BREISACH:(formerly Altbreisach) is a town along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district , Baden-Württemberg, about halfway between Freiburg and Colmar and about 60 km N of Basel near the Kaiserstuhl. A bridge leads over the Rhine to Neuf-Brisach, Alsace. Its name is Celtic and means breakwater. Wikipedia. Old ghetto information. [Feb 2013]
79206 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters)
COUNTY: Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald.
LOCATION OF CEMETERIES (2):
- NEW CEMETERY: By the 17th century, a Jewish cemetery existed in Breisach, exact location unknown. In 1755, one was on the property of the Günzburg family with a wooden mikvah (ritual bath). After expansions in 1821 and 1842 ,the area was17.44 ar . 1874 was the last burial in this cemetery since in 1850 a new Jewish cemetery in Breisach was created, completely destroyed by the Nazis. Of the still existing 130 gravestones, many survived only in fragments. The oldest gravestone dates from 1769. Picture. References
- Klaus-Dieter Alicke. Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in German-speaking 3 vols. Gütersloh publishing house , Gütersloh, 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08035-2 .
- Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger: Synagogues in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: places and institutions. Theiss, Stuttgart, 2007, pp. 58-61, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 (Memorial Book of the synagogues in Germany. Volume 4)
- OLD CEMETERY: Rheintorstrasse - Kloesterle (Detail).
- IN USE: From 1755 (acquired) until 1876 – oldest gravestone dated 1769.
- NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 131 (many in fragments).
- DOCUMENTATION:
- 1989 - photographs of all gravestones and burial register published by Zentralarchiv.
- 1997 - photographs of these gravestones and burial register published by order of State Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamt , ed: Monika Preuss).
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- PUBLICATIONS: Photograph of a gravestone in Hundsnurscher/Taddey 1968 figure #23.
- HISTORY: By Blum 1998, pages 106-111.
- Prior to 1755 Breisach Jews used the cemeteries in Mackenheim (Elsass), Schleppstadt (Elsass),
- Schmieheim and Emmendingen (Old cemetery) for burials (Hahn 1988 , page 143, and Blum 1998, pages 96-105).
- During the 1st half of the 18th century the cemetery of the Jewish community of Mackenheim in lower Alsace was used for burials.
- The old cemetery was totally destroyed during the Nazi era. A few of the surviving gravestones were set in a rotunda in 1945.
SOURCES: University of Heidelberg and Alemannia Judaica.
To see information and photographs of individual gravestones in cemeteries in Baden-Wuerttemberg, click on this link and follow the directions on that page.