The history of Jews in Frankfurt (Oder) can be traced back to the founding of the city in the 13th century. However, today hardly any traces of their colorful and turbulent past remain on the Oder: as a result of the expulsion and murder of the Jewish population under the National Socialists, and the almost complete destruction of the city during the Second World War, the traces of Jewish life were almost entirely destroyed.

But almost.

During the Summer Semester of 2022 students at the European-University Viadrina went in search of the Jewish past and present in Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice. As part of the seminar project, together with Dr. Markus Nesselrodt and Constance Krüger, an audio guide detailing 15 locations of Jewish life on both sides of the Oder was created. They detail everything from the earliest Jewish settlements in the 13th century to the activities of the local Jewish community today.

The internet presence is built upon the website https://www.juedischesfrankfurtvirtuell.de/, which was created in 2008-2009 as part of two projects “Stolpersteins for Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice” and “Jewish history on location – a virtual city tour through Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice” by the Institute for Applied History – Society and Science in Dialogue. These projects were conceptualized and developed out of two seminars at the European-University Viadrina. The project coordinators were Matthias Diefenbach, Dana Gierke and Dr. Jan Musekamp. The original website is no longer updated, but is still available online in German, Polish, Russian and English. After some discussion with the original creators, some of the texts and the idea to map out Jewish locations in Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice were incorporated into the new website. The authors of the aforementioned texts are credited. Two additional new texts about Zvi Aharoni and Eliasz Rammer were added.