Germany

EXPLORE GERMAN JEWISH HERITAGE

Germany’s Jewish history began under the rule of the pagan Roman Empire in the 4th century. At the time, Jews lived in relative peace with their neighbors, working as farmers, artisans, and merchants. During the 10th and 11th century, Germany became a center for Jewish learning in Western Europe with several yeshivas that produced some of the most influential scholars of the Torah. The Crusades soon brought a sharp end to Jewish Germany’s “Golden Age” when the crusaders swept through Germany’s Jewish communities, killing hundreds of people at a time and destroying synagogues. Jews eventually achieved civic rights and citizenship in the various German states that ruled throughout the 19th century before the unification of Germany. The Holocaust brought a tragic end to the advancement of German Jewry until a smaller community returned to the country after the war.

Towards the end of the Soviet Union and after its fall, large numbers of Jews moved to Germany from the former communist countries and still remain there today. Germany is now home to the eight-largest Jewish community in the world with approximately 100,000 Jews as of 2017.

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