Protests Removal of Cologne Cemetery

(J. T. A. Mail Service)

There is a great deal of feeling among the Jewish population of Cologne over the danger threatening the Jewish cemetery at the Bonn Gate, which the Municipality intends to cover over for building a new city market.

The cemetery was for centuries a place of burial for the Jews of Cologne, one of the most ancient Jewish settlements in Germany, dating back to Roman times. The Jews were expelled from Cologne and the resting-places of their dead were forgotten. A few years ago workmen uncovered skeletons there and after a great deal of effort the cemetery was reconsecrated by both the Jewish communities in Cologne. Steps were taken to make the cemetery forever the property of the Jews of Cologne.

“Now the City of Cologne has decided to build the new Municipal market on the Bishop’s Way where the cemetery lies, as if there was no other place on which to build the market,” writes the “Koelner Juedisches Wochenblatt.” “Everyone agrees,” it saiys, “that the present market no longer suffices for the requirements of a big city like Cologne. But we must protest against the ancient cemetery at the Bonn Gate being converted into a market place. It is blasphemous and an affront to the most sacred feeling of Cologne Jewry.

“On a previous occasion,” the paper recalls, “the Railway Administration wanted the site, but the Cardinal Archbishop of Cologne intervened and the cemetery was not touched. But the Municipality intends to seize the cemetery. It hurts that a private organization like the Railway Administration heeded the protests of the Jews and that the Municipality ignores them. The Cologne Jewish Community will never voluntarily surrender its claims to the site. If the Municipality confiscates it the Jews of Cologne will not cease to protest and their protest will be taken up far outside the Walls of Cologne.