Jewish Cemetery Weißensee

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  Main entrance area of the Weißensee Cemetery.

• The Holocaust memorial and the arcade of the entrance ensemble of the Weißensee Cemetery.

• Participants of the German-Russian summer camp of Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste tend to gravesites at the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee.

• Gravestone with Star of David at the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee.

The Jewish Cemetery Weißensee is one of the largest and most beautiful Jewish cemeteries in Europe. Numerous celebrities and personalities from Berlin were buried here.

By 1875, the membership of the Jewish community had grown to 65,000 and when the cemetery in Schönhauser Allee became fully occupied, the Jewish community acquired a 40-hectare site in Weißensee to build a new burial ground. The competition for its design was won by the architect Hugo Licht.

The Jewish Cemetery in Berlin's Weißensee district was established in 1880. By 1875, the Jewish community in Berlin had grown to count around 65,000 members and it became apparent that the Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee would no longer suffice. The Jewish community thus acquired a 100-acre site in Weißensee on which a new burial ground was to be constructied. The competition for its design was won by the architect Hugo Licht.

Memorial and mourning hall at the Weißensee Cemetery

In the cemetery, which was inaugurated in 1880, there is a roundel accessible from the main entrance, in the middle of which a stone was erected in memory of the millions of Jews who fell victim to National Socialist persecution. The names of all the major concentration camps are engraved on the stones, which are arranged in a circle. Behind the roundel is the old mourning hall, built in 1880 by Hugo Licht, whose acoustics were already praised at the time of its inauguration.

Burial place for desecrated Torah scrolls

South of the site of the new mourning hall, which was built in 1910 and destroyed in 1944, there is a field of honor for the Jewish soldiers who died in the First World War. In its center stands a three-meter-high monument made of shell limestone, which represents a monumental altar. To the right of the main entrance, at the northern corner of the cemetery, there is a burial site for around 90 Torah scrolls desecrated during the pogrom night of 1938.

Famous gravesites at the Weissensee Cemetery

Numerous Berlin personalities are buried here, including the social politician Max Hirsch (1832-1905), the Hebrew writer Micha Josef Bin Gorion (1865-1921), the painter Lesser Ury (1861-1931) and the publishers Samuel Fischer (1859-1934) and Rudolf Mosse (1843-1920). By 1998, more than 115,200 Jewish citizens of Berlin were buried at the Weißensee Cemetery.

Information

• Address:
  Herbert-Baum-Straße 45
  13088 Berlin
  City map
• Opening Hours: April 1st to September 30th: Mon-Thur 7:30 a.m. till 5 p.m., Fri 7:30 a.m. till 2:30 p.m., Sun 8 a.m. till 5 p.m.; October 1st to March 31st: Mon-Thur 7:30 a.m. till 4 p.m., Fri 7:30 a.m till 2:30 p.m., Sun 8 a.m. till 4 p.m.; Closed on Shabbat (Saturday) and on public holidays
• Please Note: Men should cover their heads when visiting the Weißensee Jewish Cemetery. Kippas are provided on loan at the entrance.
• Website: www.jewish-cemetery-weissensee.org