RAVENSTEIN incorporating MERCHINGEN: 49°24' N 9°30' E. 19 km NW of Künzelsau, and 26 km E of Heilbronn. The town of Ravenstein consists of the former municipalities Ballenberg, Erlenbach, Hüngheim, Merchingen, upper and lower Wittstadt Wittstadt. Merchingen belongs to the farm and das Haus Untere Mühle, the hamlet of Upper Wittstadt Schollhof and the house Heckenmühle. In the former city Ballenberg lie deserted villages called Mutzen Brunn and Wellendorf, located in the former municipality of Erlenbach, the former municipality Hüngheim. Merchingen has deserted villagesof Bense Weiler and Wolfhausen and in the former municipality of Upper Wittstadt with Höringen. See Wikipedia. [Mar 2013]
The Roman Catholic Church at Buchenweg 15 in Merchingen has a plaque commemorating its use prior as a syngagoue until the November 1938 pogrom. Benjamin Dispecker, district rabbi of Merchingen, lived there. [Mar 2013]
JEWISH CEMETERY:
Cemetery history and photos. des Zentralarchivs Heidelberg mit Informationen zum jüdischen Friedhof Merchingen [Mar 2013]
| Benjamin Wolf Nir: Dokumentation der jüdischen Friedhofes in Merchingen. 2004. | |
| Rudolf Landauer, Reinhart Lochmann: Spuren jüdischen Lebens im Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis. Herausgegeben vom Landratsamt NOK, 2008, ISBN: 978-3-00-025363-8. 200 S., 284 Fotos, 19,90 Euro. Informationen zu dieser Publikation auf Seite zum Friedhof Mosbach. |
The Merchingen Jewish community at first used Berlichingen and Bödigheim Jewish cemeteries. Before 1810, a cemetery on the road to Ballenberg with an area of 47Ar was created. The Jewish Cemetery at Wurmberg was used from 1808/1809 was used by Merchingen and Inger Hüngheimer Jews after Baron Goetz of Berlichingen requested and approved the site. The first burial was 24 May 1810 in the new cemetery. 28 September 1938 was the last burial, Jonas Hess (or Hess). Of the 618 burials, 368 still have visible and legible gravestones. Others are weathered or decayed. [Mar 2013]
Jewish Cemetery Merchingen at Alemannia Judaica [Mar 2013]
Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger: Synagogues in Baden-Wuerttemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: places and institutions . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 ( Memorial Book of the synagogues in Germany . Volume 4), pp. 386-389 [Mar 2013]
74747 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters).
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Merchingen along the L515 road to Ballenberg (Detail).
IN USE: From 1812 (or 1833) until 1939.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 350.
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1987 photographs of all gravestones with mapping of graves by Zentralarchiv.
- 1992 partial cemetery documentation including gravestone photographs 1 – 50 by Zentralarchiv ed. Vladimir Baum.
- Complete cemetery documentation still in progress, including these photographs, by the Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamt ed. Benjamin Nir).
- Numerous photographs of individual gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- Photographic survey by Hundsnurscher/Taddey 1968, fig. # 149.
- Photographic survey by Theobald 1984, page 96.
- History by Berlinger 1991, page 52.
- History of the Merchingen cemetery in publication 2004 by Dr. Benjamin Wolf Nir described in Alemannia Judaica.
- The cemeteries in Bödigheim and Berlichingen were used for burials prior to the establishment of their own cemetery by the Merchingen Jewish community in 1812 (Hahn 1988, page 393).
- Between 1769 and 1770/1773 an earlier Jewish burial ground existed and was used, situated at the boundary between Hüngheim and Merchingen (Hahn 1988, page 393; Berlinger 1991, pages 50-52).