The city’s history museum was comprehensive and interesting, so there will be plenty of posts about this. Once again, the anticipation…..
These are remnants of the synagogue that was built in the city in around 1280. The Jewish community was first recorded in Cologne as early as 321, so this wasn’t some group of people who randomly turned up in the city.
The synagogue that was constructed was decorative and there was some sharing of stonemasons with Cologne Cathedral, an early inter-faith project going on. However, the Black Death took hold and in 1349, the citizens decided that this must have been the fault of the Jews, so they smashed up their synagogue. The city authorities were powerless to stop the violence, with many kills and tens of residential properties destroyed.
A small Jewish community reformed in 1369, and they must have been quite brave, but in 1424, the Council of Cologne expelled them permanently. It wasn’t until the end of the eighteenth century that the Jews were allowed to return once again.
The bits of stone that have been recovered during an archaeological dig are quite powerful in that sense that the Jewish community were likely quite positive when building the synagogue in 1280. But, the persecution of the Jews has been quite relentless in Cologne, not just with the Second World War, but also attacks on the newly reopened synagogue in 1959 and at the Jewish cemetery in 1983.