Old Altona in the Eyes of a Jewish Child, Photo Album |
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The Ottensen cemetery and the florist. The cemetery in Ottensen has been the subject of a heated debate over many decades, concerning the peaceful rest of the deceased. Its history has recently been researched and published in two big volumes of densely written pages. Nonetheless, the deceased lie under a heavy layer of cement, thus no tear will be able to trickle through anymore. Above the thick layer of concrete stands the “Mercado”, a huge modern shopping center, where everything can be obtained: from T-Shirts to oriental stuffed vine leaves, from art books to hearty knackwurst sausages.
1992
“Stone instead of marble”: The new shopping center is called Mercado”
‘With cement sealed graves’ – Eternity lasted for 330 years: On the history of the Jewish cemetery in Hamburg-Ottensen and on the dispute regarding construction on it”
There are also beautifully designed flower stalls, and on the stair landing a commemorative plaque made of glass has been erected in memory of the ones hidden deep down in the dust. However, until recently, one could not even place a flower on the plaque, a flower that could stand as a symbol of former life and eternal memory. Nevertheless let’s be thankful to the Mercado owners and builders. According to a personal wish of an elderly Jewish woman, once an Altona citizen, they asked their architect to install a fine contrivance upon which one can place a flower or a little stone, brought from Jerusalem.
Way back when the cemetery was still a cemetery, there was a small, very simple flower shop nearby, whose owner had the key to the cemetery. He would hand the key over to the rare visitor, who, as an expression of gratefulness, would buy a bunch of flowers and put them on the grave he visited. It was like a joint offer.
Um 1920
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