The discovery of remains of the Judengasse in Frankfurt motivated Peter Nestler to reconstruct the history of the Jews in the city. During 800 years of Jewish history in Frankfurt, there were three communities. The first two fell victim to pogroms in the 13th and 14th century. The third existed for many centuries and became a spiritual center for many Jews around the world. The Jewish Lane — the city’s ghetto — was the workplace for many rabbis and philosophers of religion who are still admired today. Many famous court factors and Jewish bankers, like the Oppenheimers and the Rothschilds, came from there. But it was also a jail, unbearable in its gloomy narrowness, with its entanglement of houses, facades, annexes, the surrounding ghetto wall, and the stench of the sewer. It’s not for nothing that the locals called the ghetto ‘hell’. During the difficult Jewish emancipation in the first half of the 19th century, the Judengasse became both a tourist attraction and an eyesore for the city. The alley was finally torn down in the period between 1870 and 1890. Despite the murderous period of German fascism, anti-Semitism, and the Holocaust an astonishing amount of historic evidence of Frankfurt’s Jews remains. Nestler’s film traces this history from the middle ages up until the present day. Die Judengasse does not end with the demolition of the buildings. An important, harrowing chapter addresses the demise of the third community that still counted 30.000 members in 1932.
