Frankfurter Judengasse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 in early modern times home of Germany's largest Jewish community.
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.[1] To the most well-known inhabitants of the ghetto belonged Mayer Amschel Rothschild and Ludwig Börne.
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. 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. [2]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of November 26, 2006.
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
