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Wappen der Stadt Karlsruhe 49 ° 00 'N, 08 ° 23' E, in SW Germany, in Baden-Württemberg, near the French-German border. Jewish population: 2.577.

Karlsruhe is a city district, seat of the administrative district of Karlsruhe in the Middle Upper Rhine region. Karlsruhe is located in the tri-national metropolitan area of the Upper Rhine .The 1715 baroque city planradiating from the castle, streets developed initially in a southerly direction resulting in a fan-shaped plan that lead to the nickname of Karlsruhe: fan city .[Feb 2013]

Karlsruhe is the seat of the Jewish religious community of Baden with a synagogue, a Chabad rabbi, and several Jewish cemeteries.  Before the Holocaust , a large Jewish community existed. The Karlsruhe synagogue was built in 1806 by leading architects of Karlsruhe, Friedrich Weinbrenner and the successor to 1871 by Josef Durm, an Orthodox synagogue by Gustav Ziegler and a chapel by Curjel & Moser. 1933 Jewish population was 3358. The synagogues were destroyed in the November pogroms in 1938. Wagner Buerckel Aktion in Summer 1940, 893 Jews were deported from the city to Camp de Gurs in southern France. The city archives created an 1988 memorial list of 1000 victims. With the help of volunteer mentors, biographies from the memorial book for Karlsruhe Jews were added. In 1971, a new synagogue in the Knielinger Avenue was inaugurated. In 2006 the Jewish community had 830 members. cemetery photos[Feb 2013]

City Archives Memorial [Feb 2013]

 

76131 and incorporating 76229 Grötzingen, Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters)

DISTRICT: Karlsruhe
LOCATION OF 5 CEMETERIES: 1. Mendelssohnplatz, 2. Kriegstraße, 3 & 4. Haid- und Neu-Straße and 5. Grötzingen
  • 1. Mendelssohnplatz.
    IN USE: From 1723 until 1826.
    NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: None remaining.
    PUBLICATIONS:
    NOTES:
    • In 1723 this was the 1st Jewish cemetery in Karlsruhe. It was enlarged in 1756 and again in 1794. It was finally closed for burials in 1826.
    • From 1826 onwards burials took place at the cemetery located at the eastern part of Kriegstraße.
    • In the 1880s the Karlsruhe City authorities attempted to do away with this cemetery on the Mendelssohnplatz to make way for housing developments, against very strong protests from the Jewish community. In 1897 the Jewish community received compensation, when the cemetery was expropriated and taken over by the City. In 1898 the remains of the graves were exhumed, with the majority being re-interred in the meanwhile closed cemetery in the (Kriegstraße). Individual gravestones were either re-erected above the new graves or, in the case of communal graves, positioned leaning against the cemetery wall. (Information from Gumprich 1898 and also Karlsruhe 1988, pages 262-265). Those remains not re-interred here were re-buried in the new orthodox cemetery at Kriegßtraße 36 (see next cemetery below).
    SOURCE: University of Heidelberg, Alemannia Judaica and City of Karlsruhe, Jüdische Friedhöfe.

  • 2. "Old Cemetery" Kriegsstraße 36 (Detail - lower middle bottom arrow)
    IN USE: From 1826 until 1896, when it was closed although a few individual burials took place up to and including the 1930s.
    NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 1,150.
    DOCUMENTATION:
    • 1985 photographs of all gravestones with cemetery layout by Zentralarchiv.
    • 1989 grave register using these photographs by Zentralarchiv (ed. Andreas Gotzmann).
    • 1995 full cemetery documentation with the use of these photographs by the State Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamted. Barabara Döpp, Frowald GilHüttenmeister and Monika Preuß), Zentralarchiv copy: five volumes (= Karlsruhe 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ).
    • 1998 using the corresponding photographs, translation of 133 selected gravestone inscriptions by Andreas Gotzmann.
    • Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
    PUBLICATIONS:
    NOTES:
    • The earthly remains of the Mendelßohnplatz graves were re-interred here in 1898. Most of the gravestones were placed alongside the cemetery wall, except those of a few prominent Jews which were re-erected over individual graves.
    SOURCE: University of Heidelberg, Alemannia Judaica and City of Karlsruhe Jüdische Friedhöfe.

  • 3. Orthodox Haid- und Neu-Straße 41 - 45 (Detail - arrow top right).
    LOCATION: The Liberal and Orthodox cemeteries are side-by-side, adjoining the Karlsruhe City general cemetery.
    IN USE: From 1872 until about 1940, 1971 and 1984, when it was closed although a few individual burials took place up to and including the 1930s.
    NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 377.
    DOCUMENTATION:
    • 1987 photographs of all gravestones (368) with cemetery layout by Zentralarchiv.
    • 1994 full cemetery documentation with the use of these photographs by the State Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamted. Monika Preuß). Zentralarchiv copy: two volumes (see Karlsruhe 1 and 2) .
    • Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
    PUBLICATIONS:
    • Photographic cemetery overview by Theobald 1984, page 95.
    • History in Karlsruhe 1988, page 266.
    • Gräber, Grüfte, Trauerstätten. Der Karlsruher Hauptfriedhof by Karl Zahn published by the Stadtarchiv Karlsruhe through Ernst Otto Bräunche, 224 pages with 30 colour and 107 black/white photographs, hard cover, ISBN 3-88190-282-1.
    NOTES:
    • The orthodox section of the cemetery was dedicated in 1872 by the orthodox minority of the Jewish community in Karlsruhe, having earlier separated from the rest of the community in 1869.
    • All gravestones carry Hebrew inscriptions only.
    • The earthly remains from the graves belonging to the Ettlinger family, exhumed from the Mendelßohnplatz cemetery, were re-interred here in graves along the rear wall of this cemetery.
    • This cemetery is not open for visits by the general public.
    SOURCE: University of Heidelberg, Alemannia Judaica and City of Karlsruhe Jüdische Friedhöfe.

  • 4. "New Cemetery" (Liberal) Haid- und Neu-Straße 41 - 45 (Detail - arrow top right).
    LOCATION: The Liberal and Orthodox cemeteries are side-by-side, adjoining of the Karlsruhe City general cemetery.
    IN USE: dedicated in 1876 and still in use now.
    NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 1,034 in 1987.
    DOCUMENTATION:
    • 1987 photographs of all gravestones by Zentralarchiv.
    • 2003 full and complete cemetery documentation including the use of 157 selected gravestone photographs by the State Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamt ed. Guido Kleinberger). This documentation includes a burial register provided by the Cemetery and Funeral Office of the City of Karlsruhe dated 19 March 2002. Zentralarchiv copy : 8 volumes (see Karlsruhe 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 ).
    • Numerous photographs of gravestones and various general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
    PUBLICATIONS:
    • History in Karlsruhe 1988, pages 266-270.
    • Gräber, Grüfte, Trauerstätten. Der Karlsruher Hauptfriedhof by Karl Zahn published by the Stadtarchiv Karlsruhe edited by Ernst Otto Bräunche, 224 pages with 30 colour and 107 black/white photographs, hard cover, ISBN 3-88190-282-1.
    NOTES:
    • In the entrance to the mortuary are commemorative plaques in honour of the fallen WW1 soldiers of the Karlsruhe and Pforzheim Jewish communities.
    • There is also a commemorative stone recording the names of Karlsruhe Jews who were deported and then perished during the Nazi era.
    • Visits of this cemetery only in exceptional circumstances by permission of the Karlsruhe Jewish Community and the City's Cemetery and Burial Office. (Friedhofs- und Bestattungsamt).
    SOURCES: University of Heidelberg, Alemannia Judaica and City of Karlsruhe Jüdische Friedhöfe.

  • 5. Karlsruhe - Grötzingen "Junge Hälden" Werrabronner Straße.
    IN USE: Dedicated around 1900/1905 until 1935 (oldest gravestone identified dated 1905).
    NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 13.
    DOCUMENTATION:
    • 1987 photographs of all gravestones with cemetery layout by Zentralarchiv.
    • 1992 full cemetery documentation with the use of these photographs by the State Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamted. Barabara Döpp.
    • Numerous photographs of gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
    PUBLICATIONS:
    NOTE: Prior to having their own cemetery, the Jewish community in Grötzingen used the cemetery in Obergrombach for burials (Hundsnurscher/Taddey 1968, page 112).
    SOURCES: University of Heidelberg, Alemannia Judaica and City of Karlsruhe Jüdische Friedhöfe.
(translated from German May 2007)

To see information and photographs of individual gravestones in cemeteries in Baden-Wuerttemberg, click on this link and follow the directions on that page.