Eckenheimer Landstraße 238, 60320 Frankfurt am Main
Eckenheimer Landstraße 238,
60320 Frankfurt am Main
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New Jewish Cemetery

Designed by government master builder Fritz Nathan, the new Jewish cemetery at Eckenheimer Landstrasse 238 was established between 1928 and 1929. The austerely cubic architecture follows the prevailing New Objectivity style and also integrates classical elements such as portico, axiality and peristyle.1 The sole façade décor is provided by the masonry bond made of reddish brown Dutch clinker brick. The 54,532 sq. m tract of land borders the Main Cemetery to the north. The entryway is a triple portal crowned by the Hebrew text of Psalm 116:9: “I shall walk before Hashem in the lands of the living.” Inside the gates is a paved courtyard surrounded by a colonnade. This is flanked to the left by the chapel and mortuary and to the right by the administration building. The graves are reached by crossing the inner courtyard and passing through another portal, which bears again the text of Psalm 116:9 in German. The gravesites, fields delineated by hedges, radiate from a main axis. To each side are 800 identical gravesites of Frankfurt Jews who committed suicide in the wake of the deportation orders; they all carry the inscription, “Died in sanctification of the Divine Name.”2
  1. Risse, Heike (1984): Frühe Moderne in Frankfurt am Main 1920-1933. Architektur der zwanziger Jahre in Frankfurt a. M.: Traditionalismus, Expressionismus, neue Sachlichkeit. Frankfurt am Main: Societäts-Verlag, S. 203; Kalusche, Bernd; Setzepfandt, Wolf-Christian (2002): Frankfurt am Main Architekturführer. Berlin: D. Reimer, S. 44.
  2. Meier-Ude, Klaus; Senger, Valentin (2004): Die jüdischen Friedhöfe in Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt am Main: Fachhochschulverlag Frankfurt, S. 84.