Cologne is the chief city of Rhenish Prussia. There are indications that a Jewish community existed here long before Christianity had become dominant. The first official document concerning the Jews of Cologne dates from the time of Constantine, who issued a decree (Dec. 11, 321) abolishing their privilege of exemption from onerous municipal offices. His successors, especially Theodosius II., did not content themselves with the withdrawal of old privileges, but curtailed the civic rights of the Jews. Happily for the Jews of Cologne, it fell, in 462, into the hands of the Franks; and a long period of freedom and prosperity for the Jews of that city followed, though many attempts were made by the fanatical clergy to disturb the harmony and interrupt the friendship existing between the Jews and the Christians.

In 881 the Jewish community of Cologne ceased to exist, the city having been reduced to ashes by the Norman invaders. It was, however, soon rebuilt, and a prosperous and numerous Jewish community came into existence during the tenth century, accumulating material wealth and learning in an eminent degree. As in the old city, the Jews occupied a special quarter, situated between the city hall and the Church of St. Laurentius, although they were allowed to reside wherever they chose. They had a synagogue and a Talmudical school, the origin of which is ascribed to Amram of Mayence.

In 1010 a new and richly decorated synagogue was erected, and about the same time a hospital was built. The community was administered by a chief rabbi, [ "episcopus Judæorum" ]who was elected annually. He was assisted by a council of twelve dayyanim, whose decisions had legal force. The Jews were engaged in all branches of commerce, trading especially in wool, leather, fur, and jewelry. They were also allowed to hold public offices; and many a Jew was entrusted by his Christian fellow citizens with the direction of public affairs.

This golden period in the life of the Jews of Cologne was terminated by the Crusades. On May 29, 1096, the Jews of Cologne were informed of the approach of the Crusaders. Being well aware that they could expect no mercy from the pilgrims, they sought refuge in the houses of their Christian fellow citizens, who, touched with pity, did all they could to shield them. The following day the Crusaders, on entering the city, had to content themselves with pillaging the Jewish quarter, and tearing up and defiling the scrolls of the Law. Only two Jews fell victims to their rage. Both had refused to escape, and willingly accepted martyrdom. Meanwhile the situation of the refugees became untenable, and detection was feared at every moment. The archbishop, Hermann III., who himself sheltered many Jews in his palace, decided to send them secretly away, to be housed in the neighboring towns and villages of his diocese. For three weeks the unfortunate Jews remained safely in their new hiding-places, but were finally discovered, and shared the fate of their brethren in other towns. Many ended their lives in lakes and bogs, following the example of a pious man named Samuel ben Yehiel. Standing in the water, and pronouncing a blessing, he killed his son; and his assembled coreligionists, while intoning the "Shema" threw themselves into the Rhine. Various "Memorbücher" preserve the names of a great number of these martyrs, among whom were several proselytes; and a prayer of commemoration is recited every year at Cologne on the Sabbath preceding Pentecost.

As soon as the horrors of the Crusade had ceased the community was reestablished by the settlers who had escaped massacre, and it was augmented by newcomers, who anticipated greater security at Cologne, as the Christian citizens of the city had shown themselves compassionate toward the Jews. Scarcely fifty years later a new calamity overtook the community. The monk Rudolph arrived at Cologne (Aug. 1, 1146); and his anti-Jewish speeches soon bore fruit. Meanwhile pilgrims for the Second Crusade commenced to gather; and a renewal of the scenes of 1096 was to be apprehended. In their distress the Jews addressed themselves to Archbishop Arnold, who gave them the castle of Valkenburg and permission to defend themselves with arms. As long as they remained in this place of refuge they were safe; but as soon as they ventured forth the pilgrims, who lay in ambush, dragged them away to be baptized, torturing and killing those that resisted. In commemoration of their sufferings during the Second Crusade, the community of Cologne made the twenty-third of Nisan a fast-day.

After the departure of Rudolph the Jews of Cologne reoccupied their dwellings, and those who had under compulsion nominally embraced Christianity resumed their status and places as Jews. But other disastrous effects of the Crusades soon followed. Besides the great loss of life sustained by many communities, the traffic between Europe and the East, hitherto almost wholly controlled by Jewish merchants, passed rapidly into the hands of Christian competitors, and Jews were soon forbidden to engage in any commercial pursuit. Nor were they able to practise handicrafts, because the gilds excluded Jews from membership. Money-lending was the only livelihood left to them and it entailed the ill will of the inhabitants. Thus the characteristic features of the history of the Jews of Cologne from the Second Crusade to their banishment were, as everywhere else, perpetual renewals of privileges—dearly paid for and almost immediately revoked—and periodical outbursts of persecution on the part of the populace.

The state of the Jews in Germany generally grew worse from year to year; and the community of Cologne was largely increased by refugees from neighboring towns. The consequence was renewed trouble and violence. Thus in 1266 , on a charge of having furnished arms to the invading Mongols and Tatars, the community had to mourn twelve additional martyrs, including Rabbi Isaac ben Simson. Whenever possible, the archbishops, for whom the Jews were an inexhaustible source of revenue, quelled the popular out-breaks, and the Jews were safer at Cologne than elsewhere in Germany.

In 1349 the sweeping accusation that the Jews had caused the Black Death by poisoning the wells and the rivers, stirred the ever-ready populace to violence. The municipality, be it said to its honor, did all in its power to prevent the impending catastrophe. On St. Bartholomew's Day (Aug. 24, 1349) the Jewish quarter was attacked; fire broke out simultaneously in different parts of it, and the whole community perished. It remained only for the authorities to dispose of the spoils; an agreement was made, in 1350, between the archbishop and the municipality by which the former secured the possessions of the victims.

Though Cologne had ceased to be a home for Jews, it remained during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the center of an anti-Jewish movement. Thence arose the crusades against Jewish books; and baptized Jews like Victor of Carben and John Pfefferkorn found it a fertile field for their anti-Jewish propaganda. Reuchlin encountered there his bitterest enemies, the Dominicans, who converted the inhabitants of the once liberal city into a bigoted mob. Even after the Protestant reform movement had triumphed, Cologne remained the citadel of the reactionary spirit. Jews of neighboring towns had the greatest difficulty in obtaining permission to stay in the city even for twenty-four hours. Not until 1798, when Cologne became a part of the French republic, were its gates opened to Jews.

In 1798 Joseph Isaac Stern of Mühlheim and his family, availing themselves of the declaration of the new government that each one was responsible to his own conscience for his religious belief, settled in Cologne as French citizens. Four years later seventeen other families selected Cologne for their abode. A community was then formed and the statutes were drafted; but it increased very slowly, especially when Cologne in 1815 was annexed to Prussia. At that time there were only thirty families; and this number increased but little in the following twenty years. With the emancipation of the Jews in Germany the community increased, and in 1854 Dr. Israel Schwarz was nominated rabbi. In 1861 a beautiful synagogue, erected in the Glockengasse at the expense of Abraham von Oppenheim, was consecrated. In 1876 the seminary for teachers, which had been founded at Düsseldorf in 1867, was transferred to Cologne and placed under the direction of Dr. Plato, rabbi of the Orthodox congregation 'Adat Yeshurun. A new synagogue was dedicated in 1899, in the presence of many representatives of both the state and the municipality. Institutions and Societies.