DISTRICT: Bamberg.
LOCATION OF CEMETERY:
- About 1 mile north of Buttenheim on the 2210 road to Seigendorf, on the edge of the woods, marked B.
IN USE: From 1819
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: About 260.
DOCUMENTATION:
- Numerous individual gravestone photographs and general cemetery views in Alemannia Judiaca.
PUBLICATIONS:
- In Schwierz - refer to Sources below.
- Michael Trüger: Der jüdische Friedhof in Buttenheim, publ. Der Landesverband der Israelitischen. Kultusgemeinden in Bayern. 11. Jahrgang Nr. 75 in December 1997 page 17(Abstract).
NOTES:
- The cemetery was constructed with the financial cooperation of the Jewish communities of Hirschaid und Gunzendorf, with Hirschaid being the registered property owner. There is a well built mortuary located close to the cemetery entrance. Wire mesh fencing, with a wrought-iron gate, surrounds the cemetery, which is kept in well-tended condition by the city of Buttenheim.
- Severe damage and desecration of the cemetery occurred in 1931, when 67 gravestones were toppled and partially destroyed. This outrage was widely reported in the Jewish media in Germany. Another case of vandalism took place in 1939, when 30 gravestones were toppled.
- The cemetery is now protected under a preservation order for sites of historic interest
- Levi Strauss, the inventor of "jeans", lived in Buttenheim prior to emigrating to the USA. The house where he was born in 1829 is now the much visited Levi Strauss Museum.
SOURCE: Alemannia Judaica and Schwierz, pages 212-213 (LBI).
(Researched and translated from German August 2009)