The first mention of a Jewish cemetery in Münster dates back to 1301, which makes it the oldest in Westphalia.
The Jews are thought to have been expelled from Münster or else killed after the plague-related pogrom of 1350. As a result, the synagogue was closed and the cemetery outside the city gates was destroyed. It then served as a kind of quarry: the stones were removed and recycled as spolia in other buildings, in the city walls and gates, and in at least two churches. From the mid-14th century, the new outer wall of the defensive fortifications was constructed over the site of the cemetery. The section of the ramparts known as the "Judenkerkhoff" remained intact for another three centuries but disappeared completely when the citadel was extended in 1661. Today, the site is occupied by the Gymnasium Paulinum school.
Today, only two fragments of gravestones from this medieval cemetery remain. In addition, though, certain sources mention the earlier existence of other stones and their inscriptions.
The oldest surviving Jewish gravestone fragment in Münster
In 2016, archaeological investigations of foundations in the area of Jüdefelderstraße uncovered several hundred spolia that were used here after 1823. They originated from the old St. Aegidius church, which was demolished after its tower collapsed in 1821. This fragment of a Jewish gravestone – very likely from Münster's medieval Jewish cemetery – was probably used in the construction of the church. It dates from year 74 of the sixth millennium (as of the creation of the world according to the Hebrew calendar), i.e. between September 22, 1313 and September 12, 1314. This makes it the oldest surviving fragment of a Jewish gravestone in Münster and Westphalia.
The inscription reads:
[...] | … |
ל[פרט] ע׳׳ד [...] | … year 74 according to the [abbreviated] notation |
הששי [לאלף] | … of the sixth [millennium] |
[אמן] סל[ה] | [Amen] selah |
The second-oldest surviving Jewish gravestone fragment
Until the above-mentioned fragment from 1313/14 was discovered in 2016, another fragment was considered to be the oldest in Westphalia. It was found in 1950 at the “Zwinger” tower by the River Aa embankment. This gravestone of a woman is dated Wednesday, July 26, 1324:
בשם ונפטרה ר׳ יצחק | [ ... here rests ....] of Isaac, and she died with a good name |
בתמוז כ׳ה׳ ד׳ בים טוב | on the 4th day in the 25th of Tammuz |
לאלף לפרט פ׳ד׳ | in the year 84 by the [abbreviated] notation |
עדן בגן מנו הששי | in the sixth millennium. May she rest in the Garden of Eden |
סלה | Selah |
The feminine verb form reveals that the stone commemorates a woman. Whether the deceased was the wife or the daughter of Isaac can no longer be determined.
The original is now kept in the synagogue in Klosterstrasse. Due to its significance - until 2016 it was considered the oldest surviving fragment of a Jewish gravestone in the whole of Westphalia - two replicas have also been made: one is on display in the permanent exhibition of the City Museum and the other has been erected at the Jewish cemetery on Einsteinstrasse.
The gravestone fragment was discovered at a considerable depth in 1950 when remedial work was being carried out east of Neubrückenstrasse bridge near the Zwinger. Spolia in this area had already been mentioned in older sources.
Spolia in the area of the Neubrückentor and the Zwinger
In a letter to Münster town clerk von Boeselager dated August 31, 1818, the Landrabbiner (Chief Rabbi) Abraham Sutro (1784-1869), who is buried in the Jewish cemetery on Einsteinstrasse (R119), documented four stones that had been found among rubble close to the Neubrücken gate. Hermann von Kerssenbroick (1519-1585), the rector of the cathedral school - today's Gymnasium Paulinum - had previously mentioned seeing stones with Jewish inscriptions at the Neubrücken gate in his history of the Anabaptists, written around 1570. These stones had been built into the embankment either side of the River Aa, including in the area close to the public toilets.
Friday, May 13, 1335
נקבר ר׳ אשר הישיש ב׳׳ר אורי הלוי פה | Here is buried the venerable Ascher, son of Uri HaLevi, |
הנפטר בליל שבת י׳׳א באייר צ׳׳ה פרט לאלף הששי | who died on the night of Shabbat, 11th of Iyar 95 in the 6th millennium. |
תהא מנוחתו אצל הצדיקים בגן עדן אמן | May he find rest with the pious ones in the Garden of Eden. Amen |
Thursday, January 16, 1338
נקבר הישיש רבי אברהם ב׳ ר׳ יעקב הכהן פה | Here is buried the venerable Abraham, son of Jacob HaCohen, |
ביום ה׳ י׳׳ו בשבט צ׳׳ח לפ׳ק אשר נפטר | who died on the 5th day, 17th Shevat 98 (short annotation). |
ובתחיית הצדיקים יקום ויחיה במהרה אמן | And at the resurrection of the pious he will rise again soon and live, amen. |
Thursday (before 1350)
נקברה הישרה מ׳ בת ר׳ משלם נפטר פה | Here is buried the upstanding [woman], daughter of Meshullan. She died |
א׳׳ס בג׳׳ע צדקניות אצל נוחתה ותהא קו׳ שבת בלילה | in the night of the holy Shabbat and may she find rest with the pious women in the Garden of Eden. Amen Selah. |
About a fourth fragment, Sutro writes: "the year 73 can be made out on the fragment of a 4th funerary stone." The year 73 of the sixth millennium began on September 2, 1312 and ended on September 21, 1313.
Spolia in the Jüdefelder gate and in the Überwasser quarter
In a chronicle written between 1680 and 1720, the architect and military engineer Lambert Friedrich von Corfey (1668-1733) mentions that the Jüdefelder gate and the city wall were repaired after the plague of 1350 and that Jewish inscriptions were visible in places where stones had been incorporated.
In his 1855 guide to Münster, F. J. Langer mentions gravestones with Hebrew inscriptions that were located in the Überwasser quarter.
Spolia in the tower of St. Lambert's church
Eight gravestones were found in 1887 when the tower of St. Lambert's church was demolished. They had been incorporated into the lower part of the tower after the destruction of the Jewish cemetery. However, only one of the gravestones was legible:
Monday August 21, 1302
[This stone is set] | |
יוסף רי לראש | at the head of Joseph, |
ב׳׳ר ירחמיאל | son of Jerahmeel, |
לפרת ס׳׳ב [בשנת] הנפתר | who died in the year 62 (abbreviated annotation). |
ג׳ יח באב יום | 18th Av., 3rd day. |
The Jewish date corresponds to August 21, 1302, a Monday. However, in the copy of the stone, which is now lost or was destroyed in the Second World War, the final line records the 3rd day (i.e. Tuesday).
Of the 17 or more gravestones mentioned since the 16th century and discovered from the 19th century onward, which dated from between 1302 and 1350, only the two fragments described here have survived.
The medieval Jewish cemetery is marked by a memorial stone at the Gymnasium Paulinum that was unveiled at a ceremony on April 29, 2015. Here you can read about this school’s cultural-remembrance project:
Sources:
Landesarchiv NRW, Abteilung Westfalen, B219, no. 30 and no. 31
Stadtarchiv Münster, Stadtregistratur, Fach 36, no. 3, fol. 45.
Literature:
Diethard Aschoff, Die Juden in der ständischen Gesellschaft, in: Jakobi, Franz-Josef (ed.), Geschichte der Stadt Münster vol. I, Münster 31994, pp. 575–593, here pp. 579–585.
Paul Bahlmann, Zur Geschichte der Juden im Münsterlande, in: Zeitschrift für Kulturgeschichte 2 (1895), pp. 380–409.
Bernhard Brilling / Helmut Richtering / Diethard Aschoff, Westfalia Iudaica. Quellen und Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Westfalen und Lippe, vol. 1: 1005–1350, Münster 21992, here p. 69/no. 47 (gravestone from 1302); p. 77/no. 59 (fragment of 1312/3); p. 89/no. 75a (preserved gravestone from 1324); p. 107f/no. 100 (gravestone from 1335); p. 116/no. 113 (stone from 1338); p. 273f/no. 18 (stone without date) [The above compilation does not follow the converted Gregorian dates of this source edition but the sometimes differing conversions of http://www.nabkal.de/kalrechyud.html which, however, fit better with the weekdays indicated on the gravestones].
Brilling, Bernhard, Der älteste mittelalterliche jüdische Grabstein Westfalens. Zur Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Judenfriedhofs von Münster, in: Westfalen 44 (1966), pp. 212–217.
Brilling, Bernhard, Mittelalterliche Judenfriedhöfe in Westfalen, in: Auf Roter Erde, new series 60, February (1964), p. 1.
Max Geisberg, Die Stadt Münster. Die Ansichten und Pläne, Grundlage und Entwicklung, die Befestigungen, die Residenzen der Bischöfe. Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler von Westfalen 41,1 (Münster 1932).
Albert Huyskens, Geschichte der Juden in Münster, in: Zeitschrift für vaterländische Geschichte und Altertumskunde (Westfalen) 57, 1 (1899), pp. 134-136,
Karl-Heinz Kirchhoff, Zur Lagebestimmung des mittelalterlichen Judenfriedhofs in Münster, in: Helmut Lahrkamp (ed.), Beiträge zur Stadtgeschichte (Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte der Stadt Münster, new edition 11), Münster 1984, pp. 235-244.
Abraham Lewinsky, Zur Geschichte der Juden in Münster (Westfalen), in: Monatsschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums 50,1/2 (1906), pp. 89–93
Gisela Möllenhoff / Rita Schlautmann-Overmeyer, article on Münster in: Historisches Handbuch der jüdischen Gemeinschaften in Westfalen und Lippe, vol. 2, Münster 2008, pp. 487-513; here p. 508f.
N.N., in: Westfälischer Merkur, Münster, December 24, 1890. [Report on the stone from 1302].
Bernd Thier / Michael Brocke / Nathanja Hüttenmeister: Die Spuren der Steine – Neufund eines mittelalterlichen jüdischen Grabsteins in Münster, in: Archäologie in Westfalen-Lippe 2016, pp. 134–138.
Bernd Thier: Auf den Spuren alter Steine quer durch die Stadt – Der Verbleib der Grabsteine vom mittelalterlichen jüdischen Friedhof in Münster nach 1350, in: Westfalen 96 (2018) pp. 61–74.
(compiled by Ludger Hiepel)