Bopfingen is a small city at 48°51′25″N 10°21′8″E in the Ostalbkreis between Aalen and Nördlingen consisting of the city Bopfingen itself and its suburbs Aufhausen, Baldern, Flochberg, Kerkingen, Oberdorf, Schloßberg, Trochtelfingen, and Unterriffingen. Bopfingen is famous for its landmarkf, a table mountain that is part of the neighboring Schwäbische Alb to the east. To the west it borders Bavaria and the meteor crater Nördlinger Ries.
73441 incorporating I.AUFHAUSEN and II.OBERDORF, Baden-Württemberg
SOURCE: Gerz
DISTRICT:Ostalbkreis
LOCATION OF CEMETERY I. AUFHAUSEN : Schenkensteinstrasse , above the nearby non-Jewish cemetery
IN USE: from about. 1560 to 1940 – oldest gravestone dated 1699
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 363
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1990 - photographs of all gravestones and burial register by Zentralarchiv.
- 1998 – expanded cemetery documentation including photographs (with reproduction of inscriptions in Hebrew and German, 8 individual translations) by order of the State Office for Historic Monuments 1998 (editor: Emily Link).
- 1 overall photographic cemetery view, 1 group of gravestones in Württemberg 1932, page 55.
- History in Irtenkauf 1962.
- History in Laurtentzsch 1982, page 28.
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- It is likely that the cemetery for the Aufhausen Jewish community was established not long after mention was first made of Jews living in Aufhausen in 1560.
- When the Jews of Baldern were expelled in 1658 they took their gravestones with them to be re-erected in the Jewish cemetery of Aufhausen, where they now represent the oldest part of the cemetery. (Irtenkauf 1962, page 37.
- The cemetery was also used up to 1936 the burial of Jews from Bopfingen, Lauchheim and Ellwangen (for the last up to 1901).
- The last funeral took place in 1940.
IN USE: From 1825 (oldest gravestone) until 1948
NUMBER OF GRAVESTRONES: 479
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1990 - photographs of all gravestones and burial register by Zentralarchiv.
- 1998 – expanded cemetery documentation including photographs (with reproduction of inscriptions in Hebrew and German, 107 individual translations) by order of the State Office for Historic Monuments 1998 and the cultural association "Ehemalige Synagoge Oberdorf e.V." (editor: Emily Link).
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- Geschichte in Sutschek 1995,pages 28-33, 44.
- Geschichte in Hildebrand 1996.
- Prior to 1825 Oberdorfer Jews used the Jewish cemetery in Wallerstein (District of Donau-Ries, Bavaria) (Sauer 1966 page 141 for burials. However Hahn 1988, on page 422 claims that these burials took place in Aufhausen.
- There is a memorial to the Fallen Jewish soldiers of WW1 from Oberdorf, Aufhausen and Bopfingen and another in memory of the victims of persecution between 1933 and 1945.
- This cemetery was also used up to 1948 for the burial of former concentration camp inmates and displaced persons, who had passed away after having been re-settled in the area (Wasseralfingen/Aalen).
- The cemetery was devastated several times during the Nazi era (Sutschek 1995, page 44).
[Researched and translated from German January 2008]