GENERAL
Virtual Jewish History Tour, Luxembourg
Les cimetières juifs du Luxembourg (The Jewish Cemeteries of Luxembourg)
A French-language article by Laurent Moyse providing details on the five Jewish cemeteries in the Grand Duchy: Clausen, Bellevue, Esch-sur-Alzette, Ettelbruck, and Grevenmacher. The article is taken from a brochure on the Jews of Luxembourg published in GenAmi, the magazine of the French Jewish Genealogy Association.
INDIVIDUAL SITES
LUXEMBOURG CITY
Synagogue
45 Avenue Monterey
2163 Luxembourg
Dedicated on 28 June 1953, this was one of the first synagogues in Europe to be rebuilt after World War II. It replaced an elaborate, domed Moorish-style building of 1894, which was destroyed in 1941-43. The current building elegantly combines Art Deco and early Modernist motifs. The Great Synagogue also houses the Jewish community’s offices. See pictures by Jono David HERE.
Jewish Cemeteries
Clausen-Malakoff Jewish Cemetery (Old Jewish Cemetery)
Rue Jules Wilhelm (Passage de Treves)
The oldest Jewish cemetery in Luxembourg, established in 1817 on a sloping site near Tour Malakoff, an old entrance to the city. It remained in use until the 1890s. About one hundred gravestones survive, though most that predate the 1840s are now illegible. The oldest are towards the bottom of the hill. The cemetery was significantly damaged during the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg, as well as by landslides in the 1960s. It is owned and maintained by the city authorities.
Click here to see photos of the cemetery by Jono David
Bellevue Jewish Cemetery (New Jewish cemetery)
10 Rue des Cerises, Limpertsberg
Bellevue is the largest Jewish cemetery in the country and is still in use. The site was acquired by the Jewish community in May 1883 after the Clausen cemetery had become too small. The gravestones are inscribed in German, French and Hebrew. The cemetery has been owned and maintained by the city authorities since 1961.
Alemannia-Judaica page in German about the history and Jewish cemeteries of Luxembourg City
ESCH-SUR-ALZETTE
Synagogue
52 Rue du Canal
Esch-sur-Alzette
4051 Luxembourg
Located near the border with France, this is Luxembourg’s second-largest city and site of one of the country’s two active synagogues. The Romanesque-style synagogue that was built here in 1899 was destroyed in 1941. See PHOTO. This synagogue was rebuilt in the 1950s in an austere style derived from that of the original, with an apsed basilican plan, with a women’s balcony at the rear, and tall thin stained glass windows. Click to see photos.
An open plaza (Place de la Synagogue) lies on the site of the destroyed synagogue. Here, three stele form a Holocaust Memorial commemorating the deported Jews of the town; one is etched with the image of the destroyed synagogue. See PHOTOS.
Jewish cemetery
The cemetery, located near the northern entrance to the town, was built in 1905 and later enlarged. It contains about a hundred graves.
ETTELBRüCK
Jewish Cemetery
Ettelbrück is about 30 kilometers north of Luxembourg City, and Jews first settled here in the 1820s. Their burials were first carried out in the capital, but timely transport was difficult to organize, and this cemetery was founded near the town’s southern entrance. The first funeral took place in 1882; the cemetery contains about 190 burials.
GREVENMACHER
This town on the banks of the Moselle river near the German border was home to several Jewish families before World War II. The small community prayed in a private house. The Jewish cemetery contains 38 graves, the oldest of which date from the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the deceased came originally from Germany, especially the area near Trier.
MONDORF-LE-BAINS
Synagogue
25 Rue du Moulin,
5638 Mondorf-les-Bains
info@anciennesynagogue-mondorf.lu
A wellknown spa town, Mondorf-les-Bains is located on the border with France, southeast of Luxembourg City. The Art Nouveau and Moorish-influenced former synagogue, dedicated in 1908, was heavily damaged during World War I. Maintained and administered by the local municipality since 1995, it was restored and reopened as a cultural space in December 2016 and is maintained by an organization, Les amis de l’ancienne synagogue de Mondorf (Friends of the former Sagogue of Mondorf) which was founded in 2016 and organizes lectures, concerts, and other events.
The organization also has a Facebook Page.
See video below of the ceremony opening the synagogue as a cultural center in December 2016.