Rothenburg ob der Tauber was a last-minute addition to our itinerary on our trip to Germany. After spending several days in urban areas, we thought it would be advantageous to investigate a few countryside options. Almost every story I read about day trips originating in Frankfurt featured this picturesque medieval town where “history comes to life.” I shared some of the online images with my husband. To say we were intrigued was an understatement.
We looked forward to driving through one of the fairytale-like entryways to this famous walled city with narrow cobblestone streets lined with half-timbered houses with red-tiled roofs. I couldn’t wait to be transported back to the Middle Ages, and my husband was amenable to my wish.
If time allowed, we could check out a local bakery item called a snowball, visit the Medieval Crime and Justice Museum, admire the architecture inside the wall and participate in the Night Watchmen’s Tour in the evening, which gives a good overview of the local history.
Even though we are well versed on the restrictions placed on Jewish communities during the Middle Ages – as well as the relentless persecutions, arsons, extortions and violent attacks – we didn’t anticipate finding any notable efforts to keep Jewish history alive in the German countryside. To our complete surprise, the town did not attempt to conceal its less-than-stellar past. Instead, self-guided walking tour booklets written by Oliver Gussmann, the pastor at the St. James church, are available for visitors to piece together Rothenburg’s unsettling Jewish past, while posted signs memorialize each historic site along the route.
Before our arrival, Robert Nehr, from the Rothenburg Tourismus Service, became aware of my extensive background in Jewish studies and graciously arranged for my husband and I to be guided by a local expert on Jewish history, Lothar Schmidt.
We followed Schmidt and Nehr to a small town square, Kapellenplatz, with two rows of parked cars in the middle of the cobblestoned area that’s surrounded by buildings. We stopped in front of a building with a sign acknowledging the presence of the first Jewish quarter. This small Jewish community, which comprised approximately 10 per cent of the town’s population, lived just inside the town gate and had a synagogue, school, community hall, mikveh and a cemetery.
Historical documents reveal that members of this community held many professions, including educators, bakers, doctors, butchers and moneylenders. Under the reign of Rudolf I of Hapsburg (1273-1291), the Jews were forced to pay a more significant tax to the emperor, instead of paying a smaller fee to the region’s noblemen. Many Jews chose to relocate, to avoid this excessive monetary burden.
In subsequent years, Jews were accused of ritual murder, assaulted during the Rintfleisch Pogrom in 1298 and endured numerous violent attacks between 1336 and 1342. A small monument near the Blasius Chapel in the Castle Garden memorializes the Rintfleisch Pogrom and the memory of the 450 Jews who took refuge in the imperial castle and were burned alive by their Christian neighbours. During the Black Death of 1349, the Jewish community was destroyed once again, and records indicate that it was totally eliminated when Emperor Charles IV gave the Jewish residences to the town in 1350.
A nearby sign on the wall of Kapellenplatz No. 5 recalls the life of Rabbi Meir ben Baruch (ca., 1215-1293). He was taught by some of France’s most erudite rabbis and, in the mid- 13th century, witnessed the mass burning of Jewish texts in Paris. He is considered to be one of the last great Tosaphists of Rashi’s commentaries on the Talmud and a liturgical poet whose poems were included in medieval German machzorim.
From 1246-1286, Rabbi Meir’s school in Rothenburg attracted Jewish students who recognized his exemplary scholarship. His influence extended well beyond the German-speaking part of the world. From Rothenburg, and later from a prison cell in the fortress of Ensisheim in Upper Alsace, Rabbi Meir issued responsa, answering pertinent questions about civil and criminal law issues. A collection of Rabbi Meir’s responsa has been preserved to this day.
The exact circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and death remain unsubstantiated. Schmidt recounted one of the prominent theories that Rabbi Meir’s unsuccessful attempts to free himself, along with a group of other Jews, from King Rudolf’s grip led to his capture and imprisonment. Accordingly, Rabbi Meir died in his prison cell because he put the financial security of his community above his own life, when the Jewish community was asked to pay a hefty ransom for his release, which Rabbi Meir chose not to do.
More @ https://www.cjnews.com/culture/travel/exposing-the-jewish-history-of-a-medieval-german-town
