Jewish Cemetery
The Jewish cemetery which was laid out in 1895 is in the municipality of St. Ruprecht (southeast of the city centre) – anyone who would like to visit it has to get the key from Klagenfurt's municipal administration (Presidium or cemetery board) before, as the cemetery is surrounded by a high wall and locked at all times. Jewish men and women were already being buried outside the Christian cemetery's walls even before the area was officially made a Jewish cemetery.A plaque from 1926 reminds of the burial of Jewish soldiers and a nurse, who died during the First World War. In 1938 the cemetery was not destroyed by the national-socialists. Merely bomb hits damaged the grounds. In 1958 the cemetery was given back to the Chewra Kadischa, the Jewish burial society which had been reastablished in 1948. However Chewra Kadischa did not have the funds for the renovation. In 1959 Emil Preis, one of its leading proponents, turned to the city for help, who in turn assessed the grounds' land tenure and established that the cemetery had formally always been communal property. On 3 July 1964 the local council finally decided to renovate the cementery. The city has since taken over the care of the grounds whilst the Isrealite Religious Community Graz is responsible for burials. However many of the, approx. 140 grave stones, which give a specific overview of the history of the Jewish community in Celovec/Klagenfurt, are strongly weathered (again) nowadays.