The large Jewish cemetery in Altona, just under 1.9 hectares (ca. 2.5 acres), is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Hamburg and the oldest Portuguese-Sefardic Jewish cemetery in northern Europe. Because of its age and its unique gravestone masonry art, in 1960 it was classified as a protected monument. For years now, scientists have been calling for its inclusion in the World Heritage List of UNESCO, together with the Jewish burial grounds in Curaçao, Jamaica and Surinam. Between 1611 and the 1870s, there were some 9,000 burials, here, 2,000 in the Portuguese-Jewish section and 7,000 in the German-Jewish Ashkenazic part of the grounds. There are more than 6,000 German and 1,600 Portuguese gravestones which are completely or fragmentarily preserved.
The cemetery is the property of the Jewish Community of Hamburg. The Office for Monument Protection is responsible for restoring the gravestones, the Institute for the History of the German Jews researches the cemetery together with the Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute in Duisburg. The German Foundation for Monument Protection maintains the reception building for the cemetery, the Eduard Duckesz House (EDH) nearby, and the program for visitors and continuing education.
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