Geneva’s Jewish Cemetery is certainly off the beaten track as a place to visit, but it is worth doing so for a number of reasons. The first is that the site has the unusual attribute of being in two countries. This came about because, in 1876, legislation was passed in Geneva decreeing that all the dead regardless of their religion should be buried in the same cemeteries. This was in part a measure to further calm religious tensions that traditionally existed between Catholics and Protestants, but it was not an option for those of the Jewish faith.
There was already a Jewish cemetery in the canton or state of Geneva (like many Swiss states, Geneva shares its name with its capital city) and this existing burial ground in Carouge continued to be used. However, by the beginning of the 20th century space was running out and a new solution had to be found – and was, on land straddling the Franco-Swiss border. The entrance was thus in the Geneva commune of Veyrier, while the actual burial grounds were situated in the French community of Etrembières in Savoy. The new cemetery was inaugurated in 1920.
During the German occupation of Savoy in the early 1940s, the Veyrier cemetery was closed, and those who died during that period were put to rest at the Carouge site.
Veyrier Burial Grounds In Scenic Surroundings
Today, the Veyrier cemetery has the atmosphere of a quiet garden, and – perhaps another unique distinction – its manager and head gardener Jean Plançon recently published a book about it. Surrounding the walled-in compound are vineyards, a reminder that Geneva is Switzerland’s third largest wine producer. During the summer months, cattle graze in fields. Forested areas hide from view the meandering Arve River just where it feeds into Switzerland from France. But most spectacularly, the cemetery is at the foot of Mount Salève, which is in France.
From the city of Geneva this rocky mini-mountain looks like a kind of made-to-order backdrop for St. Peter’s Cathedral and the Old Town but from the cemetery it’s a big craggy overhang, with a cable car a short distance away that takes walkers and panorama-seekers to the top. It is also used by paragliders as a launching pad; looking up, one sees the bright sails floating in silent slow motion high in the sky above.
Strolling through the cemetery, the stones that are placed on graves by visitors (this being a Jewish custom) have a beauty all their own, as individual shapes or in sculptural arrangements. Many local luminaries are buried here, and one occasionally runs across headstones bearing names that go beyond local renown – like writer Albert Cohen, whose novel Belle du Seigneur is considered by many to be one of the great 20th century French novels, or bankers Edmond Safra and Edouard Stern.
Oratory At Geneva's Jewish Cemetery Designed By Famous Architect
Not least of the compound’s points of interest is its small oratory built in the Art Deco style of Geneva architect Julien Flegenheimer (1880-1938). It dates from 1930-31, actually around the same time as Flegenheimer was working on two large-scale projects: Geneva’s main train station, Cornavin, and, with a team of other architects, the League of Nations building finished just on the eve of his death and which, today, houses the World Trade Organization.
The 8 bus to Veyrier makes the Jewish Cemetery an easy 20-minute ride away from city center. The trip can be combined with ascending Mount Salève in the téléphérique (cable car), or walking from the cemetery along the Arve, or through fields and vineyards, to the lovely hilltop hamlet of Sierne and back.
Practical details about the cemetery.
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