Germany may be a comparatively modern nation-state, having been formed in 1871, but the territory it now encompasses has a rich and complex history. An integral part of that history, from at least the 4th century AD, has been the role of its Jewish communities. While the story of the Jews in both Germany and Europe is understandably overshadowed by the horrific events of the Holocaust, it is important not to forget the contributions and struggles of earlier Jewish communities – including those who lived during the Middle Ages. In this article I highlight five German cities that celebrate their Jewish heritage and promote these to visitors interested in exploring Medieval history in Europe.
- Ethan Doyle White
- Last Checked and/or Updated 3 July 2023
- No Comments
- Germany, Travel Ideas
In 2021 Jewish communities celebrated 1700 years of Jewish life in Germany. The anniversary date comes from the time when Constantine the Great issued an edict that concerned Jews living in Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, Roman Cologne. On 11 December 321, the Roman emperor legislated that Jews could and should hold municipal offices in Cologne’s municipal administration. This document, an early medieval copy of which is now kept in the Vatican, is evidence that Jewish communities have been an integral part of Germany, and Europe, since at least late antiquity. While Jewish communities flourished in the early medieval period, they also suffered greatly, with repeated periods of persecution and even forced removal. In many instances their heritage was destroyed or obliterated entirely.
Increasingly this heritage is coming to light, and towns and cities around Germany are starting to celebrate and promote their Jewish heritage. In 2021, UNESCO added the German cities of Speyer, Worms and Mainz to the list of world heritage sites. Known as the ShUM cities, the religious buildings and cemeteries found in these three locales are a testament to the formation of European Jewish cultural tradition and identity.
Cologne
The story of Germany’s recorded Jewish history starts in Cologne. Jews were definitely living here when it was part of the Roman Empire, being referenced in an edict of the Emperor Constantine from 321 AD. Located on an important trade route, it is likely that many Jewish residents remained in Cologne as the Empire collapsed and the Early Middle Ages began.
Cologne’s medieval Jews coalesced around a quarter of the city near the Rathaus. Today, their presence is marked by the continuing use of the street name ‘Judengasse’ – Jew’s Lane. The city gained a reputation in the Jewish world for its learning, and a large number of medieval manuscripts now in collections across Europe were produced here. Cologne’s Jews were nevertheless not safe. Pogroms initiated by the call for the First Crusade hit the city in 1096, with many Jews who survived being forcibly baptised. Another pogrom hit Cologne in 1288 and again in 1349. A Jewish presence remained in the city, albeit much diminished, for the rest of the 14th and into the 15th century, when increasing restrictions were placed upon them. The city authorities expelled the remaining Jews in 1424. Two years later, a synagogue that had been established in the 11th century was transformed into a church.
The discovery of the medieval foundations of the city in the 1950s resulted in new revelations about its medieval Jewish community. As well as everyday items and many objects inscribed in Hebrew or Yiddish, the archaeologists revealed evidence for a medieval synagogue as well as a mikveh, or ritual bath used to purify the bather. These archaeological sites are now preserved and will form part of a forthcoming Jewish Museum, currently in development.
Erfurt
The earliest evidence for a Jewish community in Erfurt, Thuringia comes from the 12th century. Erfurt’s Jews were initially under the protection of the king, and thus owed taxes to him, but in the early 13th century they became the responsibility of the Archbishop of Mainz. Not long after, in 1221, the city was hit by anti-Semitic riots.
In the early 14th century, responsibility for Erfurt’s Jews passed to the municipality. As the Black Death broke out, rumours that Jews were responsible for the pestilence led to another pogrom being launched against this community, in 1349. The survivors were driven out of the city and their main synagogue sold off. Jewish people returned five years later and over the next century Erfurt established itself as having one of the largest Jewish communities in the Holy Roman Empire. However, in 1453 the city council withdrew its protection from Erfurt’s Jews and most of the community left, fearing what might come. The Jewish cemetery was raised and many of its tombstones used for building material. Thankfully, at least 75 Jewish tombstones dating from the 13th to the 15th century still survive.
There are additional material traces of Erfurt’s medieval Jewish heritage that can still be seen today. Perhaps most important is the Old Synagogue, located in the heart of the city. Although parts of it date from the late 11th century, the synagogue is largely of 13th and early 14th-century date, reflecting continual schemes of rebuilding. It is now a museum and houses the Erfurt Treasure, a 14th-century hoard of gold and silver; this probably belonged to a medieval Jewish merchant who concealed it within his house, where it was only discovered in 1998. Near to the synagogue is a 13th-century mikveh, or ritual bath, that was excavated between 2007 and 2010, as well as the late medieval Stone House, which is known to have had Jewish owners in the late 13th century. As a group, these structures are now candidates to become UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Jewish cemeteries have also been discovered in Erfurt. After one 14th-century burial place was revealed during a rescue excavation, local Jewish representatives gave consent for samples of bone to be tested. This revealed that these Jews displayed far greater levels of genetic diversity than contemporary Ashkenazi populations, suggesting that the medieval Erfurt community had ancestries from many different places.
Walking Tours that Include Jewish Heritage
Worms - Warmaisa
Located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Worms is internationally recognised for its important medieval Jewish heritage, with several of its historic structures forming part of the ShUM-Sites of Speyer, Worms and Mainz – a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021.
A Jewish community was present in the city from at least the 11th century, with the Worms synagogue being established in 1034. One of the city’s most famous 11th-century residents was Rashi, author of prominent commentaries on Jewish religious tradition. However, in 1096, Christians preparing for the First Crusade massacred most of Worms’ Jewish community and severely damaged their synagogue. A Jewish presence was subsequently re-established, rebuilding the synagogue in 1174/75. Other Jewish buildings followed over the coming years, including an underground mikveh, established in 1185/86, and a women’s wing to the synagogue, added in 1212/13 – making it the oldest example of such a structure known in Europe.
The Jews of Worms had been the responsibility of the king for many centuries, but in 1348 this responsibility was transferred to the city government. In the midst of the Black Death, much of the city’s Jewish community was wiped out in a pogrom in 1349. Again, Jews returned to Worms and their community remained throughout the Late Middle Ages and beyond. Perhaps the most iconic symbol of this enduring presence is the city’s Jewish cemetery, the oldest to survive anywhere in Europe. At least 2,500 gravestones still stand here, the oldest dating from 1058/59. Today’s visitors to Worms can explore reconstructions of many of the original medieval buildings and learn more about the history of this community at the Jewish Museum Worms, opened in 1982.
Mainz - Magenza
The last of the three cities represented in the ShUM UNESCO World Heritage Site, the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate also has an extensive Jewish heritage. While it possible that a Jewish community had existed here from the Roman period, the earliest clear evidence for its presence comes from the 10th century.
In 1012, Emperor Henry II expelled the Jews from Mainz after a Roman Catholic priest converted to Judaism. It would not be long before they were permitted to return. One of the leading figures of the city’s Jewish community during this period was the Rabbi Gershom ben Yehuda, who established a yeshiva school in Mainz and who came to be known throughout Jewish communities as Meor ha-Golah (“Light of the Exile”). In 1096, the Jews of Mainz faced a major pogrom, one of many sparked by the Pope’s call for the First Crusade.
As in many parts of Europe, anti-Semitic persecution intensified in Mainz during the 13th century. Subsequently, the arrival of the Black Death in the 1340s – and with it the allegations that Jews had spread the disease – effectively wiped out the city’s Jewish community. While the community rose again, it would be subject to repeated expulsions throughout the 15th century, the last being in 1470/71. Mainz’s Jewish community would only rebuild itself in the 17th century.
Despite its UNESCO listing, comparatively little medieval Jewish heritage remains visible in Mainz. Much of the old Jewish Quarter was deliberately obliterated by the Nazi administration in 1938. The city’s Old Jewish Cemetery has nevertheless persevered, remaining one of Europe’s oldest surviving Jewish burial places. One area of this graveyard, known as the memorial cemetery, has been filled with historic gravestones, many of medieval date, which have been recovered in Mainz over the years – a fitting reminder of the lives and contributions of the city’s Jewish residents.
Walking Tours that Include Jewish Heritage
Speyer - Schpira
Home to one of the most significant Jewish communities in the Holy Roman Empire, Speyer is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site devoted to the medieval Jewish heritage of Rhineland-Palatinate. The earliest evidence for a Jewish presence in Speyer dates from the 1070s. In 1084 this community was bolstered by arrivals fleeing pogroms in Mainz and Worms.
One of the key reasons for the growth of a Jewish community here during the late 11th century was the welcoming attitude of the Bishop of Speyer, Rüdiger Huzmann. He issued the city’s Jews a charter granting them greater rights than those enjoyed by their co-religionists in many other parts of the Holy Roman Empire, such as the right to own land and employ non-Jews as servants. Huzmann was probably motivated by the Jewish reputation as merchants and financiers, roles that would prove useful in helping to finance and build the city’s cathedral. While further pogroms broke out in the region in 1096 due to the First Crusade, Speyer was not as badly affected as other nearby cities.
Congregating in their own Jewish area, which was just outside the city walls (in what later became the suburb of Altspeyer), the community set about creating its own religious infrastructure. In the opening years of the 12th century, a synagogue was erected, designed in the Romanesque architectural style that was popular at the time. This building saw expansion in the 13th century, including with a women’s prayer room and a yeshiva school, although only the east wall survives today. Alongside this place of worship was an early 12th-century mikveh, perhaps the oldest known in central Europe, and due to its underground nature it still survives. A cemetery was also established, to the west of the Jewish Quarter.
In 1349, a pogrom fuelled by the Black Death virtually obliterated the Jewish population of Speyer. A small community re-emerged but was expelled in 1405; Jews were permitted to return in 1421, only to be ejected once more in 1435. The legacy of the Speyer community has nevertheless been long lasting, reflected in Ashkenazi surnames like Shapiro, Spiro, and Speyer. Today, the story of Speyer’s Jewish heritage is told at the SchPIRA Museum, located close to the old synagogue wall and mikveh, an area referred to as the Jewish Courtyard.
Explore Germany More Deeply
Few other countries have a past as rich and complex as Germany. From the Neanderthals who made some of Europe’s oldest Ice Age art to the Iron Age Celts and their exquisite gold work. From the Hanseatic League of the Middle Ages to the 20th Century and the Third Reich. Whatever your interest in history, in Germany you will be spoilt for choice with Roman forts, Gothic castles and churches, Bach’s Leipzig, the Berlin Wall and some of the finest museums in the world.
Archaeology Travel Writer
