The “Shum” community in Germany is the cradle of European Jewish culture.

Recently, at the 44th World Heritage Conference, UNESCO listed the Jewish settlements “Shum” in Spayer, Vorms and Mainz, Rhine-Pfalcz in the World Heritage List. This is the first time that German Jewish cultural heritage has been included in the World Heritage List, which makes more people pay attention to European Jewish history.

According to the literature, the Jewish community in Europe was established in the cities in the Rhine valley from the 10th century. In the Middle Ages, Jews living in German cities such as Spayer, Vorms and Mainz formed the largest Jewish community in Europe at that time-“Shum” Jewish settlement. The word “Shum” consists of the initials of the Hebrew names of the above three cities. Today, it is regarded as the cradle of Jewish culture and religion in Europe, and is known as “Jerusalem on the Rhine”. Many legal provisions and traditional customs formulated at that time have been passed down and are still binding on Judaism and Jewish groups.

In the troubled history of the Jewish nation, the fate of the “fat pigs” group is also full of blood and tears. Since the First Crusade, the Jewish community has been the target of violent attacks, arson and massacres many times. After the Nazi government came to power in 1933, synagogues, shops, houses and schools were destroyed. A large number of Jewish residents were expelled, persecuted and murdered, and the Jewish community in Rhine area was almost extinct. Fortunately, several generations after the war realized the important position of Shum community in religion and culture, and those magnificent and artistic architectural sites have been preserved to this day.

Today, when tourists stroll through the cities along the Rhine, they can still get a glimpse of the heyday of German Jewish civilization in the ancient “Shum” community. In speyer, Jewish community sites include the architectural structures of synagogues and women’s halls, archaeological sites of Jewish schools, courtyards and underground baptist pools. Among them, the well-preserved immersion pool was built around 1120, which is the oldest of its kind in Europe. In terms of decorative elements, it is very similar to Christian architecture at that time, which shows that there is close cooperation between Christian craftsmen and Jewish communities.

In Vorms, the medieval infrastructure of the whole city is still preserved, which is also very rare in German. The Jewish community sites in Vorms include the medieval synagogue and women’s hall, the Jewish community auditorium and the memorial baptist pool, which were rebuilt on the original site after the war. Citizens bravely rescued the doors and windows of Vorms synagogue from Nazi arson and reinstalled them after the war. In addition, the synagogues and ritual baths in Shum community adopted some brand-new architectural forms at that time, which also became a model of European Jewish community architecture. For example, when building synagogues in regensburg, Prague, Vienna, Nuremberg and other cities, the double-arch structure first used by Vorms synagogue was adopted.

There are about 2,500 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in Vorms, where several famous German Jewish scholars are buried, and there are many tombstones commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. The ancient tombstones are covered with moss, and the Hebrew inscriptions of centuries ago are faintly discernible. These characters are an important source for modern people to understand the life and history of the “obese” group. The Jewish cemetery in Mainz is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, and the earliest tombstone came from 1049. Today, these two ancient cemeteries are still important memorial sites for Jews from all over the world. Later generations of Jews will make a special trip to thank the scholars in the “Shum” community for promulgating the decree of religious reform hundreds of years ago and creating worship ceremonies and prayers that are still in use today. According to Jewish tradition, tourists will leave small stones and notes on the top of the tombstone. While paying tribute to the tomb owner, they also prayed that God would listen and realize their wishes.

In 2014, the Jewish community “Shum” was included in Germany’s World Heritage List, and Germany has been preparing for the application for the World Heritage since then. Since 2018, in order to enhance the popularity of speyer, Vorms, Mainz and other cities, relevant contents have been included in primary and secondary education, and information about the Jewish community has been publicized through a series of lectures and reading activities. The mobile phone application with the theme of “Shum” community is under development. In 2017, Germany also released a film called “Shum City on the Rhine-World Jewish Heritage”.

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