Jewish cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Hanau is located today between Mühltorstraße and Jahnstraße. He was not the first Jewish cemetery, however, the previous cemetery was destroyed in the course of the plague (mid-14th century) and it is notknown where this stood.

The Jewish cemetery was established in 1603 for the reestablishment of the Jewish community. Since the establishment of the cemetery, it was under the protection of the then Count of Hanau, Phillipp Ludwig II, which was recorded in the "Urkunde der Judenstättigkeit" (December 28, 1603). This document also recorded other privileges to which the Jews were entitled in return for a protection fee. The burial took place always, no matter if sun, frost, thunderstorm, flood. This is recognizable from the Kabronimbuch.

The first person was buried there in 1605. The last burial took place in 1983. The oldest, preserved gravestone is from 1637. It was expanded twice, due to the over the years many deceased Jews. The first expansion took place in 1712 and the second in 1856. The present Jewish cemetery is 10254m² in size, making it the fifth largest Jewish cemetery in Hesse. It is also one of the oldest in German Jewish history with a history of over 400 years. The Jewish cemetery is the last preserved and venerable memorial to the victims of the persecution of the Jews. Of four old cemeteries in Hanau, the Jewish cemetery (dating from 1603) is the only one still standing today. This is a kind of irony of history, because this Jewish cemetery also had to endure a lot of bad things in the past.

Unfortunately, the Jewish community's coffers were never really full. That is why they leased the grass of the cemetery from 1785 to 1798.

Even this income was not very substantial. For these reasons, the community decided not to lease the grassland anymore, but to auction it, which took place in 1798 (until 1804)