Untitled (2 gravestones)
Ronald Ohlsen
About this artwork.
At the Jewish cemetery on the Moesstraat, one gravestone stands out immediately. Its light-grey colour differs from the older, darker graves and it is the only stone not covered with moss. Its jagged edges mark it out as even further distinct from the other headstones; this gravestone is one half of the memorial that was erected in 2006. The other half can be found at the Iepenlaan cemetery. Both stones are graced with a poem penned by city poet Ronald Ohlsen. Put the two together and they form one complete poem.
This stone, split in two, is a memorial to the former Jodenkamp (a dedicated Jewish cemetery) at which, since 1747, the Jews of Groningen buried their dead. The Jodenkamp is located between Bloemsingel and Boterdiep and was in use until 1827. From then on, Jews were buried at the Noorderbegraafplaats cemetery on Moesstraat until a new Jewish cemetery was opened on the Iepenlaan in 1909.
Before the expansion of the Chemical Laboratory on Bloemsingel in 1954, the 55 graves at the Jodenkamp were exhumed and transferred to the cemetery on the Moesstraat. More than fifty years later, in 2006, the remains of another 31 Jewish graves were found during the initial excavations for the new building on the CiBoGa site. Almost all of these were reburied at the cemetery on the Iepenlaan.
This memorial stone was commissioned by the municipality of Groningen.