Thursday, March 29, 2012

Frankfurt Elects Its First Jewish Mayor Since 1933; Many Russian Jews Moved to Frankfurt After 1991

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) website reports today (March 29, 2012) that the German city of Frankfurt has elected its first Jewish mayor since the pre-Hitler era in 1933 -- and only its second in history.

In the March 25 elections, Peter Feldmann -- a 53-year-old economist and political scientist -- won with 57 percent of the vote.

Feldmann -- the former head of a home for seniors -- takes the helm of a city with some 650,000 inhabitants and Germany's fourth largest Jewish population.

Today, Frankfurt has a Jewish population of about 7,000. Most of the Jews have come to Frankfurt from Russia, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

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