You are here : Nice-Riviera > Nice-Riviera > What to do in Nice > Nice Jewish Cemetery
Sommaire / Summary
The Nice Jewish Cemetery is located in allée François Aragon. At the entrance is a cenotaph dedicated to Nice's victims of the Holocaust.
Before entering the Nice Jewish cemetery is a memorial or wall of deportees which lists the surnames, first names, ages and places of birth of 3602 victims deported from Nice's two railway stations.
At the entrance to the Jewish cemetery stands a cenotaph with two urns. The first urn contains ashes from the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz. Then, the second contains soap made from human fat by the Nazis.
The graves of the former Jewish cemetery, which already existed in the Middle Ages, have been transferred to this cemetery.
The chapel of Alfred Van Cleef, creator of the famous Van Clef et Arpels jewelry, stands out.
As for Salomon Arpels, he was Alfred's uncle.
It's hard not to visit the grave of this boy, who died at the age of 7 1/2 in 1931. His parents built him a funerary monument decorated with what he had asked for on the eve of his death: a train, a car, a plane and a little tree... The following epitaph is difficult to decipher: To Sylvio Justice would have it, our child That it was up to you to lead us One day to our final resting place. Why then should we find ourselves Standing in front of yours? Miserable fate: What have we done with you, O Sylvio: So young, so handsome, so splendid and sublime From the shadow into this shadow a cold ray That's all we have left... And forever, forever! A train, a car, a plane, a little tree You asked us for this the day before you died Here they are, alas, still and cold But as inseparable Of your tomb as is ours Your last breath gathered In the deepest folds of our souls To us Sylvio! Your parents
This is a marble portico with broken columns, it is mostly dominated by sphinxes and to its left is the figure of Hope or Faith.
Aaron Messiah(1858-1940) was a French architect. He is known for the construction of the Villa Masséna but also other villas on the Riviera, etc.
René Goscinny (1926-1977) was a screenwriter and comic strip author. He was most famous for Asterix, but also for Le Petit Nicolas, etc. He was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery, then transferred to the Caucade cemetery in Nice. And finally to the Nice Jewish cemetery. On his stele, adorned with the Star of David, we also note the name of his wife Gilberte (1943-1994), who is still in the Caucade cemetery in Nice.
Nice Jewish cemetery. allée François Aragon (at the foot of the château hill) 06300 Nice
Opening hours
Every weekday from 8:00 am to 6:45 pm.