49°18' N 9°16' E. district of Heilbronn on the river Jagst, 17 km north of Heilbronn. Jews are documented from the mid-13th century and were victims of massacres of 1298 and the Black Death Persecutions of 1348-49. In the 15th century, the community dwindled but revived in the 18th century. Throughout the 19th century, the Jewish population was around 40-50 (3-4% of the total). A small synagogue erected in 1875 still remains. With the Nazi rise to power, nine Jews left for other German cities while subsequently all were deported, six perishing in Auschwitz in 1942-43. Cemetery photo. photo. photos. Jewish history. [Mar 2013]
74861 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz, Peters).
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Eichklingenweg (Detail).
IN USE: From early 18th century until 1937.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 244. Oldest gravestone dated 1690.
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1988 photographs of all gravestones with mapping of graves by Zentralarchiv.
- 1997/98 cemetery documentation including above photographs and 52 individual of gravestone inscriptions by the Office for Historic Monuments (Landesdenkmalamt eds. Margaretha Boockmann jointly with Andrea Göldner).
- Numerous photographs of indiidual gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.
- Photographic overview by Hundsnurscher/Taddey 1968, fig.#160.
- History by Angerbauer 1986, pages. 96, 177 to 179.
- Photographic overview by Theobald 1984, page 97.
- Alemannia Judaica reports that a Jewish cemetery has existed in Neudenau as early as in the Middle Ages, first mentioned in 1492 as a central cemetery also for Jews from around Heilbronn, Wimpfen and from Swabia. This early cemetery was located outside the Upper Gate, acccording to the Neudenau Book of Jurisdiction. A levy in the form of Jews Burial Money was required to be paid by the heirs: 2 Guilders for persons above 20 years of age or 1 Guilder if below. These payments averaged to around 9 Guilders annually, based on 1667 numbers, on the assumption there to have had between 5 and 7 burials. On the other hand, there was no income recorded in 1667 of Jews Burial Money. This could have been due to the fact that there had been no burials during that year or that this levy had been discontinued. It seems that in 1667 only 1 Jew by the name of Manness lived in Neudenau. This cemetery from the Middle Ages is assumed to have subsequently been abandoned. Also mentioned in (Angerbauer 1986, pages 177-178).
- The present cemetery area was dedicated early in the 18th century. It contains some gravestones with legible dates of around 1715. An empty area, used during earlier periods, can no longer be identified in this cemetery.
- This cemetery was also used up to the 20th century for burials by surrounding Jewish communities, in particular the community of Billigheim-Ingenheim.
To see information and photographs of individual gravestones in cemeteries in Baden-Wuerttemberg, click on this link and follow the directions on that page.