International Jewish Cemetery Project
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies

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MÜNCHEN, Bavaria: (many postal codes) (Gerz)
(MUENCHEN, MUNICH), Bavaria
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: 1
Old: Thalkirchner Str. 240, Munich 81371.
IN USE: From 1816, still in use.
NUMBER OF GRAVESTONES: About 6000.
SOURCE
  • Der Gute Ort: Ausstellung zum Alten Israelitischen Friedhof an der Thalkirchner Strasse; by Clemens, Wolfgang J.; Begleitheft.-Muenchen: Historischer Arbeitskreis Sendling, 1991.- 15 pages.
  • We visited in August 2000. The local Jewish community center gave us the phone number, so we called and made an appointment as suggested. The cemetery is beautifully kept and the attendant was most helpful. She was able to locate most of the graves we sought and had records with the death dates and ages of my ancestors plus the current contact where there was one." This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. [June 2001]
HISTORY:
  • A Jewish cemetery was first mentioned in 1416, situated between Moosach and the Rennweg. Up to this time the community had to bury their Dead in the Regensburg cemetery. The Rennwegis the route Schleissheimer/Lerchenauer Strasse, suggesting that the cemetery was somewhere between Schleissheimer Strasse and Moosach. It is assumed that this cemetery was destroyed, following the expulsion of the Jews from the city in 1442. According to a 19th century report, the actual cemetery location was in the grounds of Dachauer Strasse 24, supporting an earlier report of its location, although no trace of a cemetery has ever been found. A Jewish community was not re-established again in Munich until the end of the 18th century. At that time they had to bury their dead in the Kriegshaber cemetery near Augsburg.
COMMENTS:
  • The Alte Israelitische Friedhof (the Old Jewish Cemetery) was dedicated on 24th March 1816 in the Thalkirchner Strasse. On 31st October 1837 the "Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums" reported a cost of around 12,000 Gulden as the purchase price of the ground and the construction of the mortuary etc. The community reached the target in barely 4 days. The cemetery was enlarged in 1854, 1871 and 1881. It is surrounded by a high brick wall, which had to be renewed and lengthened in 1881 to a length of 575 meters. Memorial gravestones worth seeing are those of Leopold von Klenze (1784-1864) an architect, painter and writer. He was the Court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I.
LOCATION OF CEMETERY: 2
NEW: Garchinger Strasse 37 Munich 80805 (near Domag Strasse) (Neuer Israelitische Friedhof).
IN USE: -
  • from 1908 until the present, divided into 12 sections and surrounded by a concrete wall nearly 1 kilometre long.
COMMENT:
  • This cemetery holds the graves amongst others of the politicians Eugen Leviné (1883-1919) and Kurt Eisner (1867-1919) and that of the writer Gustav Landauer (1870-1919).
SOURCE: Alemannia Judaica.
PUBLICATIONS:
  • Steinerne Zeugnisse juedischen Lebens in Bayern; eine Dokumentation, 2nd edition by Israel Schwierz, Muenchen: Bayerische Landeszentrale fuer politische Bildungsarbeit 1992, ISBN 3-87052-398-0, 368 pp. [1st ed. 1988, ISBN 3-87052-393-X, 352 pp.]. Synagogen und juedische Friedhoefe in Muenchen, published by Wolfram Selig, with contributions by Gabriele Dischinger [et al.] Muenchen, Aries Verlag, [1988] page 191. illus., facsims., plans. 29 cm. Bibliography: pages. 189-190. ID # q NA 4690 S44 Source: LBI.
  • Ein Gang durch Muenchens juedische Friedhoefe by Harburger, Theo:-I.u: Bayerische israelitische Gemeindezeitung 8 (1932), pages 129-132.
  • Von Efeu und Moos ueberwuchert: Besuch im israelitischen Friedhof an der Ungererstrasse by Friedrich Karin in: Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Muenchen v. 8.-9.11.1986, pages 17-18.
NOTES:
Memorials to Fallen Jewish soldiers in WW1: more information and/or
photographs in "Haus der Bayrischen Geschichte", (click on City Index.)
COMMENT:
  • There is a Jewish memorial at the site of the infamous Nazi concentration camp at nearby Dachau. Another memorial at Connolly Strasse is for the Israeli athletes murdered by the PLO 5 Sep 1972: David Berger, Seew Friedman, Josef Gutfreund, Elieser Halfin, Josef Romano, Amizur Shapira, Kehat Shorr, Mark Slavin, Andre Spitzer, Jaakow Springer, Mosche Weinberger.
SOURCES:
[Researched and translated from German January 2008]