AWCH Tours Altona ‘ s Jewish Cemetery Local Landmark is a Somber and Fascinating Piece of History
BY DIANA S .
On Sunday , November 7 , a group of almost 20 AWCH members and partners gathered for a tour of the Jewish Cemetery in Altona . We were very fortunate , both because we ( mostly ) avoided a dismal forecast for rain and wind , and also because we had a wonderful tour guide , Irina von Jagow , who is the head of the Stiftung Denkmalpflege Hamburg . Irina ’ s tour was in English and covered much of the history of the cemetery , which , we discovered , is actually two cemeteries in one location : an Ashkenazi cemetery , founded by Jews from Germany , Eastern Europe , and Russia , and a Sephardic cemetery , founded by Jewish immigrants from Portugal . Irina pointed out the important section of the grounds dedicated to famous and revered rabbis , and she described in detail the symbolism of images and text on the tombstones . I found it very interesting to learn that Jewish cemeteries , unlike many Christian cemeteries , are not intended to be used as public places for reflection , and when they took over supervision of this cemetery , the Stiftung Denkmalpflege had to agree they would not add benches or otherwise encourage visitors to use the grounds as a park .
The Jewish Cemetery in Altona is a somber yet absorbing place to learn about the history and burial traditions of the different groups of Jews who have lived in Germany , as well as about the historical relationship of Altona to Hamburg . I hope we ’ ll organize another tour in the future and highly encourage anyone who missed this one to join .
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