The Jüdenstraße (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
: ''Street of the
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
s''), is a street in central
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
, the capital of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. It is in the borough of
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreu ...
and runs between
Rathausstraße and Stralauer Straße, next to the
Rotes Rathaus
The Rotes Rathaus (, ''Red City Hall'') is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the state of Berlin. The ...
, Berlin's town hall. It is one of the oldest streets in Berlin, dating from the late 13th century.
Its name preserves the old
East Central German
East Central German or East Middle German (german: Ostmitteldeutsch) is the eastern non- Franconian Central German language and is part of High German. Present-day Standard German as a High German variant, has actually developed from a compromis ...
expression for Jews, which was ''Jüden'', instead of
New High German
New High German (NHG; german: Neuhochdeutsch (Nhd.)) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic o ...
''Juden''. The
Yiddish term for Jews «יידן» (transliterated: Yidn) is based on the same German dialect form, with the German
umlaut ''ü'' being represented by a «י» (here pronounced ). As the name of the street suggests, it once ran through the Jewish district of medieval Berlin, which was no
ghetto
A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...
-like obligatory residential area for Jews. An alley of Jüdenstraße named Großer Jüdenhof was the site of the synagogue, school and
miqveh. They were founded on an estate of the
Margrave of Brandenburg
This article lists the Margraves and Electors of Brandenburg during the period of time that Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the primary constituent states of the Hol ...
within his
immunity district (''landesherrliche Freiheit'') not under Berlin's city council jurisdiction. Many Jews preferred to live close to these congregational institutions, until Elector
Joachim I Nestor expelled the Jews from
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square ...
in 1510.
Horst Wessel
Horst Ludwig Georg Erich Wessel (9 October 1907 – 23 February 1930) was a Berlin ''Sturmführer'' ("Assault Leader", the lowest commissioned officer rank) of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA), the Nazi Party's stormtroopers. After his killing in 1 ...
lived there in his youth.
[
]
See Also
*
Judengasse
References
Ethnic enclaves in Germany
Streets in Berlin
Historic Jewish communities in Europe
Jews and Judaism in Berlin
{{Germany-hist-stub