The Jewish cemetery in Unterbalbach

Silent witnesses of Jewish life

Since the late Middle Ages the Jewish cemetery of Unterbalbach has been located next to the road to Oberbalbach. In former times it was outside of the village, but today it is situated within the housing estate. On three sides it is framed by walls, in the South by a brook. The old entrance in the North-Western corner is now partly below the street level and is bricked up. Today the access takes place through a double door, wrought-iron gate in the middle of the Northern wall. A few steps are leading down to the cemetery. Within approximately 8,500 square meters you will find close to 1400 gravestones dating back several centuries.

House of eternal life
The cemetery holds a special meaning in Judaism: it is called the “house of eternal life”. The graves are considered to be the personal property of the deceased. The peace of the deceased must not be disturbed as they await the arrival of the Messiah. Because of that the graves are orientated to the East – in the direction of Jerusalem.
The gravestones, especially those made of red sandstone, are quite fragile and potentially unstable.
We ask that visitors respect the following rules:

• No visits on the Shabbat (from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening).
• Male visitors are required to wear a head covering.
• Do not touch the gravestones.
• Do not step on the graves.

Over the course of time deceased from the following Jewish communities in the vicinity have been buried here: in the beginning they were mainly from Bad Mergentheim, Igersheim, Markelsheim, Weikersheim, Ober- and Niederstetten, Laudenbach, Edelfingen, Neunkirchen, Wachbach, Dörzbach, Ailringen and Mulfingen. In later years they also came from Boxberg, Angeltürn, Unterschüpf, Neunstetten and Königshofen.

History of the cemetery
The first documented mention of the cemetery dates back to the 22nd of February 1590. After the extinction of the Sützel family the Teutonic Order, which had transferred its seat of government to Mergentheim in 1529, purchased their property. The Grand Master granted the Jews of Mergentheim the further use of their burial place for a yearly lease. During the following two centuries the cemetery was already extended four times by purchases. The oldest preserved gravestone is from the year 1603.

In the year 1729 there was a controversy between the Jewish communities of Mergentheim and Weikersheim. The conflict was resolved in 1730 when the Count of Hohenlohe allowed the Jews of Weikersheim to maintain their own cemetery.

At the beginning of the 19th century there were fundamental changes to the political landscape of the Holy Roman Empire. The Teutonic Order lost its possessions when the Kingdom of Württemberg and the Grand Duchy of Baden took over its territories. Eventually a conflict over the cemetery developed between the district authority in Boxberg (Baden) and the district authority in Mergentheim (Württemberg). Both agreed that the community of Mergentheim would oversee the administration of the cemetery. This agreement allowed for the Jews from Baden to be buried in Unterbalbach.

In 1902 the “Israelitische Bezirksfriedhofsverwaltung Mergentheim e.V.“ was founded. The purpose of the association was to coordinate the ritual burial of the deceased from the surrounding Jewish communities. The costs for expanding the cemetery and to build a new wall created a financial burden. To help defray the costs, the association asked the descendants of people who are buried here for donations.

The Jewish communities were under heavy pressure after the assumption of power by the National Socialists in 1933. In 1938 the cemetery itself was preserved; but the prayer books being stored there were burned. The Jewish communities were disappearing: before the beginning of the Second World War many members emigrated; after the outbreak of the war Jews were deported to concentration camps. On the 20th of August 1942 the mayor of Mergentheim reported to the County Leader that there were no Jews left in the town. The Jewish communities, which had buried their deceased here for centuries, did not exist anymore.

Today the “Israelistische Religionsgemeinschaft Baden” is charged with preserving the integrity of this sacred burial ground while the town of Lauda-Königshofen is responsible for the physical upkeep of the cemetery.

The gravestones and their symbols
On the oldest gravestones you will find the inscriptions solely in Hebrew. In the beginning and in the end of almost every gravestone are identical phrases: beginning with “Here rests…” or “Here is salvaged…”, and ending with “His/ Her soul shall be part of the covenant of life.”. On the gravestones there are very often symbols having a relation to the family name or to the position within the community.