CREGLINGEN incorporating 
ARCHSHOFEN: 49°28′N 10°2′E. Creglingen is a town in the Main-Tauber district founded bt the Celts between 200 and 100 B.C. with surrounding plateaus and valleys. In 1349, Creglingen received its town charter from the German Kaiser Karl IV. Creglingen contains the following quarters (since 1972 municipal reform): Archshofen, Blumweiler, Craintal, Erdbach, Finsterlohr (together with the villages Schonach, Burgstall and Seldeneck), Frauental, Freudenbach, Münster, Niederrimbach, Oberrimbach, Lichtel, Reinsbronn, Reutsachsen, Schirmbach, Schmerbach, Schön, Schwarzenbronn, Waldmannshofen (together with the village of Sechselbach and the hamlets Fuchshof und Seewiesenhof), Wolfsbuch, Weiler. This is the first place in Germany where politically motivated murders of Jews were carried out after the Nazis came to power in 1933. No Jews live in Creglingen today; its synagogue is a bistro. [February 2013]
Archshofen means the court of the Argo. Archshofen was first documented as Autgausisoua in a document of Charlemagne.In 1900 Archshofen had +100 Jews, who owned a Jewish school, a synagogue, and a cemetery. After 1952, the synagogue became the equipment room of the fire department and used as a classroom. Since 1985, according abermaligem reconstruction, the synagogue was owned by the Small Animal Breeding Association and is used as an exhibition hall and club house. A plaque next to the entrance points to its Jewish past. town photos. Jews proably were buried in both Creglinger and Archshofen: see reference. Jewish museum. [February 2013]
photos of Jewish cemetery and brief history. [Feb 2013]
References
- ^ "Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit" (in German). Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg. 9 October 2012.
- Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Creglingen
- Official town website (German)
- Tourist information
97993 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters).
REGION: Main-Tauber
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Southeast of Creglingen, known as "Judenbegräbnis" (see note below).
NOTE:
o Row 1 is on the right side of the entrance with numbers extending back and letters starting with gravestone closest to the wall. The cemetery is located a few km southeast of Creglingen on the continuation of Torstraße, on the road to Standorf in an unpopulated area of fields and forest. A high stone fence with an attractive wrought iron gate and a modern descriptive sign encloses it. The key is available at the Jüdisches Museum Creglingen (E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ). The cemetery plot is approximately square but separated into three distinct parts. The left side contains many trees and graves which are not in a clear order. The middle and the right third have grass with no trees or bushes, but tombstones only in the right section. All of the tombstones on the right are neatly arranged in 31 rows with four tombstones per row. This side is newer; and most of the tombstones are legible. The cemetery was not desecrated by the Nazis and has been well maintained. However, many of the tombstones in the older section made of sandstone are disintegrating as a result of acid rain. Source: Arthur Obermayer, 239 Chestnut Street, West Newton, MA 02165; Fax (617) 244-2496; Tel (617) 244-2398.
IN USE: From 1696 (oldest legible inscription) until 1939.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 373.
DOCUMENTATION:
o 1892 burial register by Josef Preßburger, up to 1939.
o 1989 photographs of all gravestones and burial register by Zentralarchiv.
o 1998 full cemetery documentation including the photographs by order of the City of Creglingen and in cooperation with the Landesdenkmalamt (State Office for Historic Monuments, ed. Michal Antmann).
o Der jüdische Friedhof Creglingen" in City of Creglingen website under ‚Kultur, Freizeit & Tourismus/Sehenswürdigkeiten & Museen‘.
PUBLICATIONS:
o History by Preßburger 1930.
o Photographs by Württemberg 1932, page 69.
o Heuwinkel, Claudia: Jüdisches Creglingen: Ein Gang durch die Stadt. Published in 2001 by the City of Creglingen.
o Numerous photographs, other views of cemetery and text in Alemannia Judaica.
NOTE:
o This cemetery also served the surrounding Jewish communities of (Archshofen, Craintal, Waldmannshofen, Welbhausen) and was known locally as "Judenbegräbnis" or "Judenkirchhof". According to C. Heuwinkel, s.Lit. page 40f the cemetery is accessed by two gates set in a surrounding stonewall. An empty area of lawn separates the older north from the later south part of the cemetery. Trees are planted in the "Old cemetery", which is noticeably hilly. Layers of soil suggest that additional and new burial areas were created on the original limited site area. All gravestones are east facing. The gravestones are made of sandstone, with most of the oldest of these having badly weathered and inscriptions now barely legible. According to the inventory made by the teacher Josef Preßburger, the oldest gravestone dates back to 1696. It is virtually certain, however, that the cemetery was already in existence before that date; the inscriptions on some of the still remaining old gravestones are no longer legible.
o The Jewish community of Creglingen was forced by law to sell their cemetery to the City authorities in 1943. It was returned by way of a donation to the Israelitische Religionsgemeinschaft Württembergs in April 2001. On the 25th Mai 1998 a plaque commemorating the victims of the Nazi era of Creglingen and Archshofen was dedicated and fixed to the cemetery wall.
SOURCES: University of Heidelberg , Alemannia Judaica and City of Creglingen website
[translated from German January 2008]
UPDATE:
Listing of gravestones and their inscriptions: contact Arthur Obermayer, 239 Chestnut Street, West Newton, MA 02165, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
[Sept. 2009]
To see information and photographs of individual gravestones in cemeteries in Baden-Wuerttemberg, click on this link and follow the directions on that page.