Cologne belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, the largest religious body, and 15.5% to the Evangelical Church. Cologne is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne. There are several mosques, including the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs run Cologne Central Mosque. Cologne also has one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in Germany. The city's administration is headed by the mayor and the three deputy mayors. The long tradition of a free imperial city, which long dominated an exclusively Catholic population and the age-old conflict between the church and the bourgeoisie (and within it between the patricians and
History of the Jews in Cologne rented land. The first burials took place in 1699. When in 1798 the Jews were again permitted to settle within the old city walls of Cologne, the cemetery was also used by this community until 1918. Until the French annexion of Cologne in 1794, following the French Revolution, no Jew was permitted to settle in Cologne. The Napoleonic Code included equality before the law, rights of individual freedom and the separation of church and state. The Government Commissioner Rudler, in his proclamation of June 21, 1798 to the inhabitants of the conquered territory announced: A few months earlier, Joseph Isaac