Peter Feldmann, the newly elected mayor of Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: wiki commons.

For the first time since World War II, a major German city has a Jewish mayor.

Peter Feldmann, a self described “liberal Jew” has been elected as Frankfurt’s next mayor, with 57% of the vote.

In 1933, Frankfurt was home to Germany’s second largest Jewish population, with over 30,000 residents, but by 1945 that number had been diminished to just over 600.

The runoff election between Feldmann and Boris Rhein was held because the first round did not yield the necessary minimum of 50% to either candidate.  Running as a member of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), Feldmann was able to achieve the necessary votes over the weekend to become the mayor of Germany’s financial hub.

Frankfurt has rebuilt its Jewish population to over 7,000 people and while Feldmann is making history, he is not the city’s first Jewish mayor.

Ludwig Landmann was elected to the position in 1924 but was replaced after the Nazis came to power in 1933.