Aufseß, Jewish cemetery

Aufseß is located in the middle of Franconian Switzerland on the Castle Road and the Franconian Beer Road. The river of the same name flows through the village. 
To the place belong today ten parts of the municipality.

Possibly Jews already lived in Aufseß in the 14th century, however, their presence is provable only by the community foundation in the outgoing 17th century.  Around 1720 a house used as a prayer room could be acquired, in this time also the plant of a cemetery took place. The cemetery was occupied from 1722 to 1937.

In the 19th century the Jewish community grew. If it counted around 1810 still 85 heads (about ¼ of the total population), it reached its greatest strength around 1864 with 115. In 1900 a new synagogue was inaugurated, but due to emigration the community steadily lost members, in 1910 only 55 Jews lived in the village, in 1933 11, and the last five remaining Jews were deported as a result of the Pogrom Night in 1938. In 1939 a local newspaper reported that "the district of Ebermannstadt was now completely free of Jews".

From the center of the village, one drives northward on the road "Im Tal" (St 2189) in the direction of Hollfeld. Shortly before the end of the village, at the sign "Gasthof Stern", one turns left into the street "Obere Brücke", and turns right at its end into the Brunner Weg. Follow this road until the end of the development, where you park your car and continue straight ahead on a dirt road for about 400 meters. To the left of the path the cemetery.

Inside the perimeter wall (in many places well overlooked) are almost 150 gravestones from the period between 1735 and 1938. Since the gate is locked, visitors have deposited numerous stones instead of on the graves on the perimeter wall near the gate.