had long been forgotten. On September 8, 2004, a memorial stone was erected on the site of the old cemetery by the Heimatverein Korschenbroich. The inscription on the stone reads: “This is where the first Israelite cemetery was in Korschenbroich. The cemetery was closed in 1889 due to constant flooding by the Trietbach. The reburial took place in today's Donatusstrasse cemetery. Shalom. Peace. City of Korschenbroich. Regional association of the Jewish communities of North Rhine. June 2004 - Tamus 5764. "
The Donatusstrasse cemetery was officially laid out and inaugurated in 1889. There are a total of 45 graves with 44 grave stones in the cemetery. Some of the tombstones are badly weathered. The oldest legible tombstone is from 1885. It is unclear exactly when the cemetery was opened. Tradition has it that the first grave was laid in 1886. But it is also possible that the three oldest gravestones from 1885, 1886 and 1887 from the old cemetery in the Trietbach lowlands were reburied.
In the time of National Socialism , the graves were largely spared from destruction and desecration. The last funeral took place in 1940 (Julia Klein, née Kapell).
In July 2003 a youth group cleaned and repaired numerous gravestones.
During a visit to the cemetery in August 2008, at which the Bishop of Aachen Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff took part, the cemetery was overgrown. The regional association of the Jewish communities of North Rhine then suggested that the cemetery should be restored to a worthy condition. Members of a Catholic youth group and the Junge Union Korschenbroich agreed to repair the cemetery together with the depot of the city of Korschenbroich. In autumn 2008, shrubs and bushes were cut back, the vegetation on the wall removed and gravestones made visible and legible again.
In 2011, the cemetery wall was restored by the city of Korschenbroich in a cautious manner and to safeguard its existence. The costs for this were estimated at around 10,000 euros.
literature
- Stefan Bajohr (Ed.): Archives made of stone. Jewish life and Jewish cemeteries in North Rhine-Westphalia (= Assodoku. 1). Asso-Verlag, Oberhausen 2005, ISBN 3-9388-3403-X .
- Elfi Pracht-Jörns : Jewish cultural heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia. Volume 1: Cologne District (= contributions to architectural and art monuments in the Rhineland. Vol. 34, 1). Bachem, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-7616-1322-9 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ulrich M. Schwenk: Talking about fates - a memorial stone was inaugurated on the former Jewish cemetery. (PDF; 666 kB) (No longer available online.) In: Annual Review 2004. Heimatverein Korschenbroich, January 2005, p. 7 f. , formerly in the original ; accessed on July 21, 2017 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Digital Edition - Korschenbroich-Pesch Jewish Cemetery (1885-1940 / 45 entries) of the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute
- Entry on the Jewish cemetery Donatusstrasse in Pesch in the database " KuLaDig " of the Rhineland Regional Association
- Article on RP Online about the renovation of the cemetery wall
Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 7.5 ″ N , 6 ° 31 ′ 12 ″ E