Jewish life in Germany – ancient synagogues and a 21st-century museum

The Erfurt treasure and the Jewish Museum in Berlin are just two of the best known sites, but today many places in Germany bear testimony to the long history of Jewish life in the country.

Jews have been living in the lands that now make up Germany for almost 2,000 years. During this time, they have experienced both tolerance and anti-Semitic violence, the latter reaching its peak during the Holocaust. By no means all traces of Jewish life were destroyed in the Nazi period, there are still synagogues, ritual baths and modern community centres that not only remind us of history, they also tell us about the life of Jews in Germany today.