Judenhof in Zell am Main

A small Jewish community existed in Zell am Main from the beginning of the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century. It was characterized by the activities of the Rosenbaum family, who established a Talmud school here. The Laubhütte (Sukka) in the Judenhof is the symbol of their work and has been open to the public since 2014.

Mendel Rosenbaum (1782-1868) is the best-known member of the former Jewish community in Zell am Main. He founded the Judenhof and enjoyed high recognition and political influence throughout Bavaria. 

The community was dissolved around 1908, the last Jewish inhabitants left Zell in 1925. The former monastery complex, including the yeshiva, synagogue and mikvah, was largely destroyed by an air raid on March 31, 1945.

Today, the name of the site, the renovated and made public Laubhütte together with an information point and a stone-carved recess for a mezuzah (Jüdische Schriftkapsel) on the main archway of the complex are reminders of Jüdische life in the 19th and 20th centuries.