Swastikas on Jacob-Schiff-Straße: The Peculiar History of Jewish Street Names in Frankfurt, 1872–1938

Abstract:This article uses the history of Jewish street names in Frankfurt to challenge prevailing narratives about World War I’s deleterious effect on Jewish integration in Germany. It also shows how spatial theory can raise new questions and enrich our understanding of the nature and markers of Jewish integration. By naming streets after prominent local and national Jews between 1872 and 1933, Frankfurt’s municipal government used urban space to physically reinforce the idea that Jews were an integral part of their city’s history and culture. The continued presence of many of these 49 Jewish street names during the five years following the Nazi Party’s seizure of power suggests a surprising tenacity of certain elements of Jewish integration at a local level into the early years of the Third Reich. In the end, only an outside edict from Berlin brought about the final “aryanization” of Frankfurt’s streets.