Frankfurter Judengasse: Difference between revisions

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50°6′49″N 8°41′13″E / 50.11361°N 8.68694°E / 50.11361; 8.68694

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 three 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.

• 
  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 than 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 restrictions 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.

The Rabbinical Conference of 1603

The Jewish community of Frankfurt was one of the most important in Germany in the 16th Century. By the late 16th Century there was a Talmudic Academy in which the Halakhic Rabbis taught. Additionally, Kabbalahic works were printed in the Ghetto. Whenever the Jewish communities of Germany collected money for the poor Jews in Palestine, the money was all sent to Frankfurt for collection before being sent on.

The central role of Frankfurt's Jews in Jewish spiritual life is best illustrated in the great Rabbinical Conference held in Frankfurt in 1603. Many of the most important Jewish communities in Germany (including Mainz, Fulda, Cologne and Koblenz) sent representatives to Frankfurt for this conference. The conference dealt primarily with topics that the Jews had jurisdiction over, and for which five Courts of Justice existed. Some of the topics included; fraud in trade and coinage, responsibilities to local authorities, religious questions and ritual regulations. The resolutions of the 1603 conference, would however, be declared treason in Germany. Emperor Rudolf II declared that the resolutions of the Conference overstepped the privileges that he had granted to them. As a result, the Emperor's protection was taken away for about 25 years. This resulted in rebellions and pogroms in several cities with a significant Jewish population. This continued until about 1631 when a large fine was paid by the communities to the Arch Bishop of Cologne.

The Fettmilch Rebellion

Tensions between the Patricians and the guilds led to the 1612 Fettmilch Rebellion, named after it's leader Vincenz Fettmilch. During the rebellion, the Judengasse was attacked and plundered and the Jews were driven out of Frankfurt.

Initially the tension was caused by desire of the guilds to greater participation in city government and city financial policies. The guilds wanted a reduction in grain prices as well as some anti-Jewish regulations. The desired regulations included a reduction in the number of Jews in the city and a fifty percent reduction in the fees and interest that Jewish moneylenders could charge. In addition to the guilds, merchants and independent craftsmen supported Fettmilch in the hope of forgiveness of their debts by restricting the Jews.

In late 1613, the Town Council reached an agreement with Fettmilch and his supporters. This agreement granted the guilds the increased power and rights. However, the population of Frankfurt then learned that the city had extensive debts and that the Town Council had lied about the amount of the Jewish Tax collected, Fettmilch declared the Council deposed and seized the city gates. Now the Emperor, who had been neutral, entered the conflict. He demanded a re-instatement of the Town Council and threatened any one who opposed him with an Imperial Interdiction which would strip the offender of all rights.

Once the rebellious craftsman learned of the Imperial Interdiction, they took to the streets in protest. The mob directed it's anger against the weakest member of the supposed opponents: the Jews. They stormed the gates of the Judengasse which were defended by local Jews. After several hours of fighting at the barricades, the mob entered the Ghetto. All inhabitants of the Judengasse, about 1380 individuals, were driven into the Jewish Cemetery while their houses were plundered and partly destroyed. On the following day, the Jews, were forced completely out of the city. They found refuge in the surrounding communities, particularly Hanau, Höchst and Offenbach.

On the 28th of September 1614 the Emperor issued a sentence against Fettmilch and his followers. On November 27 Fettmilch was arrested. A court was held for Fettmilch and 38 others, on charges of ignoring the Imperial Interdiction and rebellion against the Emperor. They were not charged for their attacks on the Jews. On February 28 1616 Fettmilch and 6 others were executed on Frankfurt's Rossmarkt square. On the same day, 20 Adar by the Hebrew Calendar, the Jews were led back into Frankfurt by Imperial soldiers. Over the gates to the Judengasse a stone Eagle was added with an inscription reading Protected by the Roman Imperial Majesty and the Holy Empire. The first act of the returning Jews was returning the desecrated Synagogue and devastated cemetery to religious use. The anniversary of the return was celebrated as Purim Vinz, named after the first name of the leader of the Fettmilch rebellion [1]. The Purim-Kaddisch includes a merry march which remembers the joyful return.

However, the Jews never received the promised compensation for their losses. The Fettmilch Rebellion was one of the last Pogroms in Germany, until the rise of the National Socialists. The rebellion is also remarkable in that for the first time many Christian commentators took the side of the Jews.

The Jewish Laws of 1616

As a reaction to the Fettmilch Rebellion a new set of Jewish Laws were issued in 1616. The laws, which originated with the Imperial Commissioners from Hessen and the Mainz palatinate (Kurmainz), were actually based more on the local anti-Jewish attitudes and did little to help the Jews.

The laws determined that a maximun of 500 Jewish families could live in Frankfurt. In the 60 years before the Pogrom, the Jewish population had increased tenfold from 43 to 453. The law now put an upper limit on the growth that was possible in the Jewish community. Jewish marriages were limited to 12 per year, while Christians only had to prove that they were wealthly enough.

In business the Jews were broadly granted the same rights that Christian non-citizen residents had. These non-citizen rights, which had evolved during the Middle Ages, restricted them from most types of business. All non-citizens were prevented from opening shops, operating retail business in the city, entering into business ventures with full citizens, or owning business property.

One significant difference was that Jews were expressly allowed to engage in wholesale businesses, which include grain and wine or trading in cloth, silk, and textiles. The Emperor may have allowed the Jews the wholesale business to weaken the powerful Christian wholesale families, which had gained the power the guilds had lost in the Fettmilch Rebellion.

A further positive result of the new Jewish Laws was that the Laws were no longer renewed every three years. This led to a much more stable life in Frankfurt. The Jews continued to be treated as a foreigner, who had a lower status than citizens and non-citizen residents. They remained subjects of the Town Council and, unlike Christians, could not apply for citizenship. The Law of 1616 expressly forbade the Jews from even calling themselves Citizen. Finally, Jews paid more than other residents with extra tariffs and additional taxes.

The Law of 1616 was revised several times, for example in 1660. Each revision improved the situation of the Jews. However, the Jewish Laws remained a piece of the Middle Ages until the 19th Century.

The Great Ghetto Fire of 1711

On January 14 1711 one of the largest fires that ever occurred in Frankfurt broke out on the Judengasse. The fire broke out at about 8 p.m. in the House Eichel (German: Acorn) owned by a senior Rabbi, Naphtali Cohen. The house was one of the largest in the entire Ghetto, with a frontage of 9.5 meter (30 feet) and was directly opposite the Synagogue. Strong winds and the narrowness of the Ghetto helped spread the fire. Additionally, the wood construction of houses with very few fire walls and overhanging roofs allowed the fire to race through the Ghetto.

Out of fear of a riot or robbery, the gates to the Ghetto were kept locked. The neighboring Christians finally allowed the Jews to flee the burning Ghetto when it appeared the fire would spread if they couldn't contain it. Even with the additional firefighting help they were unable to save the Ghetto. Within 24 hours every house in the Ghetto was burned to the ground. Fortunately, the wind shifted before the fire could spread out of the Ghetto.

Four people lost their lives in the fire and many priceless objects were destroyed, including books, manuscripts and Torah Scrolls. After the disaster the inhabitants of the lane were allowed to rent houses in Christian Frankfurt until their homes were rebuilt. Those who couldn't afford to rent were forced to search for homes in Jewish communities in surrounding communities. Those Jews who had lived in the Ghetto without permission were expelled. The Jewish community of Frankfurt set the date of the fire (24 Tevet) as a memorial and fast day.

The first concern of the Jewish community was the reconstruction of the destroyed Synagogue. By the end of September 1711 they had finished the new building. It was constructed on the old foundations with three parts. The actual Synagogue (Altschul), the three story Women's Synagogue to the north( which was nearly completely separate from the Synagogue) and the Neuschul or new Synagogue to the south. The Altschul was built with many Gothic elements including Gothic Arches, an independent Facade, columns, and a large Rose Window. In comparison to other Synagogues built in the Baroque era, such as Prague, Amsterdam or Poland, this Synagogue appeared backward and medieval. The architecture of this Synagogue may have reflected the isolation of the Ghetto.

The town council required that all reconstruction in the lane follow strict building codes. The builders' drawings were collected and stored by the council and allow an excellent reconstruction of the old Judengasse.

The Ghetto Fire of 1721

Only ten years after the Great Ghetto Fire another fire broke out in the Ghetto on January 28 1721. Within eleven hours, the entire northern part of the lane was on fire. Over 100 houses burned down and some additional houses were plundered and damaged by the rescue efforts of the Christian inhabitants of the city. Due to the damage and robbery, Emperor Charles VI encouraged the town council to punish the looters and better protect the Jewish community. After extensive negotiations, the town council determined that repayment would occur but only in the forgiveness of taxes and fees owed by the Jewish community. Reconstruction occurred very slowly, because a majority of the community were impoverished by the recent disasters.

Following the fire, a number of inhabitants left the Ghetto to live in Frankfurt with Christian landlords. It wasn't until 1729 that the town council forced the last 45 families living in Frankfurt back into the Ghetto.

The Bombardment of 1796

In July 1796 French Revolutionary troops under Jean Baptiste Kléber besieged Frankfurt. As the city was garrisoned with Austrian troops, Kléber positioned his troops to attack the garrison. The French army cannons were positioned north of the city between the Eschenheimer Gate and the All Saints Gate. Kléber hoped to make the Austrian Commander von Wartensleben surrender, by bomdarding the city in the evening of July 12 and the afternoon of July 13. A further shelling throughout the night of July 13-14 caused very heavy damage. The northern part of the Judengasse was hit and started to burn, with the destruction of about a third of the houses. Following the extensive damage to the entire city, the Austrian garrison was forced to surrender.

Despite the extensive damage from the battle, the destruction was actually good for the Jewish community. The bombardment led to the de facto destruction of the Ghetto.

The End of the Ghetto

Frankfurt was one of the last cities in Europe to allow the Jews to leave the Ghetto. For this reason, the Frankfurt city council was generally anti-Jewish. In 1769 they responded to a Jewish petition to leave the Ghetto on Sunday afternoons as
An example of the unbounded pride of these people, who expend every effort and take every opportunity to set themselves up as equals to the Christian citizens.

In 1779 the play Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Lessing, a fervent plea for religious tolerance, was published. The Frankfurt town council immediately banned the book and any copies found were confiscated. Frankfurt's Jews intensely lobbied both the Emperor and the German Parliament in Regensburg for an improvement in their status, which still hadn't improved significantly following the Patent of Toleration issued by Emperor Joseph II. However, the lobbying efforts of the Jews was unsuccessful. Only the war between France and the coalition of Austria, England and Kingdom of Prussia brought liberty to the Jews. Following the bombardment of 1796 and the destruction of the Ghetto by the resulting fire, many Jews were allowed to live in the Christian part of the city.

In 1806 the French appointed Grand Duke of Frankfurt Karl von Dalberg ordered that equal rights be granted to all religious denominations. One of his first acts was to repeal the old municipal law forbidding the Jews from walking on a main ring road, the Anlagen. When a new school was build for the Jewish community, the Philanthropin, he donated a large sum of money. Despite von Dalberg's efforts, Frankfurt issued a new set of Jewish Regulations in 1807 that attempted to return the Jews back to the Judengasse. Finally in 1811 Dalberg's Highest Regulation, for the equality of civil right of the Jewish Municipality eliminated the requirements to live in the Ghetto and all special Jewish taxes. However, the community had to pay a special progress tax of 440,000 Guilder.

The Ghetto in the 18th and 19th Century

Following the end of the the Confederation of the Rhine and re-establishment of the Free City of Frankfurt in 1816, the Senate established a series of articles to the Constitution. Acknowledging the desires of the Christian majority, the rights of the Jews where again reduced. However, the requirement to live in the Ghetto was not renewed. In 1864 Frankfurt became the second German city, following the Grand Duchy of Baden (1862), to remove all restrictions on citizens' rights and to include the Jews as full citizens.

Due to the cramped and dirty conditions on the Judengasse most Jews left the former Ghetto during the 19th century and settled in the neighboring East End. When the Jews moved out of the Judengasse the poor of Frankfurt moved in. Although the unique streetscape attracted a few tourists and painters, the city wanted to get rid of reminders of the Ghetto. So, in 1874 the nearly unihabitable houses on the west side of the street were torn down. Then in 1884 nearly all the houses on the east side of the street were also torn down. The few remaining houses included the Rothschild family home at Number 148, which is now used as a museum. Mayer Amschel Rothschild's widow, Gutele Rothschild (born Schnaper), lived in this house even after her five sons were elevated to the nobility in 1817.

By 1854 the Jewish community had torn down the old Synagogue (built in 1711) and built a new Synagogue during 1859 and 1860. The new Synagogue would remain the spiritual center of Reform Judaism in Frankfurt, until it was destroyed during the Night of Broken Glass under the Nazis. Following the reconstruction, Judengasse was renamed after the most famous resident Ludwig Börne as Börnestraße and the old Judenmarkt (German: Jew's Market) was renamed Börneplatz (German: Boerne Plaza). The Orthodox Jews lived on Börneplatz and had their own Synagogue, the Börneplatz Synagogue. The Synagogue was built in 1882 and also destroyed in 1938 during the Night of Broken Glass.

Following the rise to power of the Nazis in 1933 Börnestraße was renamed Großer Wollgraben and Börneplatz became Dominikanerplatz after the Dominican Monastery on the west side. After the Nazis had removed nearly all of Frankfurt's Jews, the former Judengasse was totally destroyed during the bombing of Frankfurt during WWII.

References

External links

• Museum Judengasse

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