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Judengasse was the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, Germany. It sat east of the historic city center.
History of the Judengasse
The Jewish community of Frankfurt was first mentioned in the middle of the 12th century. At that time, Jews were considered citizens able to live and travel freely throughout the city, although most lived between the Frankfurt Cathedral and the Main River. A series of conflicts, however, culminated with the establishment of a ghetto. It would become one of the earliest in Germany and eventually house the country’s largest Jewish community.
The Judengasse stretched from present-day Konstablerwache to Börneplatz near the Main River. The street was 330 meters long but merely 3-4 meters wide. There were only 3 gates. It grew to become one of the most densely populated areas in Europe.
Early Pogroms Against the Frankfurt Jews
In May 1241, there was a critical turning point in the relationship between Frankfurt’s Christians and Jews. The Judenschlacht was an anti-Jewish pogrom that occurred due to conflicts over Christian-Jewish marriages and the baptisms of children produced from these marriages. 180 Jews and a few Christians were killed, and 24 Jews were forced to accept a Christian baptism in order to avoid death. The synagogue was also looted. All this occurred despite Jews being protected under Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, since 1236.
By the 14th century, Frankfurt was a free city under the direct jurisdiction of the Holy Roman Emperor. Frankfurt Jews were paying a tax for the protection and support of the Emperor. In the middle of the 14th century, Louis IV arrested some members of the Jewish community on alleged crimes. Fearing for their safety, many Jews fled the city, resulting in a loss of income for the Emperor. Their homes and property were confiscated to offset the loss, and those who returned were able to negotiate to repurchase their property.
In June 1349, Charles IV transferred the tax to the city of Frankfurt, thus transferring the responsibility of protection to the city council. To add context to this event, keep in mind Jews were blamed for an outbreak of plague in 1348. In response, the Emperor released a statement proclaiming Frankfurt would not be held responsible “if Jews were killed as a result of sickness or riots”, and the belongings of the deceased would become property of the city.
The transfer of tax turned out to be a death sentence. On July 24, 1349, two weeks after the Emperor left the city, every Frankfurt Jew was beaten to death or burned alive as their homes were set on fire. The estimated number of victims is 60.
Reestablishment of the Jewish Community
In 1360, Emperor Charles IV granted the Jews the right to resettle in Frankfurt. Half of the taxes raised for their protection would go to the city. The community grew and thrived, eventually establishing a new synagogue by the end of the 14th century.
The community, however, were no longer considered citizens as they were in 1349. They were given a lower status and a separate set of rules and restrictions called the Judenstättigkeit. Each member of the community had to individually negotiate the amount of tax they would pay and how long they were allowed to stay. By 1366, Jews were also prevented from becoming guild masters and holding their own courts.
Restrictions increased in 1386, when Jews were forbidden to employ Christians, and the number of Jewish household servants was limited. The tax laws became more rigid, leading to the decrease in Jewish households from 27 in 1412 to only 4 in 1416.
After 1416, the community began to grow once again. The most prosperous Jews who had been expelled from other cities, were allowed to settle in Frankfurt, solidifying the city’s importance as a financial center. Despite the increase in wealth and tax revenue, the restrictions on Jews continued to increase.
Establishment of the Judengasse
By 1431, the city council was weighing options on how to deal with the Jewish community. The creation of a ghetto was discussed in 1432 and 1438, but no action was taken. In 1442, Emperor Frederick III ordered the resettlement of all Jews living near the Frankfurt Cathedral on the basis that their singing in the synagogue was disturbing Christian services in the cathedral.
Finally, in 1458, the Emperor ordered the construction of houses outside the city wall and moat. Jews were forced to relocate to those houses, which marked the beginning of the Judengasse. In 1464, the Jewish community, at their own expense, built a synagogue and bath. They had also established a dance hall, two pubs, and a community center.
In 1465, the city council passed on all future construction costs on to the Jewish community. The city retained the rights to property ownership regardless of the builder, and also collected rent from the owner. The road was paved in 1471.
The Jewish population increased over the next century and were granted permission to expand the ghetto in 1552 and 1579. After these expansions, the Judengasse remained unchanged until the 19th century. New homes were created by dividing larger existing buildings, and additional stories were added when possible. It became a very crowded area.
Life in the Judengasse
Jews were heavily restricted in just about every facet of life. They were forbidden to leave the ghetto at night, on Sundays, during Christian holidays, or during the election and coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor. They also had to wear a circular yellow mark on their clothes.
In 1616, a new law stated that only 500 families were allowed to live in the Judengasse and only 12 weddings would be permitted annually. As non-citizens, Jews were also excluded from most types of businesses. Wholesaling and trading commodities, however, were not included in the restrictions.
End of the Judengasse
After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire on August 6, 1806, Frankfurt was under French control as part of Napoleon’s Confederation of the Rhine. The newly-appointed Grand Duke of Frankfurt, Karl von Dalberg (1744-1817), ordered that equal rights be granted to believers of all religions. He repealed the law forbidding Jews to walk on the city’s ring road and also donated a large sum of money towards a new school for the Jewish community. The city council attempted to reestablish the Judengasse in 1807 but failed.
In 1811, Dalberg eliminated the requirement for all Jews to live in the ghetto as well as the special Jewish taxes. The joy was short lived, however, because after the reestablishment of the Free City of Frankfurt in 1816, the rights of the Jews were once again restricted. The only difference this time was that they weren’t required to live in the ghetto. Full civic equality wasn’t achieved until 1864.
Most Jews had left the Judengasse during the 19th century due to unsanitary conditions and they were replaced by Frankfurt’s poor. The synagogue built in 1711 was torn down in 1854 and replaced with the new Main Synagogue between 1855 and 1860. Orthodox Jews built their own new synagogue, the Börneplatz Synagogue, in 1882.
In 1874, all of the buildings on the west side of the street were demolished followed by most of the buildings on the east side in 1884. One of the few that remained was the Rothschild family home, which had been converted into a museum.
Destruction of the Judengasse
Following the rise of the Nazis, the synagogues were destroyed on November 9-10, 1938, during Kristallnacht. 90% of the Jewish community – about 30,000 strong in 1933 – were eventually deported. The majority didn’t survive the deportations or were murdered in concentration camps. Only 160 remained after World War II.
As for the Judengasse, it was completely destroyed during the Allied bombing raids in 1944. The area was cleared and built over by the middle of the 1950s.
Judengasse Museum
During construction of the administration building for the city’s public utility company in 1987, sections of a ritual bath and the foundations of 19 houses were discovered. Five of the houses were dismantled and reassembled in the cellar of the new building. The Judengasse Museum (Museum Judengasse), which preserves these ruins, opened to the public in 1992. It allows visitors to walk among the ruins and displays artifacts unearthed during excavations. The museum is a branch of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt.
The Judengasse Museum is open daily except Mondays. You’ll have to go through a security check to enter. Prices are current as of July 2025:
- Admission to the Judengasse Museum only is €6 for adults, €3 for students over 18 and holders of the Frankfurt Card, and free for kids under 18.
- A combo ticket including the Jewish Museum Frankfurt is €12 for adults, €6 for students over 18 and holders of the Frankfurt Card, and free for kids under 18.
Before the Judengasse
During my visit, an exhibition in the lobby presented items found during excavations that provide clues on what occupied the Judengasse before it was a Jewish ghetto. The artifacts date between the Prehistoric period to the 15th century, when the Judengasse was established. There are also a few items from after Jews left the ghetto.
Permanent Exhibition at the Judengasse Museum
The permanent exhibition presents the history of life in the Judengasse, with a focus on everyday Jewish life. It begins with a short introductory film before continuing into a gallery with a collection of rare Judaica.
From there, you’ll get a look at the foundations of the five homes from the Judengasse. A description and model of each home is placed on a map of the museum. Interspersed within the ruins are several different historical items including artifacts found during excavations.
Sperber, Roter Widder, and Weißer Widder
After crossing the bridge, the section on the right contains the foundations of the Sperber, Roter Widder, and Weißer Widder. The Sperber and Roter Widder were built in 1712 by Jacob Rieden and Moses Amsterdam, sharing a common roof. No information is available on Weißer Widder. The three homes were extremely narrow, less than three meters wide, but were still considered “medium-sized”.
Walking into the ruins, you’ll find display cases filled with everyday items used by the Jewish community as well as findings from the excavations. Among the findings are the only three porcelain shards of thousands unearthed with Hebrew inscriptions, denoting vessels used for milk and meat.
You’ll also see the drainage canal that ran along the outer wall of the Judengasse directly behind the houses. It flowed into the Main River and was covered with stone slabs in most places to prevent odors from entering the homes. Many residents built their outhouses directly over the canal. Chamber pots were used at night.
Steinernes Haus
On the other side of the bridge is Steinernes Haus, which was one of the most impressive houses in the Judengasse. It was built in 1717 by Samson Wertheimer for his stepson Isaak Nathan Oppenheimer. It had a Baroque façade and surrounded a small courtyard. The house was 10 meters wide and was the only stone structure in the ghetto other than the synagogue. Sandstone block pillars supported the vaulted cellar.
One of the features of the house is a stairway the led to the attic. The attached wrought-iron banister was on the ground floor. After the house was demolished in 1887, the banister was added to the collection of the Frankfurt Historical Museum. The base of the stairway has niches on three sides. It was used to store a candelabra and other objects.
Next to the stairway is a private well, which was a luxury in the Judengasse. A pipe attached to the well ran under the cellar floor kitchen on the ground floor.
Steinernes Haus was built atop a mikvah dated to around 1462 when the Judengasse was built. It was located in the dance hall. After a major fire in 1711, the mikvah was filled in and probably provided the foundation for one of the house’s pillars.
A new larger mikvah was added to the cellar of the house when it was built in 1717. Neighbors could access it without entering the cellar by using a stairway between the wall and the courtyard. They then had to walk down two more stairways to the pool four meters below the cellar.
Warmes Bad
Finally, against the west wall of the Judengasse Museum is Warmes Bad. It was built in 1712 and was the official residence of the Klaus rabbi and his family. The building housed a Talmud school and synagogue, known collectively as the Klause. One of the four public wells in the Judengasse was built into the façade. The doorknob of the Rococo-style house is on display.
Literature and Music in the Judengasse
In a room behind the homes is an interactive exhibit on Jewish literature and music produced in the Judengasse. Religious writings were printed in Hebrew as well as many books in Yiddish. Frankfurt became an important printing center for Yiddish books in the 18th century. You can also listen to Jewish songs and see old photos.
Old Jewish Cemetery
The Old Jewish Cemetery (Alter Jüdischer Friedhof) is just outside the Judengasse Museum. It was first mentioned in 1180 and is the second oldest Jewish cemetery in Germany after Worms. The oldest confirmed burial is dated 1272 and the last burial was in 1828. Until 1929, Jews were buried in a new cemetery next to the main city cemetery. Another cemetery opened on Eckenheimer Landstraße in 1929.
The Old Jewish Cemetery had about 7,000 gravestones at the beginning of the 20th century. In November 1942, Nazi mayor Friedrich Krebs (1894-1961) ordered the destruction of the cemetery, and by the end of World War II only about ⅓ of the gravestones remained. Today, only a small section of the cemetery is in its original condition.
The cemetery covers an area of 11,850 square meters (2.93 acres) and is surrounded by a high stone wall. In 1996, 11,134 small tablets were added to the wall, each one engraved with the name of a Jewish citizen of Frankfurt who perished during the Holocaust and the location of their death. Among them is Anne Frank (1929-1945), who was born in Frankfurt.
Main Synagogue
Hidden down a quiet street south of Konstablerwache is the former site of the Main Synagogue (Hauptsynagoge). A granite memorial erected in 1946 marks the spot of the building, which was destroyed during Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938.
Construction on the Main Synagogue began in 1855 and it was inaugurated in March 1860. It was designed by Johann Georg Kayser (1817-1875) and had Gothic, Moorish, and Byzantine elements. The building was 24.5 meters wide and 26.5 meters long, and could accommodate over 1,000 worshippers. The façade had a central wing flanked by two four-story domed towers.
