Old Jewish Cemetery

In 1814, a plot of land was purchased by the Jewish community and a cemetery was built on it.

In 1917, the Land Rabbi Dr. David Mannheimer suggested the construction of a mourning hall. Initially, the legacy of the Zwischenahn Jewess Emilie Cohn (1844-1917) was to be used for the construction. Later, community member Leo Leiser Trommer donated the hall in honor of his deceased son (Arthur Trommer). On May 1, 1921, the mourning hall was ceremonially opened.

During the Second World War 54 Russian prisoners of war from nearby factories were buried in the Jewish cemetery. A collective grave was later built for them and a memorial stone was erected in 1950 . During the war, a small circular bunker was also built on the site.

The cemetery has repeatedly been the victim of vandalism, especially the mourning hall was vandalized several times, smeared and set on fire. In the course of the so-called  "Reichskristallnacht" all wooden furnishings were set on fire. Thanks to the sturdy construction, the foundation walls of the building remained. In September 1945, the cemetery was restored by order of the Allied military government.

In 1970, former Oldenburg rabbi Prof. Leo Trepp visited the cemetery and reported on its condition: "The bunker in the cemetery was gone. The mass grave of the Russians was well provided and dignified by a small memorial plaque. The cemetery, which like the other cemeteries of the Jews in the Oldenburg region from the reparation payments to the Oldenburg community was now cared for by the Jewish regional community in Hanover, lay quietly between the houses of Osternburg. Here alone was still community, the community no longer existed."

In 1975, the mourning hall was fully restored. The last time the mourning hall was restored in 2018, after it was again desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti.