House Strauß

Width at front: c. 3.27 metres

The Strauß is first mentioned in 1544/45. In 1608 it was extended to the rear. The entire property apparently consisted of two front houses and two rear buildings. With a frontal width of 3.27 metres this complex was one of the largest in the Judengasse. However, the number of occupants was also unusually high: in 1709 nine households were shown with 43 occupants in all.
The social and family status of the occupants covered a wide range. Some occupants dealt in luxuries such as jewels or silk goods, others were brokers, acting as commercial agents in the broadest sense of the term. A scribe is also mentioned, probably employed by the Jewish community administration. Another occupant is described as dealing in books, although it is not clear whether these were only Hebrew books or also included Latin and German books, which the Christian booksellers tried energetically to prevent Jews from selling. Besides these occupations, which were typical for the middle and upper classes in the Judengasse, the Strauß also clearly housed members of the lower classes. Individual families and also a foreigner staying in the house are shown as being poor. A widow with at least three sons and no occupation probably also lived in reduced circumstances. Her oldest son helped in the meat market to feed the family, her second son was dumb and worked as a day labourer, and the third son was at school. The son of one of the brokers referred to above seems to have been a failure in contemporary terms: the visitation list for 1694 describes him as "depraved" and says that he had left his wife, who was living at the Grüner Löwe. The house was destroyed in the fire of 1711 but soon rebuilt. After the emancipation of the Jews in the 19th century the city took it over for demolition.