WORMS: Rhineland-Palatinate

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Coat of arms of Worms

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate on the Rhine River. 2004 population: 85,829. Alternate medieval name:  Varmayza or Vermaysa (ורמיזא, ורמישא), The Jewish community established in the late 10th century had its first synagogue erected in 1034. In 1096, 800 Jews were murdered by crusaders and local mob. The Jewish Cemetery in Worms, dating from the 11th century, is believed to be the oldest surviving in situ in Europe. The Rashi Synagogue (1175) carefully reconstructed after its desecration on Kristallnacht, is the oldest in Germany. Prominent students, rabbis and scholars of Worms include Shlomo Yitzhaki (Rashi). Rabbi Gershom ben Judah (Rabbeinu Gershom) explicitly prohibited polygamy for the first time. For hundreds of uninterrupted years the Jewish Ghetto was the center of Jewish life until Kristallnacht in 1938, when much was destroyed. Worms today has a very small Jewish population and no recognizable Jewish community exists. However, renovations in the 1970s and 1980s of many  buildings of the Ghetto can be seen in a close-to-original state, preserved as an outdoor museum. In 2010 the synagogue was fire bombed. Eight corners of the building were set ablaze, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a window. However Kurt Beck, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, condemned the attack.  Wikipedia. [August 2010]

CEMETERY: 67549, 67550, 67551 Rhineland-Palatinate (Gerz, Peters)

Wikipedia. [August 2012] The Jewish Cemetery in Worms or Heiliger Sand is called the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe except for the Jewish sections of the Roman catacombs. The oldest tombstone still legible (for Yaakov habahur) dates from 1076/77. The cemetery was closed in 1911 when a new cemetery was consecrated. Some family burials continued until the late 1930s. The older part contains about 1300 tombstones. The newer part (on the wall of the former city fortifications and acquired after 1689, has more than 1200. The cemetery is protected and cared for by the city of Worms, the Jewish community of Mainz-Worms, and the Landesdenkmalamt of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is being documented and researched since 2005 by the Salomon L. Steinheim-Institute for German-Jewish History at the University of Duisburg-Essen. All its medieval inscriptions will be available online in late 2012. [August 2010]

Pictures of headstones

history. [February 2004]

Jewish cemetery: tombstone images online. A fee charged. [April 2010]

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Parent Category: GERMANY