Project number: [JOWBR, AUS-05494]

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The The JEWISH Cemetery of ZELEM / DEUTSCHKREUTZ, AUSTRIA

The age of the Jewish cemetery, located in Friedhofsgasse, is not 100% clear. In a letter, written by Duke Esterhazy in 1720, the Jews are granted the right to have a cemetery of their own. Accoding to the Chevra Kadischa book, which was rescued by a member of the community in 1938 when expelled from Deutschkreutz, the first burial took place in 1722. This book lists the names and date of  death from the year 1722  till 1938, the year of the end of the community.  It includes approx. 1,600 names.

During the Shoah, many gravestones were stolen. In 1944 the remaining stones were destroyed and  used for the construction of the “Südostwall“, which the Nazis erected hoping that this would stop the Soviet army. The wall was constructed with a workforce of 80,000 slave laborers, including approximately 30,000 Hungarian Jews.

Today there are 38 gravestones standing on the cemetery. The oldest one is integrated in the wall of the cemetary and shows the name of David ben Zwi Katz. There is also a memorial to the 284 Hungarian-Jewish slave laborers who died in the slave labor camp and were buried in a mass grave  in the cemetery.

In the early 1990's the wall of the cemetery was restored, with the financial assistance of the government of Burgenland and descendents of former members of the Jewish community, organized by Mr Shalom Fried.

For more information, please see www.misrachi.at