Whilst living and working as an apprentice in Wetzlar in the 1700s, Johann Wolfgang Goethe experienced the loss of a friend through suicide. This friend was Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem, who lived at this house on Schillerplatz. Goethe was moved to write the tragic novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, based on the story of the lovestruck Jerusalem. The book made Goethe famous, but did nothing for the suicide rate of young men. This house tells the story of Jerusalem, and Goethe’s novel.