One of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Bavaria is located in Georgensgmünd in Middle Franconia.
(Photo: Martin Siepmann/imago/imagebroker)
With five “Way of the Dead” plaques in Georgensgmünd (Roth district), a lesser-known part of Jewish history is to be made public. Display boards at five different locations in the community show that people of the Jewish faith used to come from the surrounding communities to the town center to bury their dead in the Jewish Association Cemetery in Georgensgmünd, says the Protestant pastor Cornelia Meinhard. The funeral processions came from Hilpoltstein, Windsbach, Schwabach or Roth, some covering more than 20 kilometers.
Meinhard points to a map on which the paths of the dead are precisely marked. The different duchies of that time are color coded. The members of the Jewish faith “wormed their way” between them, because each duchy determined for itself how high it set its tariffs. An entry in the Eichstätt customs register from 1719 states that eight guilders were charged for “a dead Jew”, while only one guilder was charged for a calf. In order not to have to pay this duty, the funeral procession moved on hidden paths in the direction of Georgensgmünd, explains Shoshana Sauerbier-Tietz from the Department for Public Relations, Culture and Tourism. This often led to routes off the regular traffic routes, through forests and over fields, for which the term “Jewish routes” would have survived into today’s parlance.
Such a funeral procession not only consisted of the relatives, but was also accompanied by the “Chevra Kadischa”, the Society of the Dead. “The plaques are intended to explain part of what it meant to be Jewish,” says Sauerbier-Tietz, “what adversities one was exposed to and what difficulties there were.” According to Jewish belief, the deceased should be buried on the day of death if possible. A steep road climbs up a hill from the first Totenweg sign on the market square. Here you get to one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Bavaria. Today it includes 1800 graves. The oldest tombstone has been here since 1594. The centuries have left their mark on the tombstones, which are mostly made of sandstone. Meinhard reports that this is also the intention: the transience should be seen.
The Georgensgmünder are currently in the process of digitally capturing all gravestone inscriptions, says the pastor. This memory of the deceased is particularly important for relatives who now live abroad and want to preserve the memory of their Jewish ancestors. Meinhard reports on some visits by Jewish descendants from the USA and England in Georgensgmünd. Even more has happened in Georgensgmünd in recent years to preserve the memory of the once large Jewish community. An audio guide including 3-D animation was created in order to be able to explore the synagogue and Jewish life. Touching and exciting: the reappearance of the former Torah curtain after 80 years and the history of the extensive research.
Exhibitions and projects have always been made possible by financial support from the EU program “Leader”, says Sauerbier-Tietz. This also includes a 3D animation of the synagogue built in 1734, which brings the artistic wall and ceiling painting inside the prayer room back to life. But even without 3D glasses, the decorations can still be seen in some parts of the room thanks to painstaking restoration work. Sauerbier-Tietz looks through the interior of the synagogue. You can never stop remembering the past and showing that things can be different, she says: “By gathering here again, celebrating together and simply always showing that there is still life here.”