49°29' N 8°40' E, Schriesheim is a town north of Heidelberg on the Bergstrasse ("Mountain Road") and on Bertha Benz Memorial Route with a 2009 population of about 15,000. The town's landmark is the Strahlenburg Castle. Wikipedia. Jews already lived in Schriesheim during the Middle Ages, but were driven out during the year of the pestilence in 1349. Jews were again documented in Schriesheim during the 15th century. In 1644, when the village was abandoned during the Thirty Years War, the Jews also disappeared.In 1651 and 1653, two Jewish families again settled in Schriesheim. In 1858, the Jewish community peaked with 125 members, only to shrink, primarily because of emigration to the USA and relocation to Frankfurt and Mannheim. At the start of 1933, only 38 Jews still lived in Schriesheim, almost all of whom had left by 1938. By September 1939, no Jews lived in Schriesheim. Only four of them still remained in Europe at the start of the Second World War. One died a natural death of old age, two others emigrated to New York. Only Levi Schlösser fell victim to the Holocaust. Website of the city Schriesheim [Mar 2013]
JEWISH CEMETERY:
history and photos. history and photos. [Mar 2013]
| Website of the Central Archives Heidelberg side to the Jewish cemetery Schriesheim |
| synagogue in Schriesheim |
| Monika Stronger-Weineck : A "Good place" - the Jewish cemetery in Schriesheim. In: Schriesheimer Yearbook 2004 pp. 203-232. |
| this: a "Good Place" - the Jewish cemetery in Schriesheim.. Addendum to the post in the 2004 Yearbook. Pp. 203-232. In: Schriesheimer Yearbook 2009 pp. 125-131. |
69198 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters).
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: In der Plöck (Detail).
IN USE: From 1874 (Rosa Oppenheimer) until 1935 (Rosa Fuld neé Freudenberger 10 July 1935).
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 48.
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1986 photographs of all gravestones with mapping of graves by Zentralarchiv.
- 1991 cemetery documentation including above photographs by the Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamt ed. Barbara Döpp).
- Numerous photographs of individual gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- Photographic survey by Hundsnurscher/Taddey 1968 fig. #190.
- Schriesheimer Jahrbuch 2004 pages 203-232 (LBI): Monika Stärker-Weineck: Ein "Guter Ort" - der jüdische Friedhof in Schriesheim.
- Prior to 1874 the Schriesheim Jewish community used the associated community cemetery in Hemsbach (Hahn 1988, page 480. The oldest datable and legible gravestone in the Hemsbach cemetery is dated 1716. It bears the name of Dina wife of David from Schriesheim, who was buried on 10th January 1716. 39 of the 1066 registered gravestones in the Hemsbach cemetery, belonged to Schriesheim Jews. The distance between Schriesheim and Hemsbach is about 15 km, which took three hours each way. For each funeral the transport costs ranged between 12-15 Gulden, which prompted the community to start looking for their own burial ground in 1870. The present piece of land, in the immediate vicinity of the general Christian cemetery, was acquired by the community in 1874 for 704 Mark. The total area involved was estimated to allow for burials for the next 100 years or so. This cemetery was also used for a few years after 1874 by the Jewish community of neighbouring Dossenheim.
- Reports suggest that four Jews from Schriesheim were buried in Worms in the 15th century. It is conceivable that at the 17th / beginning 18th century an older Jewish cemetery existed, based on a piece of land known as the Judenkirchhof in the area of today’s Autobahn entrance. No traces have been found.
- A widely reported desecration of this cemetery took place on 6th March 1931, committed by two members of the Nazi movement, aged 17 and 26. They toppled two gravestones in the children’s section and besmirched another. It appears that no further outrages of this nature occurred during the Nazi era.
- The cemetery ground was taken over In the immediate post 1945 period by the JRSO (Jewish Restitution Successor Organization). Supervision and care was subsequently transferred in 1950 to the community of Schriesheim. They repositioned the previously toppled gravestones and provided a new wooden gate. The latter was replaced in 1983 by an iron front gate incorporating the symbols of the Star of David and a Menora. An information board was provided in 1998.
- A memorial stone with an accompanying plaque bearing the names of 9 local Jewish citizens who were deported on 22nd October 1940 to the Gurs concentration camp.in the South of France was dedicated on 24 October 2005 (Photographs and press reports in Alemannia Judaica).
[Researched and translated from German October 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.