View over the Old Jewish Cemetery, “Judensand”

The Old Jewish Cemetery »Judensand« in Mainz is the oldest known Jewish cemetery in Ashkenaz – in the region northwest and in the middle of Europe. Here and on the Old Jewish Cemetery in Worms, Jewish burial culture in Ashkenaz started to evolve. In Mainz, expulsion of the Jews had led time and again to desecrations and change of use of the »Home of Eternity«. The city and citizens used tombstones as construction material. From the 1820’s onward, new construction works in Mainz brought numerous medieval tombstones back to light.