Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt a.M.

In the heart of Frankfurt, the Jewish Museum of the City of Frankfurt am Main presents itself as one of the institutions newly established shortly after 1945 to represent Jewish history and culture in Germany; it is also part of the city's Museumsufer.

The museum operates at two locations with specific local ties: at the Rothschild-Palais on Untermainkai the history and culture of Frankfurt's Jews since emancipation are addressed. The Museum Judengasse at Battonnstraße 47 is devoted to the Early Modern period and incorporates the uncovered foundation remains of the former Judengasse as well as the immediately adjacent old Jewish cemetery.

Predecessor forms already existed at the beginning of the 20th century; the collection of Jewish antiquities was founded in 1922 and was largely destroyed or dispersed in the November pogroms of 1938. After the war numerous cultural assets were recorded and distributed. In the following decades researchers and the city gathered materials on the history of Frankfurt's Jews; on this basis the present museum was established, opening on 9 November 1988. The first permanent exhibition addressed both the contributions of the Jewish bourgeoisie to urban society and the rupture caused by National Socialism; only a very small portion of the former holdings found its way back to the city.

The 1987 discovery of foundations from 19 houses of the Judengasse sparked a broad debate; as a compromise five house footprints were conserved and integrated into the current presentation. The Museum Judengasse, opened in 1992 and redesigned in 2016, makes life from the Middle Ages to emancipation tangible and stands in direct proximity to the Gedenkstätte Neuer Börneplatz and the old Jüdischen Friedhof Battonnstraße.

The institution is also responsible for educational work at the Erinnerungsstätte Großmarkthalle, which commemorates the collection and deportation site of more than ten thousand Frankfurt Jews in the years 1941–1945.

The collections focus on ceremonial objects and textiles, visual arts including exile art, as well as family and local history. The Ludwig Meidner-Archiv represents an important holdings, as does the Familie Frank Zentrum with extensive loans relating to the family of Anne Frank. The library comprises more than 25,000 media units; the documentation department preserves over 300 metres of written records and more than 21,000 photographs. In cooperation with the Fritz Bauer Institut the museum operates a Pädagogisches Zentrum for teacher training, school programmes and university teaching, offering separate educational programmes on Jewish history and on engaging with the Holocaust.