Frau Minne und die Zürcher Juden

A few years ago, wall paintings of unique significance were discovered in the house at Brunngasse 8 in Zurich. They were created around 1330 and adorned a large, representative hall with motifs from the courtly world of Minnesang. The client and owner of the house was Frau Minne, a noble Jewish woman from Zurich. She and her two sons, Mosche and Mordechai ben Menachem, were involved in money lending; Mosche was also a rabbi and the author of an important collection of Talmudic commentaries.

During the plague epidemic, Europe experienced numerous persecutions of Jews. In the pogrom in Zurich in 1349, all male members of the Jewish community were murdered, and the rest were expelled.

The contributions gathered in this book by thirteen authors revolve around the paintings and their context. How do they relate to the biblical prohibition of images? What was the status of Jewish women in a male-dominated Christian society? How did money lending become a profession, and how did the stereotype of the "greedy Jew" arise? Was there an angry mob behind the pogrom of 1349, or ultimately an upper class that profited from the death of Jewish creditors?.