ALTERNATE NAMES: HEILBRONN [GER], HEILBRONN NECKAR, HEILPRONN. 49°08' N, 09°13' E. 26 miles N of Stuttgart, 41 miles SE of Mannheim, in N Baden-Württemberg. Jewish populatioN: 994 (in 1885), 970 (in 1933).
Heilbronn is known for its wine industry. Around 1050, a Jewish community first was mentioned in what became known as the Judengasse (Lohtorstraße). In 1298, 143 Jews were killed during the Rintfleisch-Pogrom and in 1350 Jews were attacked again during a European epidemic of the Bubonic Plague. The city's constitution required the council to include Jews, but in the middle of the 15th century, Jews were the target of pogroms until they were evicted from the city in 1490 with the blessing of Emperor Frederick III.The common Jewish name of the town is Halpern in many variants such as Alpert, which derives from the name of this city's early Jewish community there. As of 1803 Jews again were permitted to settle in the city as were Catholics, also prohibited from residence. By the 1860s, Jews were granted equal rights as Heilbronn citizens. The Jewish community watched their colossal synagogue goup in flames. The 350 Jew eventually were murdereed. Jewish history. [Feb 2013]
- Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), pp. 505-506: "Heilbronn".
- Pinkas HaKehilot, Germany, Vol. 2 (1986), p. 79: "Heilbronn".
- JewishGen GerSIG
- Geschichte u. Schicksal der Juden in Heilbronn
(Heilbronn, 1963) - Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933 to 1945
Wolfram Angerbauer , Hans Georg Frank: Jewish communities in county and city of Heilbronn. History, stories, documents. Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1986 (Series of the district Heilbronn.Volume 1), pp. 101-109
Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger: Synagogues in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: places and institutions. Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 (Memorial Book of the synagogues in Germany. Volume 4), pp. 33-35
74072 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters)
DISTRICT:Heilbronn.
LOCATION OF CEMETERY:
- Middle Ages : 1st close to the Judengasse Am Kieselmarkt and 2nd at the Brückentor near the village of Sontheim. (see Detail).
- Two cemeteries existed in Heilbronn during the Middle Ages. The first was in the vicinity of the Judengasse at the Kieselmarkt, which was closed in 1415. The second cemetery was at the Brückentor, on the other side of the Neckar. Jews were expelled from Heilbronn in 1467 when the synagogue and the cemetery became properties of the Emperor. They were subsequently sold to the City in 1490. One gravestone, dated 1408, is now in the Heilbronner Ortmuseum whilst another, dated 1420, can be found embedded in the southern cemetery wall in the Sontheim cemetery.
- During the second half of the 17th century the cemetery in Affaltrach was used for burials. A Jewish cemetery was established there in 1840/41 alongside the river Schozach, 1 km southwest of the village of Sontheim, jointly with the Jewish communities of Talheim and Horkheim. The mortuary built in 1845 was destroyed in 1938.
- Photographs of the two remaining gravestones in Württemberg 1932, page 36.
- Photographs of both these gravestones with history by Franke 1963, pages 34, 36, 182-183.
- History in Germania Judaica II/1, pages 346-350 and Germania Judaica III/1, pages 531-540.
- Photographs of the 1420 gravestone in Sauer 1966, figure # 57.
- History and photographs in Sontheim 1987, pages 10-11.
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general views of cemetery in Alemannia Judaica.
LOCATION OF CEMETERTY:
- Im Breitenloch, Heilbronn 74076 (Detail).
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 491.
DOCUMENTATION:
- Burial register, cemetery layout and photographs of all gravestone by the Realschule Heilbronn.
- 1989 photographs of all gravestones and cemetery layout by Zentralarchiv.
- 1990 photographs of all gravestones by Stadtarchiv Heilbronn.
- 1991 copies and translations of all gravestone inscription from the 1990 photographs by Dan Bondy by order of the City of Heilbronn.
- History by Mayer 1927, page 65.
- Photographs of the memorial in honour of the 30 Fallen Heilbronn Jewish soldiers in WW1 by Württemberg 1932, page 85.
- History by Franke 1963, page 70-71 and 183-185.
- Photographs by Sauer 1966, figures #. 55 and 56.
- Copies and translations of all gravestone inscriptions, selected photographs, burial register and cemetery layout by Bondy 1992.
- Numerous photographs of gravestones and general views of cemetery in Alemannia Judaica.
- This cemetery was consecrated 1867/68 at the foot of the Wartberg on the Im Breitenloch road and is still in use at the present time.
- A commemorative plaque in honour of the erstwhile Jewish community of Heilbronn and the victims of the Nazi era 1933 to 1945 is at the cemetery entrance, dedicated in 1984. A commemorative stone was erected in the same year in honour of four to six unknown persons, who were buried in the eastern part of the cemetery in 1943. The mortuary, burnt down in 1938, has not been rebuilt.
- An additional memorial plaque at the cemetery entrance was dedicated in 1987 in honour of 235 Heilbronn Jews who perished during the Nazi era.
SOURCE: University of Heidelberg and Alemannia Judaica.
[Researched and translated from German April 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.