Historical Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 42

[cahn]

Last post, we had (among other things) Danish kings and their favorites; Louis XIV and Philippe d'Orléans; reviews of a very shippy book about Katte, a bad Jacobite novel, and a great book about clothing; a fic about Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire; and a review of a set of entertaining Youtube history videos about Frederick the Great.

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Struensee, Altona, and the "ghetto"

[mildred_of_midgard]

Some time ago, I reported that Struensee lived on the edge of the ghetto. selenak went, "Hang on a minute, what ghetto where? Hamburg didn't have a ghetto."

To which I replied:

Barz (not confirmed by Wikipedia) says that they built a ghetto in Altona.

I don't have Struensee's address, but if salon has taught me one thing, it's that we'll find it sooner or later, if we care enough or maybe even by accident. ;)

Through a combination of the two, we have found it! And I have cleared up our confusion about the ghetto.

1. The internet tells me there was indeed a law passed in 17th century Altona whereby Jews did not have to live in a ghetto.
2. The internet and Winkle tell me that the Jews of Altona built a synagogue on Klein Papagoyenstraße, and that it was the largest Jewish place of worship in Germany at the time.
3. Winkle says Struensee's house was "on the corner of the ghettolike Klein Papagoyenstraße."
4. The internet tells me the synagogue was at Papagoyenstraße 5-9, and that Struensee's house was on the corner of Kirchenstraße 13 and Klein Papagoyenstraße.
5. They both agree Struensee's house was deemed unstable and ripped down in 1934, but you can see a picture of it here.
6. Today, Kleine Papagoyenstraße no longer exists, it's where Captain Schröder Park is now located. But now that I've found it on Google maps, there's a Struenseestraße a block away (and oh, hey, an Amundsenstraße parallel to it).

So that answers the question: no formal ghetto, but a lot of Jews living around the synagogue, Struensee living nearby.