Karl (Chaskel) Wiesenthal founded together with his wife Marie/Mary (Miriam) in 1923 the „Fachgeschgesch füf men's and boys' clothing“ and the shop „Berufsbekleidung Wiesenthal & Co.“. The entrance to the two-story salesrooms was located in Burgstraße. Shortly after Hitler came to power in January 1933 and the April call for a boycott of companies owned by Jews, Mr. Wiesenthal sold the business and emigrated with his family to New York.

In Gera, a Jewish community existed already in the Middle Ages. Jews were first mentioned in the city in 1331: Emperor Ludwig confirmed to the bailiff Heinrich von Gera the rights over the Jews in his territory. The persecution of the Jews during the plague in 1349 also affected the Jews in Gera. One survivor was possibly the Jew Abraham of Gera, mentioned in Erfurt in 1357. 

The Jewish community in Geisa had a cemetery since the second half of the 18th century, which was expanded in 1857. The older part of the cemetery is located on a wooded hand with 27 still recognizable gravestones. The number of burials is assumed with about 200.

A synagogue is verifiable in the first half of the 19th century, but there may already have been a prayer room in the 18th century. The synagogue was located on the Judenhaugk (today on the Schlossberg southwest of the arched gate leading to the Schlossplatz) and was destroyed by fire on June 23, 1858. At that time all the houses around the market place and in the adjacent streets burned down.

The medieval Jewish residential area was located in the area from Ackerhof to Benediktsplatz until the persecution and destruction of the community in the plague period. Here was the synagogue of the Jewish community. The building, which has been preserved until today, is the oldest synagogue in Central Europe preserved up to the roof. During intensive research in recent years, four construction phases of a total of three synagogues could be identified. The visible western facade with the tracery rosette and the pointed arched windows can be dated to the year 1270.

Excavation site with notice board with text: "Archaeological excavation medieval mikvah. 

The Jewish community, which re-emerged a few years after the plague pogrom, was able to build a new synagogue in the area of the parking lot behind the town hall (second synagogue). Remains of this synagogue are probably located under this parking lot. In September 2012, the keystone was recovered.

The medieval Jewish residential area was located in the area from Ackerhof to Benediktsplatz until the persecution and destruction of the community during the plague.

After 1945, initially only a few Jewish people moved back in the city (survivors from concentration camps, only a few of them from pre-war Erfurt.). A first community center was built in rented rooms Am Anger 30/32, until on August 31, 1952 (10 Ellul 5712) a new synagogue with community center could be inaugurated.

The New Jewish Cemetery is the cemetery of the Jewish community of Erfurt. It was established in 1871 after the old cemetery on Cyriaksstraße could no longer be expanded. It is located on the edge of the Steigerwald next to the Thüringenhalle, Werner-Seelenbinder-Straße 3, and is still used as a burial place today.