Consecrated in 1996, the Börneplatz Memorial pays tribute to all those Frankfurt Jews murdered by the National Socialists before and during World War II. Together with Museum Judengasse, it is an impressive place of remembrance of Jewish persecution in Frankfurt. Located behind the administrative headquarters of Frankfurt's municipal works department, the memorial is a symbolic grave that reminds of some 11,000 deported and murdered Frankfurter Jews.
During the construction of Börneplatz in 1987, workers came across the archaeological remnants of a number of Jewish houses, ritual baths and fountains. As it turned out, these finds were in fact remains of the southern end of the former Judengasse, the old Jewish ghetto. Significant portions of this former laneway were carefully excavated during these digs, thereby preserving some 800 years of Jewish history. The remains were integrated into the basement of the municipal works building. There, visitors will also find a mikvah, an original Jewish ritual bath. The Department of Municipal Works is currently erecting a special learning centre on their premises, which is to be named after Oskar and Emilie Schindler, the famous German industrialist and his wife, who famously saved some 1,200 Jews from almost certain death.
