Jewish Cemetery, Timișoara
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| Jewish Cemetery | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Details | |
| Established | 17th century[1] |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 45°46′19″N 21°13′46″E / 45.77194°N 21.22944°E |
| Type | Jewish |
| Size | 8 ha |
| No. of graves | 14,250[2] |
The Jewish Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Timișoara, Romania, being the main Jewish cemetery in the city. There is another Jewish cemetery on Aleea Viilor, but it is no longer functional and is much smaller in size.[3]
The cemetery is situated in the Lipovei district, with its main entrance facing the eastern side, on Calea Sever Bocu (formerly known as Calea Lipovei). It is bordered to the south by the Poor Cemetery and to the north and west by Liniștei Street.
History
Jews have been present in Timișoara since 1515, when they settled there following the Alhambra Decree, which expelled Jews from Spain. The community grew during the Ottoman occupation of Banat, as Sephardic Jews from the Ottoman Empire, particularly from Constantinople and Thessaloniki, migrated to the area.[4] Their presence is also documented in the surrender records of Timișoara in 1716, when the Ottoman fortress commander negotiated with Eugene of Savoy.[4] At that time, there were 144 Jews living in the city.[5]
The oldest grave in the cemetery, dating back to 1636, belongs to Assael Azriel, a Sephardic Jew from Thessaloniki.[6][7][8] Rabbi Jakab Singer speculated that he may have been both a rabbi and a physician,[9] although this remains uncertain, as the tombstone inscription does not explicitly confirm this.[4]
The inscriptions on the older tombstones are in Hebrew, gradually becoming bilingual in the 19th century as the city administration changed. Initially, they were in Hebrew and German, later shifting to Hebrew and Hungarian, and eventually to Hebrew and Romanian.[10]
In the 2000s, the Jewish cemetery became the center of controversy. At one point, sections of the cemetery were divided and sold for $271,800 and $240,000, respectively, by employees of the Land Registry. Investigations later revealed that the delegation involved in these transactions, which were signed by the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Timișoara, was fraudulent.[11]
