Site plans
The Rödelsee Jewish cemetery is more than just a collection of 2,500 gravestones. Made legible, this unique open-air archive is a rich source of cultural-historical knowledge. Because "eternal rest", the inviolability of the dead and thus the quasi-eternal preservation of the burial site is a non-negotiable Jewish commandment, the cemeteries are unique places of relative continuity and, for centuries, of collective memory.
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In recent decades, the cemetery has been recorded in detail – mostly by interested laymen – in its material and non-material substance. Christian Reuther and other photographers documented the gravestones and inscriptions 25 years ago, which have since fallen into disrepair. Michael Schneeberger and others researched the biographies and family histories of the burials, placed in the respective local Jewish history of the villages. Werner Kappelmann has created detailed site plans of individual areas, which enable orientation and making it possible to find grave sites.
All tombstones, including the Star of David on the so-called "priest's house", are oriented to the east (Jerusalem) so that the morning sun can be seen at the resurrection. In the middle of the cemetery there used to be the Tahara House (Mortuary). A large well (4 m in diameter, 38 m deep and about 17 m water level) was located very close to this house.
