BAD NAUHEIM incorporating STEINFURTH 61231 Hesse (Gerz, Peters).

DISTRICT: Wetteraukrei.

LOCATION OF CEMETERIES:

• I. Oldest cemetery in the woods of the Johannisberg.

• II. second oldest cemetery in Homburger Strasse (Detail).

• III. new cemetery in a separate section of the general City cemetery in Homburger Strasse 76 (Detail).

• IV. Steinfurth cemetery.

IN USE:

• I. from the 17th century until 1866.

• II. from 1865/66 until 1902.

• III. from 1902 onwards

• IV. last burial 1920 (Simon Löser 1833-1920)

NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES:

• I. in 1921 only three gravestones were counted, now there remain only two.

• II. approximately 50 gravestones remain. These include graves of visitors to this spa town from Poland, Russia and so on.

• III. numbers of gravestones not reported but these also include those of visitors from abroad.

• IV. only three gravestones remain.

DOCUMENTATION:

• Numerous photographs of individual gravestones and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judaica.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Brigitte Faatz : Was bleibt nach hundert Jahren? : ein Rückblick auf die Bad Nauheimer Friedhofsgeschichte ; Alter Friedhof an der Mittelstraße 1802 - 1902 ; Neuer Friedhof an der Homburger Straße 1902 - 2002 pub: Stadtarchiv Bad Nauheim 2002.(DNB).

• Paul Arnsberg: Die juedischen Gemeinden in Hessen; Anfang, Untergang, Neubeginn publ. Frankfurt am Main Societaets-Verlag 1971 (LBI).

NOTES:

• Up to 1840 the Steinfurth Jewish community used the cemetery of the Frankfurt - Bergen-Enkheim community for burials.

• There was publicity in the media in August and September 1900 regarding difficulties in raising enough money to cover the construction costs of a mortuary. Together with the help of contributions made by Jewish visitors who came to this spa town from abroad, the successful publicity raised sufficient funds, to cover the shortfall of between 3-4000 Marks,.

• About 14½ miles north east of Bad Nauheim, the former cloisters of the Kloster Arnsburg, are now the burial ground for 447 victims of WW2. Amongst this number are the graves of 81 women and 6 men who were murdered by the Nazi SS on the 26th March 1945. They were displaced persons who had been employed as forced labourers in nearby factories. Their earthly remains had been brought here in 1960 by the German War Graves Association. A memorial plaque for these victims clearly indicates that they had come from several different countries and had been murdered by the SS and some police units.

SOURCES Alemannia Judaica.

(Researched and translated from German October 2008)