Exhibition opening

There will be an opening reception on June 19, 2025 from 16-18 p.m.

The exhibition is located in the parking lot at Odense Assistenskirkegård in Odense on the corner of Kirkegårds Allé and Vandværksvej.

200th anniversary of the cemetery in Odense

In 2025, it will be 200 years since the Jewish cemetery was established. This will be marked with the opening of the pop-up exhibition The House of Eternity and a new information sign at the cemetery as part of the Danish Jewish Museum's communication of Jewish life in Denmark.

How many Danish kroner did the cemetery in Odense cost?

The Jewish cemetery in Odense was established in 1825. The small congregation in Odense had now grown large enough to raise the necessary funds for its establishment. On 29 January 1825, permission was granted to establish a cemetery, and that same spring the congregation purchased a piece of land outside the city’s Vesterport, close to the newly established Assistens Cemetery. The land belonged to a private individual named Jens Rasmussen and cost 170 rigsbankdaler, a very large sum for a plot of land where, according to calculations, there was only room for “60 bodies”.

Regulations for the burial ground were drawn up, which also had to be approved by the authorities. This happened on 30 April 1825, after which it was finally approved by the Royal Danish Chancellery on 9 May 1825. The first burials – unfortunately also a child’s burial – took place that same year.

Jewish life in Odense

The history of Jewish life in Odense dates back to the late 1600th century. The first Jews were granted citizenship in Odense in the 1690s, but actual settlement did not take place until the 1790s. At the beginning of the 1800th century, there were just over 100 Jews in the city. In 1805, the city's Jews were allowed to set up a synagogue in an apartment at Overgade 28 and a proper Jewish congregation was established. Gradually, the desire to also have their own burial ground in the city grew – previously, people had been referred to Fredericia, Copenhagen and Nakskov. This became a reality in 1825.

Among the prominent Jews in Odense is AD Cohen (1794-1863), who applied for the position of rabbi in Copenhagen, but became catechist for Funen. He was a theologian, author and bookseller, and wrote, among other things, an important book on Jewish life in Denmark in 1837. Another example is Harry Dessau (1862-1915), who was a successful manufacturer and business leader and the last leader of the congregation in Odense. He died in 1915 in the city, but was buried at Vestre Mosaiske Begravelsesplads in Copenhagen.

The number of Jews in Odense peaked in the period 1810s-1830s, when there were just over 100 Jews in Odense in 1817, falling to 21 Jewish families with a total of 82 people in 1834, after which the Jewish community gradually decreased. In the early 1900th century, the Jewish minority gathered in Copenhagen, and the congregation in Odense ceased to exist. The last burials among the original congregation took place in the 1920s, with the last one in 1928.

But in the 1960s, three more burials took place. Hans Jakob Wolf and the couple Paula and Albert Simon were among the Jews who fled Germany in the 1930s and settled in Denmark. Like other Jews, they had to flee to Sweden in 1943, but after the occupation they returned to Odense, where they also found their final resting place. Hans Jakob Wolf died in 1964, Paula Simon in 1961 and Albert Simon in 1968. He is the last to be buried in the Jewish cemetery in Odense.

Since 1825, 88 burials have taken place, but in 2025, only 33 visible stones remain.

Exhibition opening

The exhibition is open to visitors every day from 10 am to 16 pm.

The exhibition is located in front of Assens Customs House - Nordre Havnevej 19, 5610 Assens

The cemetery is located at Kildebakken, Assens.

Jewish life in Assens

Jewish life in Assens began in 1790, when Nathan Epstein was first mentioned in the food tariffs, which formed the basis for tax payments. He had moved to Assens and made a living as a merchant. The merchants, Moses Nathan and Aron Larsch, appeared in the same lists for the years 1793 and 1795. However, neither of them was buried in Assens. In 1815, 54 Jews lived in Assens, divided into 10 families. Gradually, Jewish life disappeared from the old market town and in 1880 the number was down to 3 people.

On May 28, 1825, the Jewish congregation received permission to establish a burial ground in Assens. The burial ground was located on Kildebakken, next to Assistens Cemetery, or Assens Old Cemetery as it is known today. As early as 1804, the Jewish congregation in Assens had received royal permission to “hold a synagogue”. Initially, a synagogue was set up at the home of one of the congregation’s members, and it was not until 1826 that an actual synagogue was built at the home of merchant Jonas Wulff Seligmann at Østergade 40. After Seligmann’s death in 1847, it reportedly moved to premises in a house owned by skipper Rasmus Hansen Thygesen at Ladegårdsgade.

The first and last funeral

The first burial took place on November 26, 1827. Butcher Benjamin Samuel Nayberg was buried here, who died at the age of 57 on November 24. The last burial of a Jewish person born in Assens was Helene, daughter of merchant Isaac Moses Warburg and wife Betty. Helene died in Kolding in 1895 at the age of 69, but was buried in Assens.

There have been a few funerals since.

On June 3, 1914, Josephine Regine Kalmer, who died in Hellerup, was buried in Assens. We do not know her affiliation with the city. Then two more people were buried in 1981 and as late as 2023, respectively. So it is still an active burial ground.

Assens during the war

On October 1, 1943, Judge Julius J. Moritz (1882-1945) and his younger sister Judith (1893-1974) were arrested by German SS soldiers at their home at Nørregade 59 and deported to Theresienstadt. Judith survived the war, but Julius died in Theresienstadt on April 8, 1945, and was buried at the Mosaisk Vestre Begravelsesplads in Copenhagen. They were both immigrants to the city.

22 other mainly young Jews, who had come to the country as agricultural apprentices and so-called Aliya children fleeing Nazi persecution, were also taken and deported to Theresienstadt. Three returned to the Assens area after the war, where they settled.

The Mosaic Congregation's Endowment

With the closure of the old Jewish congregation in Assens in 1880, a foundation was established called the Mosaic Congregation Foundation, which was to ensure the maintenance of the cemetery and support needy Jews in Assens. The foundation continues to contribute to the maintenance – together with contributions from the Municipality of Assens and with subsidies and supervision from the Jewish Community in Denmark.

The video above was produced by Museum Vestfyn for the exhibition.