48°21' N, 08°59' E. in Zollernalbkreis, 10 miles S of Tübingen, 30 miles SSW of Stuttgart, and 90 km (56 mi) N of Lake Constance and the Swiss border. . Jewish population: 340 (in 1880), 101 (in 1933). The city of Hechingen is subdivided into nine neighborhoods. Downtown is separated into Oberstadt/Altstadt (Upper Town/Old Town) andUnterstadt (Lower Town).
Because many Hechingen businesses were owned by Jews, they were closed or redistributed by the Nazis. Much of the city was destroyed or damaged by Nazi attempts to build air raid shelters in public buildings. The town hall was so damaged that it had to be destroyed. Many industries, including DEHOMAG, predecessor of IBM, were relocated to Hechingen from damaged areas of Germany such as Berlin. In April 1945, American troops entered Hechingen and took over the laboratory and reactor. Many physicists were interned in Farm Hall in England and tried over the following months. The city became part of the French occupation zone, and the military governor of the city was Colonel Courtois. The Landkreis became part of Württemberg-Hohenzollern in 1947 until the creation of the state of Baden-Württemberg in 1952. In 1973, it was incorporated into the Zollernalbkreis with Balingenas the capital. Hechingen has completely restored its nineteenth-century synagogue. Source: Wikipedia. 1993 vandalism. [Feb 2013]
- Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), pp. 501-502: "Hechingen".
- Pinkas HaKehilot, Germany, Vol. 2 (1986), p. 171: "Hechingen"
- JewishGen GerSIG
- synagogue and Jewish history. View of the destroyed interior of the Hechingen synagogue the day after Kristallnacht. Residents: Karoline Kaulla (1739-1809 -, Court Jew, Elsa Einstein (1876-1936)- cousin and wife of Albert Einstein, [Feb 2013]
- cemetery photo. [Feb 2013]
72379 Baden-Württemberg
DISTRICT: Zollernalbkreis
SOURCE: Gerz and Peters
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Between Hechingen and Sickingen (Detail), at the so-called Galgenrain.
IN USE:
- Probably from the mid 17th century until 1941, 1958, 1995 and since 2002. The oldest clearly identified date of a gravestone is 1747.
DOCUMENTATION:
- Burial register 1935-1937 by Hamburger/Schmalzbach.
- 1982/83 photographs, copies and translation of 5 gravestone inscriptions of the family Kaulla. by Heinrich Kohring.
- 1944 photographs of all gravestones by the Reichsinstitut, a Nazi institution.
- 1990 photographs of all gravestones and cemetery layout by durch Zentralarchiv.
- 1997 complete cemetery documentation including these photographs by the Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamt, ed: Frowald Gil Hüttenmeister).
- History and burial register by Hamburger/Schmalzbach 1937.
- History by Werner 1984.
- History by Werner 1984/85, part 1, pages 158-188.
- Complete documentation of the gravestones of the family Kaulla by Kohring 1985, pages 171-213.
- History by Werner 1987, pages 185-186.
- History by Werner 1996,pages 88-159.
- Wie alt is der Hechinger Judenfriedhof? Wo bestattete die Hechinger Judenschaft ihre Toten vor dessen Errichtung? by Otto Werner, Hechingen: Glueckler, 1984; 16 pages.
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- A mortuary was built for this cemetery in 1907 but the interior of the building was ransacked and demolished in 1938/40.
- There are differing opinions not only as to the date of the establishment of this cemetery but also where burials took place prior to the establishment of the Hechingen cemetery (Werner 1984 and Werner 1984/85, part 1, pages 159-163. It is thought possible that earlier burials may have taken place in the Jewish cemeteries of Haigerloch-Weildorf and Mühringen.
- The Hechingen cemetery was desecrated in 1990 when 95 gravestones were toppled and besmirched with swastikas. 15 gravestones were toppled and partially destroyed in 1993. [Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 207 (08./09.09.1990), page 3; Stuttgarter Zeitung, No. 171 (28.07.1993)].
- A commemorative plaque now lists the names of 22 Jews who were deported from Hechingen.
- It is probable that in view of the currently growing Hechingen Jewish community this cemetery will again be used more frequently. Since the graves now fully cover the available cemetery area, an enlargement, planned since 1933, will probably have to happen in the near future.
SOURCE: University of Heidelberg and Alemannia Judaica.
[Researched and translated from German March 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.