Sarre-Union (German: Saar Buckenheim) consists of two older towns unified on 16 June 1794. On the east bank of the Sarre river is the town of Bouquenom (German: Bockenheim) and on the west bank the town of Ville Neuve de Sarrewerden (German: Neu-Saarwerden) photos and more information, in French only. Saar-Union, or rather Bouquenom, a name even today better known and preferred by the population of Alsace, does not appear on the list of the Count of Jewry in the Province of Alsace of 1784. In effect, Bouquenom then was not part of the Province of Alsace. Having belonged during several generations and to the the counts of Nassau, the cities of Bouquenom and Sarrewerden were given up in 1705 to Lorraine and finally incorporated in 1766. Bouquenom and Neusaarwerden (today the new City) constructed by the counts of Nassau on the banks of the Saar, were united in 1793 by decree of Convention into the single village named Saar-union. This name is therefore of comparatively recent date. Before the Revolution, information on the history of Jewry is rare and is interspersed. 1. In the discounts of 1577 of the Cellars of the Countess, it is a matter of a Jew of Bouquenom who had accepted two measurements of wheat. (Mathis, Leiden p. 61. 2. By governmental prescription of October 20th. 1721 the single Sacris Coblentz family that lived there since 1693 had approval of residence. (Collection of the Prescriptions of Lorraine II. 510, X. 182, etc). 3. * In 1770 they counted four Jewish families in Bouquenom and they each had to pay levies of 18 pounds yearly soon augmented by 60 pounds," having seen their good deals". However, birth and death certificates of the Registry office during the first years of Revolution, assume Israelites' certain inflow for this short period. The order of Napoleon in 1808 for fixed surnames shows 196 Jews. In 1790, Bouquenom, as so many others small cities, had opposed admitting Jews' as citizen as citizens. The number of Jews increased to 1951, according to Jos. Bloch's Calendar of 5717 showed 383 souls. See photos and more information in French only. [January 2008]
Useful books:
§ Wolber, dans Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire de Saverne 1951.
§ Schoumaker, Erckmann-Chatrian, Paris 1933.
§ Pfarrer Joseph Levy, Geschlchte der Stadt Saarunion. Baquol, Dictionnaires.
- CEMETERY: A little before the Revolution, they buried their dead in a trench of the ancient surrounding wall Steig. Just after the revolution an actual burying ground was begun. "It is with deep sadness and great indignation that I learnt of the profanation of the Jewish Burying ground of Saar-Union (Wednesday, January 17th, 2001). It is a place which is close to my heart particularly because it is the cradle of a part of my family. It is our duty to raise our voices against this attack, before a period of shouting ‘death to Jews' again makes itself heard in the public places of Strasbourg, and to unite against such acts." Michel Rothé: http://judaisme.sdv.fr/synagog/basrhin/r-z/sarre.htm [January 2008]
- [UPDATE] Hundreds of Gravestones Desecrated at French Jewish Cemetery [February 2015]
- [UPDATE] French teens face preliminary charges in cemetery vandalism About 250 graves and a Holocaust memorial were damaged. Two other cemeteries, not Jewish, also were vandalized. [February 2015]