49 ° 35 'N, 08 ° 39' E, 12 miles NE of Mannheim, 13 miles E of Worms in Rhein-Neckar district, NW Baden-Württemberg. Jewish population: 140 (in 1871), 54 (in 1933). Hemsbach restored one of the synagogues used in the town before Kristallnacht. Jewish history and burial records. cemetery photo. cemetery video. [Feb 2013]
- Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), p. 508: "Hemsbach".
- Pinkas HaKehilot , Germany, Vol 2 (1986), p. 323: "Hemsbach".
- JewishGen GerSIG
Bergstr: 69502 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters)
DISTRICT: Rhein-Neckar Kreis
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Oberer Mühlweg (Detail).
IN USE: From 1674 until 1940. Oldest legible gravestone date 1692.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 1,066.
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1987 photographs of all gravestones (1010) in addition to cemetery layout by Zentralarchiv.
- 1992 supplementary documentation for 56 gravestones to the above by Zentralarchiv.
- 1993 full cemetery documentation based on above photographs and individual translation of 45 gravestone inscriptions by Christa-Renata Fischer-Hoffmann by order of the City of Hemsbach and the historical society "Ehemalige Synagoge in Hemsbach e.V." (former Synagogue in Hemsbach).
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- History by Lilienthal 1931.
- Overall photographic cemetery view by Hundsnurscher/Taddey 1968, figs.# 91and 92.
- History by Hemsbach 1980, pages 434, 460 and 463.
- History by Hemsbach 1984, pages 25-30.
- History by Theobald 1984, page 78, also overall photographic cemetery view page 94.
- History by Hoffmann 1985, pages 2 and 3.
- Full cemetery documentation plus 45 individual translations of gravestone inscription by Hoffmann 1993.
- Rosenthal 1927, on page 106, respectively Lilienthal 1931 indicate that the oldest identifiable gravestone date is 1665.
- The Leo Baeck Institute in New York archives contain the burial register of this cemetery prior to 1810, which was drawn up by the scholar S. Pokow (Hemsbach) and is located in the Berthold Rosenthal collection, inventory II, No.3.
- This cemetery was established as a ‘communities cemetery’ in 1674. In addition to being the burial ground for the Jewish community of Hemsbach, it was also intended to serve the surrounding Jewish communities of Dossenheim, Feudenheim (up to the establishment of their own cemetery in 1858), Grosssachsen, Ilvesheim (up to the establishment of their own cemetery in 1860), Ladenburg (up to the establishment of their own cemetery in 1848), Laudenbach, Lampertheim, Leutershausen, Lützelsachsen, Schriesheim (up to the establishment of their own cemetery in 1874), Viernheim and Weinheim.
- The cemetery contains a memorial stone inscribed with the names of the four Hemsbach Jewish soldiers who lost their lives during during WW1.
[Researched and translated from German April 2008]
To see information and photographs of individual gravestones in cemeteries in Baden-Wuerttemberg, click on this link and follow the directions on that page.