This small stone archway doesn’t look like much, but it tells a very poignant tale. Look at the sides of the arch. You will see the anchor points that held a chain and a gate bar. This is the Kleine Judenpforte, the Minor Jewry Gate, probably built in the early thirteenth century. For centuries, this archway marked the entrance to Trier's Jewish quarter. In the previous stop, you saw a wealthy family's tower house with its door five metres off the ground. That was a choice and a status symbol dressed up as security. However, this gate was made for survival. Jewish communities had lived in Trier since Roman times, making it one of the oldest Jewish settlements in northern Europe. The fourteenth century heralded a golden age for Jewish life here, with about three hundred Jews living here, forming three percent of the city's population. They lived in these narrow streets, behind gates they could lock at night. In the late eleventh century, during the time of the First Crusade, tensions across Europe were running very high. The Crusade was a major military campaign launched by Western European Christians to capture Jerusalem and other holy sites from Muslim control. As groups of crusaders moved across Europe, a preacher known as Peter the Hermit arrived at the gates of Trier. He inspired strong religious excitement among the crowds, encouraging people to join the Crusade. But this intense atmosphere also led to violence. On the first day of the Jewish festival of Passover, Jewish communities in Trier became targets of attack. You might wonder — why were they affected when the Crusade was supposed to take place far away in the Holy Land? At that time, many crusaders saw Jews as “enemies at home.” There was a belief, rooted in misunderstanding and religious prejudice, that Jewish people were responsible for the death of Christ. Alongside this, there was also economic tension, as some Jewish families worked as moneylenders — a profession that was often restricted to them and sometimes resented by others. Because of these combined reasons — religious fervour, fear, and economic jealousy — Jewish communities in cities like Trier faced violence and persecution. So, the Jewish community in Trier fled to the archbishop's palace for protection. But under mob pressure, Archbishop Egelbert forced the remaining Jews to convert, including their leader, Rabbi Micah. Emperor Henry the Fourth later quietly permitted all of them to return to their faith. Then, as the Black Death, a deadly epidemic, was ravaging Europe, citizens targeted the Jews again. They attacked their Jewish neighbours, accusing them of poisoning the wells. The archbishop disposed of their property. The final blow fell in the early fifteenth century, when Archbishop Otto von Ziegenhain expelled all Jews from not just the city but the entire archdiocese. No Jewish community existed in Trier again for nearly two hundred years. There's one more connection worth knowing. The old Jewish cemetery outside the city walls contains the graves of Karl Marx's grandparents and great-grandparents. Marx's grandfather was a rabbi here. We'll come back to that story near the end of our tour. Follow the map till you emerge into a large, open square. That’s our next stop.