New Jewish Cemetery (Frankfurt am Main)

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Hall of the Dead of the New Jewish Cemetery
Inside portal
Main path in the cemetery
Menorah sculpture
Franz Rosenzweig's tomb

The New Jewish Cemetery is a Jewish burial site in Frankfurt am Main , which is adjacent to the Frankfurt Main Cemetery . The cemetery was opened in 1928 after the previously used old Jewish cemetery for burials became too small and could not be enlarged any further. The cemetery is still used today by the Frankfurt Jewish community for burials.

location

The cemetery is located in the Frankfurt district of Eckenheim, east of Eckenheimer Landstrasse . The cemetery borders the main cemetery to the south and east and has an area of ​​54,532 square meters. In 1939 a 165 meter long wall was laid from the new portal of the main cemetery to the area of ​​the new cemetery. The cemetery wall was made of stones from the main synagogue and the Börneplatz synagogue , which were destroyed in the November pogrom of 1938 and demolished in January 1939 . Today a plaque indicates the origin of the building material.

Access

The main building of the new cemetery was planned by the Frankfurt government master builder Fritz Nathan . He designed a building made of red-brown brick in the New Objectivity style during the time of the New Frankfurt urban planning program . The saying is written in Hebrew above the entrance portal of the cemetery

"I will walk before the face of the Eternal in the realms of life."

- ( Ps 116,9  LUT )

Behind the entrance area, a paved courtyard area opens up, which is surrounded by a colonnade . The mourning hall is located to the left. On the frieze of the inner portal, which leads to the cemetery area, the quote from the entrance portal is affixed in German.

history

The first plans to build a new cemetery go back to 1914. At this point it was already foreseeable that the old cemetery would be too small for burials. For the construction of a new Jewish cemetery, a site on Homburger Landstrasse was considered and bought. Due to differences of opinion with the city of Frankfurt about a building at this point, it was agreed to create the cemetery on Eckenheimer Landstrasse by the main cemetery. Because of the beginning of World War I , there were delays in planning and redevelopment of the site. It was not until 1921 that an architectural competition could therefore be advertised. The executive work was finally taken over by the city architect Fritz Nathan.

layout

The graves of around 8,000 deceased are located on the site of the cemetery. In contrast to the old cemetery on Rat-Beil-Straße, the new cemetery is much more business-like. There are hardly any monumental or ornate graves here. The design of the new cemetery is therefore more like the traditional Jewish cemeteries , which were built in a simple construction. This was also one of the wishes and basic thoughts of the then head of the Frankfurt City Council, Ernst May .

The tubs , separated by hedges, are aligned with a main axis that extends from the portal to a large menorah . Around 800 graves of Frankfurt Jews who evaded their deportation by suicide lie along the main axis . These tombs are designed in the same way and bear the inscription Died for the sanctification of the name .

Personalities

See also

literature

  • Valentin Senger (author), Klaus Meier-Ude (photographer): The Jewish cemeteries in Frankfurt. Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 3-7829-0298-X , pp. 10-20 (3rd revised edition under the title: The Jewish cemeteries in Frankfurt am Main. Fachhochschulverlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3- 936065-15-2 .)
  • Isidor Kracauer : History of the Jews in Frankfurt a. M. (1150-1824). 2 volumes, J. Kauffmann , Frankfurt am Main 1925/27.
  • Eugen Mayer: The Frankfurt Jews. Look into the past. Waldemar Kramer publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1966.

Web links

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

Coordinates: 50 ° 8 '23.1 "  N , 8 ° 41' 9.1"  E