POINTS OF INTEREST IN JEWISH BERLIN

There are many things worth seeing in Jewish Berlin. Following are some of the numerous interesting sites. For a detailed list, please refer either to the “Cultural Map of Jewish Sites” (this text contains excerpts from this map), which was published by the Allgemeine Jüdische Wochenzeitung, or if you want a more profound and comprehensive view on Jewish Berlin, have a look at Andrew Roth’s Jewish Berlin (Goldapple Publishing).

Centrum Judaicum
Oranienburger Str. 28, 13437 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 88028300

The Centrum Judaicum is located in the former New Synagogue which was inaugurated in 1866, defiled in 1938, destroyed in 1943 and reconstructed from 1988-1995.  It is a museum, a house for prayer, and a cultural meeting point.  Together with the community center, the community’s library and its archive, the public learning center it forms the a focal point of Jewish life in Berlin.                                           

The Jewish Museum
Lindenstr. 14, 10969 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 25993410

The building in the form of a broken Magen David and is one of the major public attractions of the city. 

Topography of Terror
Niederkirchnerstr. 8, 10117 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 25486703

On this area the Prinz-Albrecht-Palais once stood which the Gestapo and the SS used as their center of terror during the Third Reich from 1933 onwards.  Their historical role is documented by an exhibition which is installed in the excavated former torture chambers.  A new building for a permanent exhibition is under construction.                   

MEMORIAL SITES IN BERLIN

There are numerous memorial sites in Berlin.  Here are a few of the most well-known:

The Empty Library on Bebelplatz
Bebelplatz, 10117 Berlin

The memorial is located at the spot where national-socialist students threw around 20,000 books into the flames on May 10th 1933 – books written by more than 400 different authors who were considered to be “un-German”.  Among were works by Lion Feuchtwanger, Erich Kästner and Thomas Mann.

The empty shelves in the subterranean library symbolize the loss of these 20,000 burnt books.  The memorial was inaugurated on the 60th anniversary of this infamous fire, on May 10th 1993.

The House of the Wannsee-Conference
Am Großen Wannsee 56-58, 14109 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 8050010
www.ghwk.de or www.haus-der-wannsee-konferenz.de

On January 20 1942, this villa housed a meeting under the leadership of SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Reichssicherheitsamt with fourteen leading members of the ministerial bureaucracy as well as the SS to discuss and organize the implementation of the decision to deport and murder the European Jews in the East.  This meeting is named after the villa it took place in – “Wannsee-Konferenz”

Memorial dedicated to Rabbi Menchem M. Schneerson, The Lubawitscher Rebbe
Hansa Ufer 7, 10555 Berlin

At his previous home where the Rebbe lived on Hansa Ufer 7, the city of Berlin dedicated a plaque honoring the Rebbe and expressing his achievements as one of the leaders which rebuilt world Jewry follwing the holocaust. This Memorial was unveiled in November 2001 by the Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Israel Lau in commemoration the hundredth anniversary of the Rebbe's birth. It is one of the important Jewish sites of Berlin.

The Memorial Stone in the Große-Hamburer-Straße
Große-Hamburger-Str. 26, 10115 Berlin

A memorial stone commemorates the “collection point” installed at this spot by the Gestapo in 1942 – thereby commemorating the more than 55,000 Berlin Jews who were deported into camps and to their deaths.  Originally, the Jewish old-age home was located here, directly in front of the oldest Jewish cemetery of Berlin.

The Holocaust Memorial
The memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe near the Brandeburg gate.

For ten years, the concept for a memorial – a field of columns – designed by the American architect Peter Eisenman was at the center of a controversial public discussion.  Following the positive vote in the German parliament, the memorial is  opened on May 8, 2005.

JEWISH CEMETERIES IN BERLIN

Here you can find information regarding the five Jewish cemeteries in Berlin.

Cemetery of Adass Jisroel
Wittlicher Str. 2, 13088 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 9251724

The small cemetery of the Orthodox community Adass Jisroel in Berlin Weißensee was founded in 1878 and re-established in 1985.  On it you can find the tomb of the community’s first rabbi, Rabbi Esriel Hildesheimer among others.

Cemetery Große-Hamburger-Street
Große-Hamburger-Str. 26, 10115 Berlin

The cemetery in Große-Hamburger-Straße in Berlin-Mitte (city center) is the oldest Jewish cemetery of the capital; it was inaugurated in 1672 and shut down in 1827.  In 1943, the Nazis completely destroyed the cemetery. Today, one only finds a small park with one solitary tombstone which was renewed in 1988, at the spot where the grave of the Jewish philosopher during the time of Enlightenment, Moses Mendelssohn is presumed to have been.

Cemetery on Heerstreet
Heerstr. 141, 14055 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 3043234

After the division of Berlin, the West-Berlin community members had no longer any access to the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee, so the West-Berlin community founded a new Jewish cemetery in 1955 on the Heerstraße in Berlin-Charlottenburg.  The long-time leader of the Berlin Jewish Community and of Germany’s Central Jewish Council, Heinz Galinski was buried here, as well as Berlin’s chief cantor Estrongo Nachama, the actor Ernst Deutsch, and the well-know TV-Showmaster, Hans Rosenthal.

Cemetery on Schönhauser Allee
Schönhauser Allee 23-25, 10435 Berlin

This cemetery was inaugurated in 1827 was used during the nineteenth century after the closure of the cemetery on Große-Hamburger-Straße.  Here you can find the graves of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, of the artist Max Lieberman, and of the banker and financial advisor of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, Gerson von Bleichröder among others.

Cemetery Weißensee
Herbert-Baum-Str. 45, 13088 Berlin
Phone: +49(0) 30 - 9253330

The cemetery in Weißensee was opened in 1880.  It is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe.  On it are the graves of the publisher Rudolf Mosse and of Rabbi Leo Baeck as well as of Herman Cohen, the philosopher and founder of the Marburger School dedicated to the philosophy of New-Kantism.