DISTRICT: Roth.
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Judenbastei 9 (the former mortuary).
IN USE: From around 1581 until (last burial) in 1948 of a concentration camp survivor.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES:
- Approximately 1,761 of which around 1,263 are in the old and a further 503 in the new section. The oldest datable gravestones are from 1594 and 1605 respectively.
DOCUMENTATION:
- Large numbers of individual gravestone photographs,general cemetery views and cemetery plan in Alemannia Judiaca.
- "Jüdische Friedhöfe in Bayern" publ. Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte.
- Friedrich Glenk: "Der Judenfriedhof".
PUBLICATIONS:
- Israel Schwierz: "Steinerne Zeugnisse jüdischen Lebens in Bayern" - refer to Sources below.
- Michael Trüger: Der jüdische Friedhof in Georgensgmünd, publ. Der Landesverband der Israelitischen. Kultusgemeinden in Bayern. 8. Jahrgang Nr. 58 in May 1993 page 20 (Abstract).
- Friedrich Glenk: "Georgensgmuend: Der Judenfriedhof 1801-1985" 35 pages (LBI).
- Peter Kuhn: Jüdischer Friedhof Georgensgmünd, 728 pages, 700 illustrations, publ. 2006 by
Deutscher Kunstverlag GmbH Nymphenburger Str. 84, 80636 Munich, Germany. ISBN: 3422065598.
NOTES:
- Following the dedication of this cemetery 1581, it was first extended in 1718. Further extensions followed in 1734, 1741 and again in the 19th century to its present size. It also served the Jewish communities of Windsbach, Thalmässing, Hilpoltstein, Roth and Schwabach. The cemetery is enclosed by a solid stone wall and has double metal gate each with a Magen David. There was a substantial mortuary, which included an apartment for the cemetery caretaker, constructed in 1723 to replace an earlier small mortuary was erected in 1630. A memorial plaque was affixed to a mortuary wall in 1723 to record that this new mortuary was paid for entirely by two wealthy Rabbi brothers from Schwabach, Joseph and Moshe Jossele.
- The first reported desecrations of the cemetery stem from the beginning of the Nazi period, in January and February 1930. Unusually, no desecration took place during the November 1938 pogroms but on 27th March 2000 several gravestones were besmirched with Nazi slogans and symbols. A 20 year old man with right-wing connections was arrested. The mortuary was restored in 1997 by the Georgensgmünd community. A large memorial stone contains the names of 14 members of the local Weinschenk family who fell victims to the Nazi terror.
- The cemetery is being kept in very good order.
SOURCE: Alemannia Judaica and Schwierz, page 168 (Schwierz LBI).
(Researched and translated from German October 2009).
Updated by communication from Prof. Dr. Peter Kuhn June 2010.