The Geiger family lived in the Judengasse from the 17th century onwards, and were the descendants of Moses Geiger, who died in 1633. Their family residence was the complex of buildings known as Stadt Günzburg at the Judenbrücklein. The family was one of the poorer families in the Judengasse. The family included several scholars and rabbis who made its name known in the 19th century. In the 18th century, Salomon Abraham Geiger was a rabbinic judge in Frankfurt, and he was followed in the 19th century by Salomon Michael Geiger, whose son was the famous philologist Lazarus Geiger. His brother was the Frankfurt community rabbi Abraham Geiger. a major Jewish 19th century theologist and a protagonist of reform within Judaism. He was a cofounder of the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft der Judentum ("University of Judaic Studies") in Berlin.