On Judenplatz stands a monument to the German poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, created by Siegfried Charoux. This sculpture was commissioned in 1930 after Charoux won a competition among 82 sculptors. The sculpture was completed in 1931/1932 and unveiled in 1935. In 1939, the Nazis demolished the monument.

Lessing, in his play "Nathan the Wise," which became a sermon on tolerance and humanity, managed to convince German readers without doubt of the credibility of the plot. He argued that there were worthy individuals among the Jews, using Moses Mendelssohn as the prototype for Nathan. The meeting in 1754 between Lessing and Mendelssohn, beginning with their shared passion for chess, played a decisive role in Mendelssohn's destiny, as Lessing patronized him for many years. Their friendly interaction over the chessboard is depicted in Moritz Daniel Oppenheim's painting "The Visit of Lessing and Lafater to Moses Mendelssohn."

Moses Mendelssohn, a prominent figure in the Haskalah movement, believed that Jews should maintain their Jewish identity in private life while integrating into the surrounding society publicly. By the late 18th century, Vienna had become a significant center for the Haskalah movement, whose supporters advocated for Jews to receive a general education and for the erasure of boundaries between Jews and non-Jews. However, the path to these changes was long and challenging.