DISTRICT: Neustadt a.d.Aisch.- Bad Windsheim.

LOCATION OF CEMETERY:

• Leave Diesbeck (A) on the Dettendorfer Strasse. The cemetery is on the right of the road, marked (B).

IN USE: From 1786 (date of the oldest gravestone) until 1937.

NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: Approximately 300.

DOCUMENTATION:

• Numerous individual gravestone photographs and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judiaca.
• For an extensive private project by Ralf Arndt entitled: Der jüdische Friedhof in Diespeck click here.

PUBLICATIONS:

• In Schwierz - refer to Sources below.
• Michael Trüger: Der jüdische Friedhof in Dispeck, publ. Der Landesverband der Israelitischen. Kultusgemeinden in Bayern. 11. Jahrgang Nr. 71 in December 1996 page 13.
• Adolf Eckstein: Geschichte der Juden im Markgrafentum Bayreuth, 130 pages, publ. B. Seligsberg, Bayreuth 1907 (LBI).
• Baruch Z. Ophir & Falk Wiesemann: Die jüdischen Gemeinden in Bayern 1918-1945. Geschichte und Zerstörung, 511 pages publ. R. Oldenbourg, Munich1979, pages 167-168 (LBI).
• Ilse Vogel: Über das Zusammenleben von Christen und Juden in Diespeck - in preparation, exact title under discussion. For more information please click here.

NOTES:

• Prior to 1786 this community used the cemetery in Ullstadt for burials. In 1786 the present cemetery in Diesbeck was agreed to be laid out for the joint use with the neighbouring community of Pahres. In addition it was also used for burials after 1865 by the community of Neustadt an der Aisch.
• The cemetery contains a group of 9 smaller together with 1 larger commemorative stones in honour and the memory of local Jewish soldiers who lost their lives during WW1.
• This cemetery was desecrated for the first time in July 1930 and again in 1933, when a number of gravestones were uprooted. A most serious case of desecration occurred in March 2007. Around 63 gravestones were uprooted, including those of the war memorial. More than half (40) of the toppled stones were irreparably damaged. The damage to property was far exceeded by the loss in historic value. Two of the vandals, aged 17 and 18, were caught and brought to justice. This case was widely reported through the German media.
• The well maintained cemetery is enclosed by a solid stone wall, has a wrought iron gate and contains a well built mortuary.

SOURCE: Alemannia Judaica and Schwierz, pages 156-157 (LBI).

(Researched and translated from German September 2009)