Historical Archive of the City of Cologne photographs of 284 charters from the Cologne archive. Directors of the Cologne municipal archive: Historical Archive of the City of Cologne The Historical Archive of the City of Cologne (, or for short) is the municipal archive of Cologne, Germany. It ranks among the largest communal archives in Europe. A municipal archive has existed in Cologne since the Middle Ages. The oldest inventory of charters in the archive is dated 1408/1409. The oldest document kept in the archive is a charter dated AD 922. The archive contains official records and private documents from all ages of Cologne history, as well
History of the Jews in Cologne The persecution of the Jewish community at the time of the Black Death became the fiercest in the whole of the Middle Ages.In 1340 a terrible pestilence arrived in Europe. The Black Death had not reached Cologne until December 1349 However, reports of its devastating impact arrived on the Rhine from the south considerably earlier. Ultimately, between 30-60% of the European population died from the epidimic, provoking fears of an apocalyptic nature. Accusations that the plague was caused by a conspiracy of the Jews to poison the wells (accusations that were not proven in even a single case) apparently had