In Frankenhausen Jews lived already in the 14th century (first mentioned in 1303). The Jews in Frankenhausen were also affected by the persecutions in the plague period (1349). The Jewish settlement was near the upper church in the upper town. Here was the still at the beginning of the 19th century called "Judengasse", which is believed to be today's Oberkirchgasse.

Initially, a prayer room was probably established in one of the Jewish apartments. In 1738 a horse stable on the north side of the castle was converted into a first synagogue. For this an annual fee of 2 talers rent per congregation member was to be paid to the local lordship. On April 30, 1841, the synagogue burned down. The nearby bakehouse had gone up in flames, which also destroyed several neighboring buildings, including the Jewish school with the teacher's apartment. For almost 100 years this building served the Jewish community as a religious center.

The cemetery is located at the edge of the forest about 150 m west of the village exit below the Leichelberg (reachable via Kirchstraße, signposted). The Jewish cemetery was established at the beginning of the 18th century. The plot was given to the Jewish families as a fiefdom by the local lords for 20 thalers each for 30 years. According to the original regulations, annual fees for the use of the cemetery were 1/4 pound of pepper, 1/4 pound of ground ginger and two nutmegs.

A brick wall forms the demarcation between the main cemetery and the Jewish cemetery. Already the medieval Jewish community had a cemetery, which is mentioned between 1428 and 1521. It was located in the direction of Holzhausen on Ichtershäuser Straße. Traces of this cemetery have not been preserved. Until 1921 the dead of the Jewish community were buried in Plaue or in other places (especially in home towns of the deceased). The land for the establishment of a Jewish cemetery in Arnstadt was acquired by the Jewish community in 1912.

In the spring of 1940, the last Jewish inhabitants had to move into some "Jewish houses" together. One of them was the residential house of the Jewish  banker Siegmund Hirschmann in Karolinenstraße 2. Many were later deported from there. In the summer of 1944, there was no longer a Jewish community in the town.

Teacher Abraham Heilbrunn (living in Fleischgasse 1a) taught five children at the religious school in the school year 1931/32.

In the second half of the 19th century, between 1874 and 1877, a first prayer hall could be established in the house of the family of the first community leader Julius Jonas, which was a "friendly, large" hall (report above from 1877). In 1877 there were already three Torah scrolls in the community. The prayer hall was in the house Ritterstraße 7 (building still exists).

The synagogue existing in the Middle Ages stood according to a report of 1521 "in the Erfurtische street, where anitzo the Bartolomäische rear building is' (meant: the property Erfurter street No. 17, rear house). It was probably a stone house, which also served as a dwelling for Jewish families.  On December 29, 1878 - after an assassination attempt and happy return of the German Emperor - a thanksgiving service took place. Teacher Ehrlich gave an address which included, "Merciful God and Father of all people.

A "stone house in the Zimmergasse" (steynhusz in the Zcymergasse) was inhabited by Jews. In 1466 it came to the expulsion of all Arnstadt Jews, whereupon the house was given by the prince elsewhere.