Jewish cemetery, Jewish cemetery in Endingen, Switzerland

The Jewish cemetery in Endingen lies on a small hill between Endingen and Lengnau in the Surb Valley. Its graves run in north-south rows, with men and women buried in separate rows, and more than 2,700 people are interred here. In the oldest section beside the road, the headstones follow the form of traditional steles, mostly cut from local sandstone, while wealthier families used shell limestone.

In 1750, the Jewish communities of Endingen and Lengnau purchased a wooded plot to establish this cemetery after flooding affected their previous burial ground. This founding marked a turning point for Jewish burial practices in the region.

Since the mid-19th century, gravestones here have carried Hebrew inscriptions alongside German ones in Latin script. The stones also show changing fashions: classical steles in local sandstone, marble and neo-Gothic forms later, and broken columns for those who died young. The chevra kadisha, the community's holy burial society, cared for the graves.

The cemetery lies on a small hill between Endingen and Lengnau, right by the road linking the two villages. The oldest graves stand in the southeast section near Lengnau, and the grounds were extended westward several times. A 0.4864-hectare plot bought in 1963 is maintained by the Verein für Erhaltung der Synagogen und des Friedhofes Endingen-Lengnau.

The oldest headstones here came from the Judenäule: when the Rhine was regulated in 1954/55, remains from more than 80 graves were exhumed and reburied in Endingen, and the preserved stones, the oldest dated 1674, were re-erected on the site.