Jewish cemetery                                            (Mühlhalde)

In 1789, in accordance with promises made in the ”Judenschutzbrief” (letter guaranteeing protection of the Jews), an area above the Jewish settlement was made available by the barons of Liebenstein for a cemetery. As the community grew, this area was expanded. In contrast to Christian burial places, Jewish tombs are not permitted to be disclaimed. Hence, the majority of the grave monuments from almost the entire period of Jewish settlement in Buttenhausen have been preserved.

The oldest gravestones are inscribed exclusively in Hebrew. However, most of the stones in the cemetery were erected in the second half of the 19^th century and comprise a rich variety of forms and historicizing architecture. They also offer insight into the manifold language of symbols on Jewish gravestones, which allow one to draw conclusions about positions of office or family names. Hence, the blessing hands for the ”Kohen”, the priest, from which the surname Kahn originates. The tankard refers to ritual purity, which is characteristic of the Levi clan. This picture can be found for surnames like Löw/Löb, Levi or Löwenthal. Gravestones from the 20^th century, situated in the upper section of the cemetery, are constructed from artificial stone into more simple forms like their Christian counterparts.

The Zentralarchiv zur Erforschung der Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland in Heidelberg and the state department for monuments conducted an inventary of the gravestones between 1990 and 1997.