The Jewish cemetery in Ingenheim is the only one today, in addition to a memorial plaque at the former location of the synagogue, to commemorate the once largest Jewish rural community in the Palatinate. In the 19th century, a good 1/3 of Ingenheim's population was of Jewish descent. For this reason, the place used to be popularly called "Little Jerusalem".
Since about 1648, members of the Jewish community have been buried here. Before the 2nd World War, there were probably 2,500 gravestones here. The cemetery was desecrated during the Nazi regime and numerous gravestones were destroyed. After the war, some of the tombstones were rebuilt. in the 1970s, the last funerals took place in the cemetery.
Today there is no longer a Jewish community in Ingenheim. As early as the end of the 19th century, many Jews emigrated mainly to America. During the 2nd World War, the synagogue in Ingenheim was also burned down during the Reichspogromnacht, after which about another 2000 Jews fled the Palatinate. The last four remaining Jewish inhabitants in Ingenheim were deported by the National Socialists to the French internment camp in Gurs in 1940. Only one of these four survived World War 2. The cemetery is one of the cultural monuments of the place.
