Judengasse

Historical picture postcard Frankfurt - The former Judengasse - detail enlargement map title

Historical picture postcard Frankfurt - The former Judengasse

Historical picture postcard Frankfurt - The former Judengasse - back of card

Historical picture postcard Frankfurt - Judengasse , - sent on August 12, 1901

Historical picture postcard Frankfurt - Judengasse , - sent on August 12, 1901 - back of card

Illustration and text of an article about the Judengasse in Frankfurt, - published in 1875 in the magazine " Musée universel ".

Illustration and text of an article about the Judengasse in Frankfurt, - published in 1875 in the magazine " Musée universel " - back of sheet with French text

Frankfurt am Main: Detail from Matthäus Merian's bird's-eye view of 1628 showing the Judengasse and the Dominican monastery

View of the Judengasse in Frankfurt am Main, after the fire.
On the reverse: Stamp: Dr. Felix Kaufmann, Frankfurt am Main.
Dated 1713, after the fire of 1711.

Object number: JMS 151

Detail from a city map of Frankfurt am Main: on the right the former Jewish ghetto ("Judengasse"), in the center the Dominican monastery

Rothschild House

Booklet 21, plate 245 / Title on the plate: The Judengasse, south side. / Original description:The oldest settlement of Jews in Frankfurt among the Christian population lasted until around the middle of the 15th century. By order of Emperor Frederick III, the Jewish families had to be assigned special quarters outside the city proper and the council considered the vicinity of the Wollgraben to be the most suitable place. Around the year 1465, the families moved into houses built there. The land remained the property of the town, while the apartments were given to the Jews in return for rent. Only later could property rights be transferred to Jews. Initially, this Judengasse extended from the Bornheimer Pforte to the Dominican monastery, and buildings were only erected on the eastern side of the street, which was separated from Allerheiligengasse by a wall. It was not until the second half of the 16th century that the quarter was expanded by increasing the number of residential buildings. In 1536 there were only 58 houses, by 1612 there were 195, 111 of which were on the west side and 84 on the east side, and in 1711 there were 207 houses, 115 of which were on the west side and 92 on the east side. On January 14, 1711, the great Jewish fire took place, which completely destroyed the Judengasse; however, reconstruction began immediately and the synagogue could be used again in the fall of the same year. The reconstruction of the other houses, however, took until 1716. In 1721, on January 28, another fire broke out, which reduced 111 houses to ashes. On July 19, 1796, the shelling of the town by the French caused the third major fire, affecting 140 buildings in the northern part. The "Bornheimer Strasse" was created by the reconstruction of this part. The other part of the street remained pretty much in its old state until 1840, but from then on there were gaps in it, especially in the 1860s, the last houses were demolished on the west side in 1874 and on the east side in 1885. our picture shows the street from a photograph taken in 1868, after the west side had been almost completely demolished. The last house on the right (east), which is visible in front of the supported building still standing on the west side, was the so-called "Steinerne Haus", the only stone building in the old Judengasse.

City map of Frankfurt, 1893: The area of the former Jewish ghetto was demolished in 1887. Börnestraße was built on the curved course of the former Judengasse. Only the main synagogue and the ancestral home of the Rothschild banking family remained.

Museum Judengasse (branch of the Jewish Museum) in Frankfurt

Memorial stones at the Old Jewish Cemetery in Frankfurt am Main; image detail: Anne Frank's stone