This commune is a sous-préfecture of the Meurthe-et-Moselle département with a population of 20,500. Known for its crockery, railroad equipment, textiles, and wooden toys are also made here. In 1785-1786, the synagogue of Lunéville was the first one built in the Kingdom of France since the 13th, or even the 12th century, by "permission" of the king Louis XVI, who granted this favor at the request of Abraham Isaac Brisac, property manager of this community of about thirty families. Jewish worship was tolerated and the building placed a little away from the public highway, behind a home destroyed in 1914 by arson. The charming and elegant synagogue was constructed by the architect Charles Augustine Piroux in Lorraine architectural tradition. Covered with pink sandstone from Vosges, the decoration of the facade manifested, before its beating during the Revolution, the recognition of the Jewish community by Louis XVI with a proliferation of royal symbols. This synagogue introduces the unique feature of three doors differentiated for men, women and children (who can so go out of the synagogue without disturbing the service). Miraculously preserved in both World Wars, it followed the evolution of the city and the Jewish community. Now part of the artistic heritage of the city, it was the first one in Lorraine to be inscribed to the Inventory of Ancient monuments in 1975 and 1980. http://www.viejuive.com/associations/communautes/lunevile.htm has a photo. [January 2008]
BOOK:
Job, Françoise. Les Juifs de Lunéville aux 18e et 19e siècles » Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1989, 324 p. (Ref. L023).
Sylvain Job, Françoise Job and Claude Freund. Le Cimetière Israélite Régional de Lunéville (1759-1998), (with the collaboration of Jean Ginsburger and Jean-Pierre Bernard). 80 pages - 2nd edition Paris, 1999. Book Includes information on gravestones from around the French Revolution, old picture of the Lunéville cemetery, and a few pictures of gravestones. Map of the cemetery and location of the graves in the corresponding squares. Index of family names from 1000 graves, with more than 1200 names, including soldiers killed for France.Deaths were recorded at Luneville, Baccarat, Charmes, Donnelay, Herbeviller, Rosieres-aux-Salines, Vic sur Seille and other villages. Each tomb is identified by the corresponding square, the row and a grave number. The surname and given name(s) of the deceased are listed, as are those of the eventual spouse, the death date and place, the age at death and the existence of an inscription in Hebrew. An alphabetical name index makes it easier to find a tomb. These data are complemented by those of the vital records and a list of ruined tombs. It is at the same time a work to preserve the memory of the cemetery and a genealogical tool. It allows us to evaluate the successive arrivals of newcomers to Luneville: first the people from Alsace-Lorraine after 1871, then the Eastern European immigrants, mainly after WW1, and finally of the "repatriated" from North Africa after 1962. [January 2008]
Le cimitiere de Luneville: rue Alfred Lévy, 54500 Lunéville. Officially created in 1791 on a field of more ancient repose of about thirty years, the cemetery was hidden, but not underground. It served as the régional burying ground for the small neighboring communities of the départements of Meurthe-et-Moselle and Vosges. [January 2008]