The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) World Heritage Committee has designated a group of medieval Jewish sites in the eastern German city of Erfurt as a World Heritage Site. This marks the second time Jewish heritage in Germany has been added to the list in recent years. The sites included in the new designation are the Old Synagogue, a 13th-century stone building that illustrates Jewish family life in the medieval era, and a traditional ritual bath known as a mikveh.
Erfurt’s Jewish heritage sites have a long history, but had been largely forgotten until relatively recently. After pogroms in the 14th century drove much of Erfurt’s Jewish population out of the city, the Old Synagogue was used as a storehouse and then a restaurant and dance hall. Its historical importance was only rediscovered and established in 1988. The ritual bath was filled in and used as a cellar for centuries and was only recognized for its historical and cultural background in 2007.
UN Committee
The decision to add Erfurt to the World Heritage List was made on Sunday at a meeting of the UN World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of Unesco. The inclusion of Erfurt brings the total number of World Heritage Sites in Germany to 52. Unesco’s choice to also add Erfurt makes a further important contribution to making the common roots of Jews and Christians in Germany and Europe visible and preserving them for the future, according to Kerstin Puerschel, Germany’s ambassador to Unesco.
