widthHe likes the photos of Gottesackers in Prague taken by Adolph Menzel, and he will also find picturesque cemeteries in Mainz and Worms. In Worms Cemetery, there are still more than 2500 Jewish tombs from the 11th to the 20th century, which is the unique chronicle of the Jewish diaspora in the world. The green plants between the steles look like a field full of steles in Brittany. Despite the presence of National Socialists, the testimony of many other Jews still shape the painting today: in rural communities, artistic forgery signs with David’s Venus, brewing symbols of privilege, are still hung in restaurants today.
Sometimes when it comes to Jewish things in Germany, there will be conscious or unconscious transformations. Today, the narrow corners of the Jewish town of Prague Josephus, or the Golden Lane where Kafka lived between 1916 and 1917, present an idyllic scene in Biedermeier’s way. During construction, the ghetto was often separated by its own wall, and it was rarely expanded over the centuries. The street name “Judengasse” is witnessed in almost every German city, and it was built densely because of sheer lack. space. Even the tombstones in German Jewish cemeteries are often half buried in the ground or dumped on each other like hugs. They are often so charming and picturesque because of years of negligence.
The evidence of the Jews in the Middle Ages is the densest preserved in Speyer, Mainz, and Worms. The three cities on the Rhine River formed the so-called ShUM site, consisting of the initials of the medieval Hebrew city names Schpira, Warmaisa (pronounced U) and Magenza. The national authorities and the Jewish community in Mainz began to apply for inclusion in the World Heritage Site in 2004 and submitted it in 2020, hoping to be included in the Golden Book of World Heritage Sites. Since late antiquity, there has been Jewish life here-documents from the tenth century are the first evidence of Mainz, and a synagogue was built here as early as 900. In the Middle Ages, if there were no Jewish life, the vitality, knowledge, international network and prosperity of the city would only be half of it.
The three Jewish communities on the Rhine trade artery are the centers of Jewish religious and cultural life north of the Alps (“Ashkenaz”). Around 1220, they jointly established an association by passing community regulations, which historians call today the “ShUM Community Regulations” (Takkanot Kehillot SchUM) and shaped the Jewish culture, religion, and jurisdiction of the Diaspora. The outstanding architectural evidence of all three regions is preserved in the three Shum sites, especially the 12th and 13th centuries: the respective synagogues and religious cemeteries, the “girls’ schools” as places for women, and the earliest entry into the 13th century ShUM community is tangible Yes, “Mikwaot” is the ritual bath culture, and “Yeshivot” is the place for teaching and learning. The ShUM site is also part of all three urban societies, which are mainly Christians, despite many setbacks, such as those caused by the devastating massacre and the resulting expulsion.
