Old Jewish cemetery

Almost all traces of Jewish culture in Frankfurt had thus vanished from this site - except for the Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery on Battonnstraße, established in the thirteenth century, is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. Jewish cemeteries are sacred places. In anticipation of the resurrection of the dead, the graves must remain untouched. The gravestones testify to the rich tradition of Jewish life in the city. The inscriptions rarely mention professions and worldly deeds, concentrating mainly on learning and charity. Piety is regarded as the highest virtue. Most of the grave stones have a house mark engraved – a typical thing in Frankfurt They show in which house the deceased or their ancestors lived. Over two thousand gravestones have remained. The vast majority were destroyed by the Nazi city government in the 1940s.