The old Jewish cemetery is located on the southern slope of the Burgberg. There are 55 recognizable gravesites in the cemetery. Of these, 47 are marked by gravestones, some with Hebrew and German inscriptions. Eighteen mostly smaller stones are arranged in two arches. Twenty-nine further gravestones are arranged in four rows. However, there must have been many more burials here, as some recognizable mounds bear no gravestones and debris from broken stones lies at the edge of the cemetery. According to the records of the Jewish community, around 170 people from Schwalenberg and the surrounding villages must have been buried here since 1761 - which is at least how old the cemetery is. (*) Whether the stones really mark the graves of the people whose names are on them is also doubtful.
(*) Brillig, B.: "Die jüdischen Gemeinden" in Kirchen und Religionsgemeinschaften der Provinz Westfalen, Beiträge zur Geschichte der preußischen Provinz Westfalen, BD 2, Münster 1978
Weather
