House Fröhlicher Mann

Width at front: c. 5.3 metres

This very wide house jutted out into the Judengasse at the front. It was built around 1565 by Aron Bonn. A stall originally stood on the site, which belonged partly to the Sonne and part to the subsequent neighbouring Roter Apfel. The house sign showed a dancing man with outstretched arms and one leg raised. Mosche Bonn from the Roter Hirsch, a house diagonally opposite, bought the site. His son or soninlaw Aron Bonn was a prominent businessman. The Bonn family was an important family in the Judengasse in the 16th century, and it regained this status in the financial world in the 18th century. Another occupant was Mosche Welsch, who was involved in a serious crime. In February 1584 together with another Jew and two Christians he murdered three Jews who were returning from Lothringen to Pforzheim in the Meisental forest. After arrest the two Jews allowed themselves to be baptized before their execution in October 1584. As no members of the Bonn family were ever called Welsch, Mosche Welsch may have been the son of a servant in the Bonn house. In the 17th century the doctor Jone Bonn lived in the house, together with members of the Gans family, for example the scholar Herz Gans (from 1665). Generally, the occupants of the house were members of the upper class in the Judengasse. The house was destroyed in the fire of 1711 but soon rebuilt. In 1865 the city took it over for demolition.