DISTRICT: Hildesheim.
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: Hoher Escher 2 in town centre.
IN USE: From 1819 until 1934.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: 58 including a few fragments.
DOCUMENTATION:
- 1989 photographs of all gravestones with mapping and translations of inscription of graves by Landesverband/Zentralarchiv.
NOTE:
- Prior to 1819 the Gronau Jewish community used a burial site, whose location is now unknown. The current walled-in cemetery was established on 23rd March 1819, based on a contract between the town council and the Gronauer Jewish community.
- The cemetery ground was sold to a private buyer in 1941 but ownership reverted to the city in 1978. The cemetery was declared a National Historic Monument in 1994 and thereafter reconstructed. During the Nazi era this cemetery was destroyed and the gravestones removed . When they were returned during reconstruction it was not possible to reposition the stones over the corresponding former graves.. Much of the history of this cemetery and the local Jewish community is contained in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Stadt Gronau (Leine) - Schriftreihe des Stadtarchivs, Jahrgänge 1991-1993, Jahrgang 1995 und 1996. Information obtained from: Stadt Archiv Gronau.
SOURCES: University of Heidelberg and Historisches Handbuch, pages 669-670 (DNB) .
(Researched and translated from German March 2009)