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Sacred and Religious Sites in Berlin
Berlin has countless churches and other places of faith. These religious sights are worth a visit. more
Ivy overgrows a toppled gravestone at the Jewish cemetery in Schönhauser Allee.
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Behind its beautiful high walls, the Schönhauser Allee Jewish Cemetery is almost a little hidden. Important Jewish personalities were laid to rest here. A memorial at the cemetery commemorates the victims of Nazi crimes.
The five-hectare Schönhauser Allee Jewish Cemetery is located behind an imposing wall and surrounded by inconspicuous residential buildings and courtyards. It was established in 1827 as a replacement for the Jewish cemetery in Große Hamburger Straße. After the Jewish cemetery in Weißensee was opened in 1880, the cemetery in Schönhauser Allee was closed. However, individual burials still took place until 1940.
The cemetery was laid out according to plans by city planning officer Friedrich Wilhelm Langerhans. The former cemetery buildings erected near the entrance in Schönhauser Allee, the ceremonial hall and the mortuary, have been destroyed. In their place, a memorial designed by Ferdinand Friedrich in 1961 commemorates the victims of Nazi barbarism.
A total of around 22,800 burials were carried out at the cemetery. Important Jewish personalities found their final resting place in the cemetery of the Jewish community, including the painter Max Liebermann (1847-1935), the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) and the merchant, patron and publishing house founder Leopold Ullstein (1826-1899).
The unequal-sided pentagon of the cemetery was structured by a network of paths, which essentially consisted of the paths running along the cemetery boundaries and perpendicular to Schönhauser Allee. The representative burial sites of the wealthy members of the community are located along the main paths; here is also the row of honors for those deceased who made a special contribution to the Jewish community.
Similar to the famous Jewish cemetery in Prague, some of the deceased are buried here on top of each other. In the other sections of the cemetery, the graves are predominantly plain and many are only marked by simple numbered stones.
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Berlin has countless churches and other places of faith. These religious sights are worth a visit. more
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In Berlin the long tradition of Jewish religion, Jewish culture and Jewish lifestyle was once visible in many places - and is celebrating a revival. Where to find old and new traces of Jewish life in Berlin. more