Frankfurter Judengasse: Difference between revisions

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The Frankfurter Judengasse (from German: “Jews' Lane”) was the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt and the earliest of its kind in Germany. It existed from 1462 until 1796 and was home to Germany's largest Jewish community in early modern times .

At the end of the 19th century, most of the buildings in the Judengasse were torn down. The area suffered major destruction during Second World War and reconstruction left no visible signs of the ghetto in today's street map of Frankfurt.

Post-war usage of the area included a car park, a petrol station and a wholesale flower market. The decision to build an administrative complex triggered a public discussion as to what should be done with the archaeological remains uncovered during the construction work in 1977. 19 foundations were found and five of them can be seen at "Museum Judengasse" which was incorporated into the new building. ^[1]

Location

The ghetto was located outside the city walls east of the medieval city wall (Staufenmauer) and formed a slight curve from today's Konstablerwache to Börneplatz, near the Main river. The street was about 330 meters long, three to four meters wide, and had three town gates. The gates were locked at night as well as on Sundays and Christian holidays. Due to the narrow street and limited access, the Judengasse was destroyed 3 times by fire in just the 18th Century, in 1711, 1721 and 1796.

Initially, some 15 families with about 110 members lived in Frankfurt's Judengasse when they were forcibly removed from the city and relocated to the ghetto by decree of Frederick III in 1462. In the 16th century, the number of inhabitants rose to over 3,000, living in 195 houses.^[2]. The ghetto had one of the highest population densities in Europe. Contemporary accounts describe the ghetto as a narrow, oppressive and dirty city section.

History before the creation of the ghetto

It is likely that some of the earliest inhabitants of Frankfurt were Jewish. On January 18 1074 Heinrich IV granted the citizens and Jews of Worms and other locations, including Frankfurt, certain privileges relating to reductions in fees and import duties. Eighty years later the Mainz based Rabbi Elieser ben Nathan (died between 1145 and 1152) mentioned the Jewish community in Frankfurt is his book Eben ha Eser. Most likely the community was still very small at this point.

Until the Late Middle Ages, the Frankfurt Jews lived in the present-day old city, between the Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral, Fahrgasse and the Main River. This fine section of the city was also the center of political life in Frankfurt. The town hall, mint and a mansion of the Archbishop of Mainz. During this time the Frankfurt Jews were allowed to travel throughout the city, which was an unusual freedom in the Holy Roman Empire. Additionally, there were many non-Jews who lived in the Jewish section of town.

The Judenschlacht of 1241

In May 1241 a pogrom, known as the Judenschlacht(from German Battle of the Jews) exploded in Frankfurt, brought on by conflicts over Jewish-Christian marriages and the resulting obligation for baptism. The Erfurt Dominician Friars recorded that a few Christians and 180 Jews died during the pogrom. It also records that 24 Jews avoided death by accepting baptism, while under the protection of the city fathers. During the attacks, the synagogue was plundered and the Torah scrolls were destroyed. All of this occurred despite the fact that the Jews had been protected by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II since 1236, and had a royal appointee running much of the city government.

It appears possible that the Judenschlacht was actually an organized attack instead of a spontaneous massacre. One reason presented is that the fighting lasted several days. Secondly, a strongly fortified tower which contained 70 Jewish refugees was captured. Finally, a Jewish dirge records that archers attacked a Rabbi and his students in their school. All three events imply a measure of planning and the presence of soldiers or a strong militia.

Exactly who may have been responsible for the Judenschlacht is unclear due to the lack of sources. The theory that it was lead by the Dominician Friars, who had a papal order to fight heresy is questionable. Another theory is that the pogrom was actually an attack against the Staufer royal family, led by Frederick II. It is unlikely that the actual cause will ever be fully known.

Frederick II ordered an investigation into the Judenschlacht that dragged on for years. In 1246 Conrad IV, on behalf of his father Frederick II, issued a document pardoning the citizens of Frankfurt. It declared a pardon without payment on damages because the pogrom occurred, "from carelessness rather than deliberation". The general pardon is an example of the weak political power of the Staufer dynasty in Frankfurt.

The destruction of the Jewish community in 1349

By the 14th Century, Frankfurt was granted the status of a Free Imperial City by the Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian and Charles IV. As a Free Imperial City, Frankfurt was only responsible to the Holy Roman Emperor and not to local princes. The city operated as a virtual City-state with limited control from the Emperor. This new wealth and freedom led to the total domination of city government by a few wealthly elites.

In the mid-14th century, violence occurred again against the Frankfurt Jews. Ludwig the Bavarian arrested various members of the Jewish community for alleged crimes. Reacting to the arrests many local Jews fled the city. The Frankfurt Jews had paid a special tax to the Emperor for his protection and support. When a large number fled the city, he lost a source of income. To make up for this loss, he took the now empty houses and sold them to the city of Frankfurt. Those who returned to the city were allowed by the Emperor to negotiate with the city of Frankfurt to repurchase their confiscated belongings.

In June 1349 the Emperor Charles IV sold the special Jewish Tax to the city of Frankfurt for 15,200 pounds. The responsibility for protecting the Jewish population also shifted from the Imperial Representative to the town council of Frankfurt. Technically, the Frankfurt Jews were no longer subjects of the Emperor but of the city council. Nevertheless, the Emperors maintained an interest in the Jewish population until the end of the Empire.

The Frankfurt Jews were promised, by the Emperor and his descendants, the right to administer their own homes, cemeteries, synagogues and all the easements. Remembering the growing number of pogroms following the outbreak of the Black Plague in 1348 the Emperor included a statement in the promise that turned out to be fatal. The Emperor stated that Frankfurt would not be held responsible if the Jews were killed due to sickness or riots. It also stated that the belongings of the dead would revert to the city.

Two weeks after the Emperor left the city, on July 24, 1349 all the Frankfurt Jews were killed or their houses were burnt. The exact number of dead is unknown, but estimated at about 60. Previously, a religious fanatic and preacher known as Geissler was believed to be responsible for the initiating the murders as a response to the plague. During this year, there had been multiple pogroms in southern Germany as people blamed the Jews for the plague. Overall about 300 Jewish communities were destroyed in Germany.

Modern research questions whether this was the case. Charles IV appears to have given the city of Frankfurt tacit permission for the pogrom, as mentioned above. Additionally, the plague didn't hit Frankfurt until Autumn 1349. It appears that some local leaders saw the loss of imperial protection as an opportunity to get rid of debts and acquire new property. The church yard of St. Bartholomeus' Cathedral was expanded into what was the yards of Jewish houses.

Re-establishment of the Jewish community

In 1360 the Emperor again granted the right for a Jewish settlement in Frankfurt. The Emperor claimed the right to taxes raised from the newly resettled population. The right to half the taxes was then sold to the Archbishop of Mainz, who then sold the rights to Frankfurt. An Imperial representative was sent to Frankfurt to collect the taxes and safeguard the rights of the Jews. In 1372 the city purchased the office from the Emperor for 6,000 Marks. This put the entire Jewish tax back in the city of Frankfurt.

By the end of 14th Century, the Jewish community had grown large enough to establish a new synagogue. In it the Jews participated in the service, but also conducted business, swore judicial oaths and heard proclaimations from the emperor or the town council. Following the service the Rabbi would collect owed taxes and dispensed punishments for minor offenses. Recent archeological excavations have revealed a 5.6 square meter (approximately 50 sq ft.) area under the synagogue. This area was deep enough to reach the underground water level and most likely served as a Mikvah or ritual bath.

The largest single section of Jewish owned real estate in the city was the cemetery. The cemetery had been used since about 1270 and is first mentioned in a purchase document from 1300. Until 1333 when Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian expanded the city, the cemetery lay outside the city walls. It bordered on some gardens of Saint Bartholomeus' Cathedral and was walled very early in its' history. In 1349, during a Succession Crisis for the Holy Roman Emperor, the city of Frankfurt declared for Günther von Schwarzburg against Charles IV. When they expected an attack from Charles, the Jewish Cemetery was fortified with eleven oriel windows. Later, in 1388 during a war between Swabia and the Salzburg Archbishop, the cemetery was again fortified.

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  inside the old cemetery
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  outside the wall
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  memory stones for deported jews

The Jewish regulations

Before the destruction of the Jewish community in 1349, Frankfurt's Jews were listed in its Burgerlisten (German, lit. "Citizens List", essentially a list of people who lived in the city and were granted any rights and privileges due to that city). However, the second community, rebuilt in 1360, had a different and lower status. Each individual had to individually negotiate an agreement with the town council which included how long they would stay in the city, the amount of tribute they would pay and the regulations they must follow. In 1366 Emperor Charles IV instructed his representative Siegfried to prevent the Jewish guild masters from setting their own laws or holding their own courts. In 1424 the town council collected all the individual regulations into der Juden stedikeit (the Jewish regulations). The Regulations were read each year in the synagogue.

Crisis and growth of the community in the 15th century

Frankfurt in the 14th century lacked a strong commercial upper class. Despite the fair, which already existed, trade was less important in Frankfurt than in other German cities. Therefore, many Frankfurt Jews worked as bankers and provided loans to craftsmen, farmers and nobles from the area surrounding Frankfurt. As a side business to loans, they often bought and sold pawned goods. This led to a small trade in horses, wine, grain as well as cloth, dresses and jewelry. Due to the limited business market, these enterprises remained small. Based on the amount of tax paid by the Frankfurt Jews, their community had much less then the Jewish population in Nuremberg, Erfurt, Mainz or Regensburg.

At the end of the 14th century, the Frankfurt Jews were subject to increasing restrictions. A 1386 law forbade the employment of Christian farm servants and restricted the number of servants that a Jewish household could have. A general Jewish debt forgiveness issued by Emperor Wenceslaus actually only helped those who owned the Jews' money. At the same time, the town council used a rigid new tax law to restrict the growth of the community. Between 1412 and 1416 the number of Jewish households dropped from about 27 to about 4. In 1422 the town council rejected a new Heretic Tax, claiming that only they had the right to tax the Frankfurt Jews. This action, which the Jewish population had little influence over, caused the entire population to be placed under an Imperial Edict and forced them to flee Frankfurt to avoid punishment. Only in 1424 were they allowed to return after the Emperor acknowledged that the Frankfurt Council was correct in rejecting the Heretic Tax.

The Jewish population reached its lowest point in 1416, and then grew continuously from that point. In the second half of the 15th century the Frankfurt Jews provided a substantial tax revenue. Following the expulsion of the Jews from Trier (1418), Vienna (1420), Cologne (1424), Augsburg (1438), Breslau (1453), Magdeburg (1493), Nuremberg (1499) and Regensburg (1519) Frankfurt became an increasingly important financial center. One reason for this was that the city council only allowed the financially stong to settle in their city.

During the later 15th century, the guilds were able to reduce the restictions on the Jews. When Emperor Maximilian assessed a tax on the Jewish communities, to pay for his Italian Campaign in 1497, Frankfurt paid the second highest.

The Frankfurt Ghetto

Leading up to the Ghetto

By 1431 the town council considered options for dealing with the Jews. Since the town was often in conflict with either the emperor or the Archbishop of Mainz over the Jewish population, this had become a pressing issue. The council debated the creation of a ghetto in both 1432 and 1438 without reaching a conclusion. In 1442 the Emperor Frederick III ordered the resettlement of all Jews living near the cathedral. The singing in the synagogue was distrubing the Christian services in the cathedral. Then, in 1446 a murder occurred on a Jew known as zum Buchsbaum. The town council secretary recorded this in his book with three crosses, the notation Te Deum laudamus (Latin God be praised) and Crist ist entstanden (German Christ is risen).^[3] In 1452 Cardinal Nicholas of Kues visited the city to encourage the town council to enforce the Church Dress Order. That is that female Jews must wear a blue veil and all males must wear yellow rings on their sleeves. However, adherence to these regulations was only enforced for a short time.

Construction of the Ghetto

After another order from the Emperor Frederick III, in 1458, the council finally began building houses outside the city wall and moat. In 1462 the Jews were forced to move into these houses. This was the beginning of the isolated and closed off ghetto. In 1464 the city established eleven houses, one dance hall, two pubs, and a community center at its' own expense. The cold bath and synagogue were built by the Jewish community.

This first ghetto synagogue, known as the Altschul (German for Old School), was built on the east side of the Judengasse. The synagogue was used for more than just religious purposes. It was also the social center of the community where members could carry out many everyday activities. This close connection between religious and everyday life was common in ghetto life. The creation of the ghetto and the corresponding isolation created a sense of self-sufficiency in the Jewish community. Within the synagogue Jewish leaders were selected, regulations from the Rabbis were issued, bankruptcies were declared and corporal punishments were carried out. The seats in the synagogue were rented and could be auctioned off if the renter got behind on payments.

In 1465 the city council decided that the cost of further construction on the Judengasse would be left to the Jewish community. It was now possible, in 1471 to pave the road, build a second well and a warm bath. The city council maintained the rights to the land under the street and by extension the houses built on the land, regardless of who had built them. For any developed plot within the ghetto, the city received a "Ground Rent" from the owner.

Within the next century, the ghetto population grew until the original houses were no long sufficient. The Jews were then allowed to expand into the city moat. Following the expansion from 1552 and 1579 the Judengasse would remain virtually unchanged until the 19th Century.

During the economic upswing at the end of the 14th Century, the Jewish population grew from 260 in 1543 to about 2700 in 1613. However, the Judengasse could not enlarged. So, some new houses were created by dividing existing houses. Furthermore, on both sides of the lane Hinterhäuser (German for Behind Houses) were built, so that there were 4 rows of houses in the ghetto. Finally, additional stories were added to the houses and the stories were expanded out over the lane until they nearly touched each other across the lane. On lower houses, large often multi-story gables were added to increase the available room.

Life in the Ghetto

The Ghetto remained a very crowded section of town due to both rapid population growth and the refusal of Frankfurt's municipal authorities to allow the Ghetto to expand.

Virtually every facet of life in the Ghetto was regulated by the Jewish Laws. For example, Jews were not allowed to leave the Ghetto during nights, Sundays, Christian Holidays or during the election and coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor. In addition to isolating the Jews, the Jewish Laws included a number of restrictive and relatively discriminating rules. The laws regulated the right to live in the city, the collection of deliveries and the acceptable vocations for Jews. Every Jew was even required to wear a circular yellow mark on his or her clothes to identify themselves as a Jew. The influx of Jews from the surrounding countryside into Frankfurt was strictly limited.

Altogether only 500 Jewish families were allowed to live on the Judengasse after a new set of Jewish Laws were issued in 1616. The Laws of 1616 also stated that only 12 weddings would be permitted per year in the Ghetto. Even wealthy and influential inhabitants such as the banker Mayer Amschel Rothschild were not excluded from the Jewish Laws.

References

External links

• Museum Judengasse

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