Tsebrakhene Shtiker – Fragments
There have apparently been no burials there for more than a hundred years, but the small Jewish cemetery in Groß Neuendorf is still well maintained. The cemetery and the 24 preserved gravestones were restored between 1992 and 1994. This cultural heritage site is part of the Jewish history of the Oderbruch. The cemetery is located a little way away from the village and is surrounded by tall oak trees. Signposts make it easy to find. The complex is surrounded by a fieldstone wall and forms a rectangle of approximately 15 x 16 meters. The wrought iron gate, which shows a menorah, is unlocked, so nothing stands in the way of a visit.
"In Groß Neuendorf and nearby Letschin, there had only been an independent Jewish community since 1853. Before that, the few Jewish families who lived here or in the surrounding villages had joined the communities in the nearby towns, especially in Wriezen. The inscription on Michael Sperling's gravestone identifies him as the initiator of the founding of the official Jewish community of Letschin/Groß Neuendorf and also of the cemetery. Around the middle of the 19th century, the Jews living in Letschin and the surrounding towns joined together to form what was initially a private community. In 1855, the statute was passed and approved for the community, which was still based in Letschin at the time. The synagogue district for which the community was to be responsible is described in it as the "police district of the Wollup domain office." In addition to Letschin and Groß Neuendorf, members also lived in the villages of Klein Neuendorf, Kienitz, Gerickenberg, Sophiental and Ortwig,” writes Brigitte Heidenhain on the website of the University of Potsdam: https://www.uni-potsdam.de/de/juedische-friedhoefe/friedhof-gross-neuendorfThere you can find extensive further information in the project “Jewish Cemeteries in Brandenburg”.
Christiane Wartenberg, an artist from Neubarnim, has been reflecting on the Jewish cemetery in Groß Neuendorf in her work for some time. With "Makom Tov - Good Place" she is presenting an interdisciplinary art project by six artists on her Loose farm in 2021. It is a homage to the small cemetery, which is only about five kilometers from her studio. The sculptor sees everything in the world as a sculpture and is enthusiastic about how the small cemetery is integrated into nature. As a member of the "post-war generation", she sees it as her responsibility to preserve this culture.
A year later, her search for traces took her to the Polish side of the Oder, to the Lubuskie Voivodeship. Together with Karla Sachse and the photographer Stefan Schick, she visited thirteen Jewish cemeteries in the former Prussian province of Brandenburg, in what is now Poland. It was a rather ambivalent trip, because the three artists often found what they found disturbing: places that were partly built over, almost completely disappeared, or only existed in fragments. "The last testimonies of centuries-old Jewish culture are often forgotten, in a neglected or mostly deliberately destroyed state," says Karla Sachse.
The resulting artistic project is called "Tsebrakhene Shtiker - Fragments". It was presented in December 2022 at Christiane Wartenberg's Loose farm. Karla Sachse's multimedia reading from her notes on Jewish mourning and burial rites was accompanied by Christiane Wartenberg and Stefan Schick's video collage "No Stone is Silent". It shows torn out and missing inscriptions in the burial wall of the Jewish cemetery in Gorzów, which have been virtually replaced with quotes from a story by Zvi Kolitz. Karla Sachse also presented her detailed directions to the cemeteries. In 2023, it is planned to exhibit both artistic projects "Makom Tov - Good Place" and "Tsebrakhene Shtiker - Fragments" in the Museum of Międzyrzecz in Poland.
Jewish Cemetery in Groß Neuendorf, Parkweg 5, 15324 Letschin OT Groß Neuendorf
For more information about the Oderbruch Museum and the cultural heritage in the Oderbruch, please see here.