The Jewish Cemetery in Berlin

A visit to the Jewish Cemetery in Berlin in 1993. It is now a memorial. It was closed, but the caretaker allowe us to walk through it.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Jewish
• Cemetery
• Berlin
• Holocaust
• Memorial
• Landmark
• cityscape

[Gespenst58]

I rather liked the ivy & how it covered everything. We visited on a gloomy afternoon, there was no one else around (the caretaker had unlocked the place for us), so the impression was one of nature having submerged the place in sorrowful peace.

[politics1ron]

They have cleaned it up significantly. We visited in 2002, and found the grave for my great-grandmother (d. 1942). It was in good condition. We were not able to find all of the graves of relatives -- even though we were told which section they were in -- as some sections were still rather overgrown.

[Gespenst58]

Thank you for your comments. I don't recall seeing dates beyond 1939, though I did not look at all the gravestones. The cemetery is a memorial site & I did not want to tread on the ivy. Some of the gravestones were clearly knocked over, not because of old age. I well recall the hole & the plaque above it where men had fled into the cemetery, were hanged in the trees and thrown down the hole. I visited the cemetery in 1993, perhaps some of its history has been revised since then.

[politics1ron]

The narrative is somewhat incorrect. The cemetery -- as you can see -- was largely unmolested by the Nazis (surprisingly). Yes, some stones had fallen over, etc., but you find that in any very old cemetery.

Also, there were Jewish burials here after 1939. Several members of my family were buried her in the late 1800s and early 1900s -- and my great grandmother was buried here in 1942.

[Gespenst58]

Isn't it a kind of symmetrical justice that the Soviets buried Hitler below a pavement in Magdeburg.

[KhmerSerey1]

The nazis used the jewish tombstone to make side walk and roads during the war.