Fettmilch settled in
Frankfurt in 1602. On August 22, 1614, he led a mob that stormed the
Judengasse ("Jews' lane") and plundered the city's 1,380 Jews. Two Jews and one assailant were killed in the
pogrom. The Jews were expelled from the city until the
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,
Matthias, personally intervened. On February 28, 1616, Fettmilch and six others were executed in Frankfurt's Rossmarkt square. On the same day (20 Adar on the
Hebrew calendar), the exiled Jews were led back into Frankfurt by imperial soldiers. Above the gates to the Judengasse, a stone imperial eagle was mounted bearing an inscription reading: "Protected by the Roman Imperial Majesty and the Holy Empire." The first act of the returning Jews was returning the desecrated
synagogue and devastated
cemetery to religious use. The anniversary of the return was celebrated yearly thereafter as the "Purim Vinz"; the Purim
Kaddisch featured a merry march to commemorate the joyful return. After this,
pogroms became less common in Germany until the
Hep-Hep riots of 1819. ==References==