Jewish cemetery Wiesloch

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Jewish cemetery Wiesloch
The entire cemetery is walled
A memorial commemorates the expulsion and extermination of the Wiesloch Jews

The Wiesloch Jewish Cemetery in Wiesloch in the Rhein-Neckar district in northern Baden-Württemberg was laid out in the 17th century. It is a protected cultural monument .

history

The Jewish cemetery in Wiesloch was first mentioned in 1661. It is located on the edge of the old town (Merianstrasse / Bahnweg) and has an area of ​​5680 m².

The traditional burial of the Palatinate Jews was in the Heiliger Sand cemetery in Worms . After Jews were allowed to resettle after the Thirty Years' War in order to revitalize the Palatinate economy , an association cemetery was set up in the centrally located Wiesloch for the dead of the Jewish communities south of the Neckar within the Electoral Palatinate Oberamt Heidelberg . The oldest surviving tombstone - for Lea, wife of Samuel Oppenheim - dates from 1670. Other tombstones from the 17th century are missing, so that it is assumed that the cemetery was devastated during the War of the Palatinate Succession .

The cemetery was expanded several times, in 1819 to the southwest and in 1862 to the east, and was surrounded by a stone wall. In the course of the 19th century, cemeteries were set up in those association communities from which many burials came. This created the Jewish cemeteries in Hockenheim , Walldorf , Schwetzingen and Meckesheim .

The historical tombstones ( mazewot ) of the cemetery, usually made by Christian stonemasons, reflect the development of the Jewish tombstone culture in the period of occupancy in general: The oldest tombstones are mostly rectangular sandstone tablets, where only the writing sides are neatly worked, while the backs are quite rough were left. Later, the tombstones were rounded off and provided with decorative elements, borders and symbols. In addition to the usual symbols of Jewish gravestones such as crowns, books, shofar horns , circumcision tools, Hanukkia , hearts, poppy seed capsules, Levite jugs and blessing priestly hands , the Wiesloch Jewish cemetery also features numerous unique floral depictions from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century with plants or bushes in pots or vases.

When the city of Wiesloch wanted to buy the cemetery, which had already been confiscated by the state, from the regional tax office in Karlsruhe, during the National Socialist era and after the last Jewish residents had been expelled, the Wiesloch sculptor Conrad Keller was asked to estimate the value of the gravestones that remained there. Keller himself expressed interest in 24 still reusable younger tombstones made of marble and granite, the value of which he estimated at 2195 RM . In August 1944 he paid the sum of RM 1,000 for this. When the American military government ordered the restoration of the cemetery and the return of the stones on March 4, 1946 after the end of the war , Keller had already processed three of the stones and was only able to return 21 stones and put them back up again. Until 1947 there was still a dispute over repayment of the purchase price.

After the Second World War , some Jews who had died in the sanatorium at that time were buried in the cemetery.

After the synagogue was demolished in 1957, part of the entrance portal with an inscription was fitted into the cemetery wall.

literature

  • Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger: Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 ( Memorial book of the synagogues in Germany . Volume 4).
  • Artur Hochwarth: The places of worship of the Jewish community in Wiesloch. In: Kraichgau. Contributions to landscape and local research. Edited by the Heimatverein Kraichgau . Episode 9/1985, pp. 170-179.
  • Karl Günther: The Jewish cemetery in Wiesloch , in: Wiesloch - Contributions to History Volume 1 , Ubstadt-Weiher 2000, pp. 225–242.
  • Karl Günther: Talking stones. Symbols and ornaments on tombs of the Jewish cemetery in Wiesloch , in: Wiesloch - Contributions to History Volume 2 , Ubstadt-Weiher 2001, pp. 325–342.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Günther 2000, p. 226.
  2. ↑ Günther 2001, pp. 337-340.
  3. ↑ Karin Hirn: “The body's form is its essence mirror” - work and life of the Wiesloch sculptor Conrad Keller , in: Kurpfälzer Winzerfestanzeiger 1998, pp. 34–52.

Coordinates: 49 ° 17 ′ 39.4 "  N , 8 ° 42 ′ 13.3"  E