DISTRICT: Ansbach.
LOCATION OF CEMETERY:
- North of Ansbach - Josef-Fruth Platz, off Rügländer Strasse, next to vicarage (Detail).
IN USE: From 1816 (extended 1896) until end of Nazi era.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: Only 117 gravestones remain of the originally 561.
DOCUMENTATION:
- Numerous individual gravestone photographs and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judiaca.
PUBLICATIONS:
- In Schwierz - refer to Sources below.
- Michael Trüger: Der jüdische Friedhof in Ansbach, publ. by ‘Der Landesverband der Israelit. Kultusgemeinden in Bayern' 10. Jahrgang Nr. 67 - September 1995 pages 23-24.German extract.
NOTES:
- Prior to acquiring their own burial ground, the Ansbach Jewish community buried their Dead in the Bechhofen cemetery.
- This is a large cemetery, surrounded by a gated sandstone wall, which was renewed in 1945.
- The first of several cases of cemetery vandalism was reportet in April 1927 (7 gravestones toppled and damaged) and again in October 1932, when the cemetery was largely destroyed, with a large number of gravestones being smashed to pieces. This action led to only 117 gravestones remaining by the end of 1945. Another case of vandalism was reported in April 1950. Traces of the earlier destruction can still be seen today.
- The mortuary too was severely damaged during the Nazi era and was finally demolished by the city in 1944.
- A central footpath in the cemetery leads to a memorial plaque on the south facing wall. The cemetery is now being well-tended.
SOURCE: Alemannia Judaica and Schwierz, pages 150-152 (LBI).
(Researched and translated from German July 2009)