DISTRICT: Göttingen,
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: on the ridge of the Lohberg, about 1.3km north-east of Bovenden.
IN USE: Possibly as early as 1680 or 1776 until 1925 (Schaller) or 1931 (Kern) or 1926 (Dietert)
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES:
- 65 partially fragmented gravestones, oldest legible dates from the 1770s and 1780s with the most recent dated 1926 or 1931
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1940 copies of names and dates taken from 38 gravestones by Gerhard Ballin.
- Prior to 1982 photographs of all gravestones with copies and translations of inscriptions by Brigitte Kern (see publications below).
- 1985/86 copies of all gravestone inscriptions together with translations by Professor Schaller.
PUBLICATIONS:
- Kern, Brigitte A A: Der jüdische Friedhof in Bovenden with photographs and copies as well as translations of all Gravestone inscriptions, pub.1982 (LBI).
- History by Busch 1971, page. 63 also tables on pages 37-41.
- History by Dietert 1992, pages 412-421.
NOTES:
- There are references to the existence of a Jewish cemetery in Bovenden as early as the in the 17th century.
- The number of gravestones mentioned above does not even represent half of the reported deaths in the community. This may be due theft of stones as the cemetery was far out of town and not walled. Vandalism will also have played a part, such events having been reported in 1837, 1926, 1928, 1937 and after 1940.
- An information board is displayed on the fence of the meanwhile substantially enlarged cemetery (abt 6500 sq.yds). The cemetery has been in the ownership of the Association of Jewish Communities in Lower Saxony since 1960. Renovations and repairs were carried out in 1965, 1977 and particularly in 1980, 1988 and in 1999, although the cemetery ground itself still remains heavily overgrown by scrubland and remains difficult for comfortable access on foot.
SOURCE: University of Heidelberg and Historisches Handbuch, pages 244-251 (DNB).
(Researched and translated from German May 2009)