"Jewish cemeteries are like immense pages of old chronicles or the Scripture, handwritten on the soil with gravestones as letters, and with lanes, bushes and trees as background, dotted with ritual buildings and framed by long walls. The layout of Jewish burial places, the shapes and materials of the graves, their mutual relationships, the content and language of inscriptions, their typography, the elements of gardening, as well as the dialogue with the gentile environment, all tell a vivid story of Jewish emancipation in Central and Eastern Europe. Aside from synagogues, these offer the most substantial material evidence of the once vivid Jewish life of the Old Continent before the Shoa.
This study aims at elucidating the most important aspects of these witnesses to emancipation, their artistic and historical values, which testify to the fruitful coexistence and cultural crossfertilization of European culture and the Judaic heritage from the Gründerzeit to World War Two. It helps choosing the metropolitan Jewish cemeteries that may become part of the UNESCO World Heritage, in order to preserve and interpret them for future generations."
Commissioned by / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin Klosterstr. 47, D – 10179 Berlin
On behalf of / Federal State of Berlin
Text and Photographs / Rudolf Klein
Additional Photographs / Maria László, Anca Majaru, Gesinne Sturm and Eli Tauber
English text editor / Bob Dent
Research of urban context / Viktória Sugár
Design and layout / Mihály Ungvári
On behalf of / Federal State of Berlin
Text and Photographs / Rudolf Klein
Additional Photographs / Maria László, Anca Majaru, Gesinne Sturm and Eli Tauber
English text editor / Bob Dent
Research of urban context / Viktória Sugár
Design and layout / Mihály Ungvári
