Jews' Alley (Judengasse)

The ‘Little Jewish Gate’ leading onto Simeonstrasse was one of three such gates providing access to the Jewish quarter. It was built around 1219. The house at Judengasse 2 was constructed less than 20 years later, making it the oldest preserved Jewish home in Germany. Back then, the Jewish community was continuing to grow, and within 100 years, there were around 300 Jews living here under the liberal Archbishop Baldwin of Luxembourg, expanding their quarter westwards. There was a men’s and a women’s synagogue, a parish hall, and an inn for foreign Jews. This peaceful coexistence came to an abrupt end in 1349 when, as in many other German cities, the Jews were accused to poisoning the fountains to infect their Christian neighbours with the plague. Numerous Jews died during this pogrom, and the survivors were eventually banished from the city in 1418. It was not until almost 200 years later that Jewish families started resettling in Trier, albeit this time scattered right across the city.