Grand’Rue of Colmar

You’re now walking down the Grand’Rue, right in the center of town. It’s a shopping street, but every bit as picturesque as the rest of Colmar. It connects the Place des Six Montagnes Noires, aka the Six Black Mountains Square, further down, with the Place Jeanne d’Arc, aka Joan of Arc Square, a few hundred meters behind you. The latter once hosted the livestock market and was also the site of public executions. It was here, for example, that Hirtzel Lévy, son of Isaac Lévy –the Jewish representative of the neighboring village of Wettolsheim– was wrongly executed. The story goes back to late 1754, when a group of men broke into the home of a village woman, named Madeleine Kopp. Alerted by her cries, several villagers rushed to the scene and tried to track down the criminals, but to no avail. The next day, Madeleine Kopp notified the authorities, accusing Hirtzel Lévy, his cousin Menke Lévy and Moyse Lang de Ribeauvillé, his brother-in-law. She claimed that they had come to her house a few days earlier to buy a cow, and that they must have scouted the premises at the time. On the day of the burglary, she reportedly recognized only Hirtzel. The authorities set out to find him, but he was nowhere to be found. Doubtful as they were, they arrested the other two accused, even though there was no evidence of their presence at the scene. A few days went by and Hirtzel finally showed up, turning himself in to the police – he had just learned that they were looking for him. He said he’d walked to a village many miles away the day before the crime to be with his sister, who had just lost a child. But no one believed him, not even the other two defendants, who had solid alibis confirmed by several witnesses. Faced with all this evidence, the complainant reportedly expressed doubts about the guilt of the three detainees, but the authorities warned her that she could not back down without being exposed to criminal prosecution. Then came the verdict: the three accused were sentenced to death by torture on the breaking wheel. Hirtzel Lévy was the first to be executed on December 31. He was tortured and left to die on the wheel, his body remaining on display for over nine months. Moyse Lang and Menke Lévy’s trial was postponed as Hirtzel refused to confess. However, the situation took a turn when Isaac Dreyfus, Hirtzel’s brother-in-law, intervened. You see, Hirtzel was staying at his place at the time of the crime. Isaac couldn’t save his brother-in-law, but he would spend the next year defending the other two innocent men, presenting solid alibis for both of them, and suggesting that they were victims of a miscarriage of justice fueled by prejudice against the Jews. And his work paid off. King Louis XV got involved, requesting to see the evidence himself and halting the executions in the meantime. Nine months later, Myse Lang, Menke Lévy and Hirtzel Lévy were finally declared innocent. The first two were released, and the body of the latter, still on display on Grand’Rue, was removed by local residents and returned to his family for burial in accordance with Jewish tradition. And that’s how one of the city’s greatest injustices unfolded, where Jews were unfairly persecuted and discriminated against by the authorities. Anyhow, on this street, you’ll discover beautiful half-timbered houses, a few specialty stores, brasseries, restaurants, as well as some of Colmar’s most beautiful squares. It’s just perfect for a leisurely stroll through the heart of Alsace’s oldest town.