Cemetery

Gräber und Denkmäler unter Bäumen in ruhiger Waldlichtung im Jüdischen Friedhof Preußisch Oldendorf. — CC-BY-SA | Stadt Preußisch Oldendorf

The Jewish cemetery in Pr. Oldendorf is the only and last cultural heritage site of the former synagogue community of Preußisch Oldendorf, whose roots go back to 1677.

The opening of this cemetery was authorized by the Prussian King Frederick the Great on October 24, 1740. Former Jewish citizens of Pr. Oldendorf, Holzhausen, Lübbecke and Levern lie in this cemetery.

Today's cemetery covers an area of approx. 700 square meters. There are 58 gravestones on this cemetery. These 58 gravestones or gravestone remains (sunken or destroyed) with their inscriptions, their symbols and the way they are designed provide information about the size and scope of the former Jewish community, about their burial rites, about the position of the Jews in their community and in their surroundings, about their faith, about the process of gradual integration into the society of this region in the 19th and 20th centuries and about the abrupt end of this process and the existential end of the Jewish community during the National Socialist era.