Jews in Cologne
As early as 321 AD, an edict by the Emperor Constantine allowed Jews to be elected to the City Council. The first pogrom against the Jews was in 1349, when they were used as scapegoats for the Black Death, and therefore burnt in an auto de fe. In 1424 they were evicted from the city, but were allowed back again in 1798.
When the Nazis came to power in 1933, the Jewish population of Cologne was about 20,000. By 1939, 40% of the city's Jews had emigrated. The vast majority of those who remained had been deported to concentration camps by 1941. The trade fair grounds next to the Deutz train station were used to herd together the Jewish population for deportation to the death camps and for disposal of their household goods by public sale.
On Kristallnacht in 1938, Cologne's synagogues were violated or set on fire.
Read more about this topic: History Of Cologne
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