Remember, LORD, What Has Happened to Us

On the occasion of Jewish Culture Day last Sunday, Red Baron took part in a guided tour of Freiburg's Jewish cemetery.

Our guide was Ruben Frankenstein, author of the book: Denkmal und Name – Der gute Ort Freiburg. Dokumentation des jüdischen Friedhofs (Monument and name – Freiburg, a good place. Documentation of the Jewish cemetery).

Let's go back in history: Following a pogrom in Freiburg in January 1349, when all the Jews in town were murdered, they were hesitant, and only a few came back.

Eventually, the stay of those who settled in Freiburg was only short-lived. As a result of reports of ritual murders of Christians in distant Bavaria, the City Council, after consulting with Duke Leopold, announced the expulsion of all Jews from the pulpits on July 4, 1401.
On February 22, 1424, at the request of the City Council, King Sigismund officially confirmed the decree of 1401, of the Eternal Expulsion of all Jews from Freiburg.

It was not until 450 years later, in 1862, that Jews were allowed to take up permanent residence in Freiburg.

 
In 1863, a Jewish community was established in Freiburg. Seven years later, it laid out its own cemetery on the corner of Elsässer Straße and Rosbaumweg, covering an area of 83 acres. Today, there are approximately 900 mazevot (gravestones).

Our group entered the Jewish cemetery through the gate. Surprisingly, it was not desecrated during the Nazi era. Unlike in many Jewish cemeteries in Alsace in the recent past, grave desecrations did not occur in Freiburg.

Near the entrance, a cluster of gravestones bearing the name Kahn caught Red Baron's eye.

Ruben Frankenstein explained that in many Jewish cemeteries, there is a specific order in which members of different groups are buried. As the descendants of Moses' brother Aaron, the Kohanim are the priestly class and have, in a ritual sense, the duty not to defile themselves with the dead.

Cemeteries are considered a "place of impurity," therefore Kohanim are not allowed to enter a cemetery. So, burial places for them are provided directly near the entrance so that their relatives do not have to go far inside when visiting the grave.

Ruben made all the gravestones we visited speak.

Here lies Hofrat Dr. Gustav Weil, professor of Oriental languages at Heidelberg University.

Weil's surviving relatives were proud of his professorship because in the 19th century, it was difficult for a Jew to rise in the university hierarchy.

     

Here lies Eduard Salomon, candidate of medicine, deeply mourned by his loved ones. 

Eduard died in a duel* at the age of 26, three days before receiving his medical license. The cause was an anti-Semitic insult and a resulting altercation with a fraternity student in a restaurant. Read the full and lengthy story here in German.

*Read about Ferdinand Lassalle, who was another Jew killed in a duel 

The inscription on the pedestal, expressing trust in God, reads:

 
In vain have I sought power
In vain have I exhausted my strength.
But my right is with the Eternal One
My reward is with my God.

           

Therese Loewy committed suicide on October 22, 1940, on the very day when the Jews in Freiburg were rounded up to be transported to the concentration camp Gurs in Vichy, France. She decided to go with dignity on her own terms and not be murdered by Nazi henchmen.

On the Western Front in 1916, Jewish soldiers are celebrating Hanukkah, the commemoration
of the rededication of the Holy Temple, in the snow, showing the nine-armed Menorah.

During World War I, Jewish soldiers fought side by side with their Christian comrades for the emperor and their fatherland.

The Jewish cemetery embraces a war memorial for the many members of Freiburg's Jewish community who fell in World War I.

To our sons who fell in World War I, with gratitude and reverence. The Israel Congregation.

In addition to those who rest here, the following died for their fatherland. 

It follows a list of 24 names.

The Jewish cemetery in Freiburg is a tranquil place and makes you think.

Only once did I have to smile. In colloquial German, Billigheimer stands for a low-cost vendor, someone who is particularly inexpensive or cheap. 

In 1986, a memorial stone was erected with a commonplace inscription in Hebrew and German: "To the Jewish victims of tyranny 1933–1945."

In a cemetery, they should have taken the inscription from Lamentations 5:1.

Remember, LORD, what has happened to us.

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