St. Pölten Jewish Cemetery Handed Over After Renovation

In the presence of numerous representatives from the fields of politics, media and culture, the freshly-renovated New Jewish Cemetery in St. Pölten was ceremoniously released to the City of St. Pölten today, which will now be responsible for its long-term upkeep.

The cemetery’s owner, the Jewish Community Vienna, had the New Jewish Cemetery in St. Pölten renovated between 2022 and 2024 once a maintenance agreement had been reached with the City of St. Pölten. The Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria provided government funding of around 880,000 euros for the renovation. The Province of Lower Austria also subsidised the renovation in the amount of around 280,000 euros.

The event was opened by the President of the Jewish Community Vienna, Oskar Deutsch. “I am very pleased that the Jewish cemetery in St. Pölten has been successfully renovated and can be officially released to the City of St. Pölten today for future upkeep. During the Nazi era, Jewish cemeteries were systematically destroyed and desecrated as part of a broader strategy to eradicate Jewish communities. According to Jewish tradition, burial sites are meant to last until the end of days. It is therefore all the more significant for us that the cemetery has now been restored to a dignified and worthy state after years of falling into decay. Thanks to the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries and the support of the Province of Lower Austria, it has been possible to preserve and safeguard a part of our Austrian-Jewish cultural heritage at this site and increase awareness of it among many Austrians.”

Hannah Lessing, Member of the Managing Board of the National Fund and Cemetery Fund added: “Since the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries was established 14 years ago, we have already achieved a great deal together: 65 restoration projects have been realised at 18 Jewish cemeteries with around 14 million euros in government funding. It is wonderful to see how many people are working together to preserve these places of remembrance and protect an important piece of history from being forgotten."

The Mayor of St. Pölten, Matthias Stadler said: “In the current Year of Culture, the provincial capital has been undertaking many activities to extensively reappraise its Jewish history. Not only are we renovating our two Jewish cemeteries and committing ourselves to maintaining them for decades to come, but following extensive construction work we have also breathed new life into the Former Synagogue. In remembrance of the darkest period of our history and the crimes of the Nazi reign of terror, our city wants to do justice to its historical responsibility with these projects.”

Johanna Mikl-Leitner, Governor of Lower Austria stated: “There were 15 Jewish communities in Lower Austria, more than anywhere else in Austria. With just a few exceptions, all that remains in our province today to remind us of this great diversity of Jewish life are the cemeteries. I therefore see it as our great responsibility and duty to keep the memory alive. We want to ensure this is done by supporting the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in St. Pölten and, by doing so, protecting a very central part of our cultural heritage.”

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Fund and the Fund for the Restoration of Jewish Cemeteries in Austria, Wolfgang Sobotka, President of the National Council said: “Jewish cemeteries are not only places of remembrance; they are, above all, important testimonies to Austrian history. It is our historical responsibility to protect them from being forgotten. As Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Fund and the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria, the restoration of Jewish cemeteries is of special importance to me. Since the Fund was established in 2010, 13 Jewish cemeteries in Austria have already been successfully restored. By preserving this cultural heritage permanently, Austria is fulfilling its obligation under international law in accordance with the Washington Agreement and sending a clear signal for a responsible culture of remembrance. The support provided by the Province of Lower Austria towards the restoration of the Jewish cemetery in St. Pölten and the future upkeep undertaken by the City clearly demonstrate that this is a concern that we all share.”

The restoration was carried out in three sub-projects and coordinated with the Federal Monuments Authority. It included involved work by master builders, stonemasons, locksmiths and landscape architects. The master builder and general renovation work comprised the renovation of the ceremonial hall, including roof, façade, window, door and interior renovation, the renovation and partial renewal of the enclosure walls including demolition work and the renovation of the forecourt. The locksmith work included the refurbishment of the existing enclosures and entrance gates, refurbishment of the wrought iron grave fencing, new construction of a double bar fence. As part of the stonemasonry work, the structural reinforcement was carried out by mortising and improving the substructure of the graves, cleaning and securing measures as well as terrazzo additions in the ceremonial hall. Architect Christoph Kucera from Atelier THU.GUT was responsible for the general planning and construction supervision.

Due to the large number of old trees, the preservation of the gardens formed a key part of the renovation. In particular, the avenues and rows of trees were revitalised by replanting 44 chestnut trees, the entrance area was redesigned and the historical trees revitalized, pruned and maintained.

A “house of the living” with an eventful history

The New Jewish Cemetery in St. Pölten, located next to the municipal cemetery at Karlstettner Straße 3, was founded in 1906 and served as a burial site for the local Jewish community after the old Jewish cemetery on today’s Pernerstorferplatz was closed down in around 1904. During the Nazi era, the cemetery was severely damaged and many of the graves and headstones were destroyed.

In 1951, the City of St. Pölten had the surviving gravestones reinstated, and in 1954 the formerly “aryanised” cemetery was restituted to the Jewish Community Vienna, the legal successor of the Jewish Community St. Pölten. A noteworthy feature is the mass grave on the site containing the remains of at least 228 Hungarian-Jewish forced labourers who were shot by the SS in Hofamt Priel near Persenbeug during the night of 2 to 3 May 1945. In 2015, a gravestone inscribed with the names of the victims of that massacre was installed at the cemetery with the backing of the National Fund.

Like many of the Jewish cemeteries in the region, this cemetery also reflects the rich history and culture of the local Jewish community. Around 340 people are buried there; 188 gravestones have been preserved. The last person to be buried at the Jewish cemetery was the doctor Hans Morgenstern, who had become known as the “last Jew of St. Pölten”. He passed away in November 2023.

One of the cemetery’s most distinct features is its striking ceremonial hall. In Jewish tradition, cemeteries are also called “houses of the living”, in allusion to the notion that, that although earthly life has come to an end, the soul lives on. The newly renovated façade of the building, designed by St. Pölten architect Rudolf Wondracek, reads: “Those who were born await death and those who die await life.”

Link: Picture gallery of the ceremonial handover of the St. Pölten Jewish Cemetery on 28 June 2024