Seal of the "Gemilut Chassadim Chevrah Kadisha" of Bechhofen, Germany, [ca. 1750 or earlier].
Brass, cast and engraved.
Round Seal engraved with the (Hebrew) inscription: "'Chevrah Kadisha' / of the 'Gemilut Chassadim' / of the Holy Congregation of Bechhofen" (the Hebrew letters "kaf" and "pe" are marked with small dots as Rafe marks). Stamped above the inscription is an eight-point asterisk-like star, and beneath it, a vegetal pattern. The Seal is equipped with a fashioned brass handle with serrated edges, and a hole for a suspension chain.
In the German market town of Bechhofen – located near Ansbach in the district of Middle Franconia, Bavaria, roughly 55 kilometers southwest of Nuremberg – lived a small Jewish community from the 16th century till the 1930s. In 1700, Bechhofen's Jewish cemetery, which had probably been established as early as the 16th century, was serving an additional 16 Jewish communities in the district.
In addition, and for similar reasons, the takkanot for Bechhofen’s "Chevrah Kadisha - Gemilut Chassadim" burial society, compiled in 1749, was signed by 24 representatives of the district's communities that made use of the cemetery. Only a single Jewish family resided in Bechhofen in 1763, but the Jewish population steadily grew in subsequent years, and numbered 170 individuals in 1837, representing 21% of the small town's overall population of 810. From April 1934 till October 1938 – following acts of incitement, harassment, and violence under Nazi rule – Bechhofen's remaining 36 Jewish residents departed; some moved to other parts of Germany, while others emigrated to the United Sates.
Exhibited in the Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collections of the Jewish Museum, London (Barnett, 1972), item 1191; illustrated on plate CCVI.
2X1.9 cm. Height: 3.3 cm. Good condition. Minor blemishes.
Provenance: The Simon Brueckheimer Collection.
Simon Brueckheimer, born in Külsheim, Germany, in 1889. Moved to Marktbreit in 1911, and began serving there as an educator in 1920. In 1929 he initiated a project to document sacred objects and property of Bavarian Jewish communities, which he pursued during his vacation time as a teacher, under the auspices of the Union of Bavarian Jewish Communities (Verband Bayerischer Israelitischer Gemeinden). Brueckheimer escaped to Frankfurt in the heat of Kristallnacht, but was then arrested and sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. After six weeks he was released, returned to Marktbreit, and then emigrated with his family to London, where he continued his documentation project on Bavarian Jewry. In the course of his visits to small Bavarian Jewish communities and later, after moving to London, Brueckheimer succeeded in assembling a small collection of Jewish items, which he had acquired either during his visits to the towns themselves or from purchases from Jewish refugees escaping to England. The important items in his collection include a cup used for special dinners by the "Chevrah Kadisha" (Burial Society) of Schwabach, today part of the collection of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and a Torah Shield belonging to the community of Goßmannsdorf, sold at Kedem, Auction 106, 24 February 2026, Lot 14. His notes and listings – documenting 150 small Jewish communities throughout Bavaria – are kept in the archives of the Yad VaShem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Jerusalem. Brueckheimer passed away in England in 1950.
Several additional items from the Simon Brueckheimer Collection will be offered for sale at our upcoming public auctions. All proceeds from these sales will be donated.
