Jewish Berlin

The history of Jewish life in Berlin began with the foundation of the city. The first mention of the Jewish population is already in the possession of the city council on October 28, 1295. Exile in 1537. Permission to settle again in Berlin in 1671. At all times, the life of Jews and their attitudes remained complex and ambiguous. Jews in Berlin have always played a significant role in the economic and cultural life of the city.

Here lived the “German Socrates”, philosopher and thinker Moses Mendelssohn; his grandson, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdi – the author of the famous “Wedding March”. And also Efraim Lessing, Giacomo Meyerber, Max Liebermann, Albert Einstein, Rosa Luxemburg, Kurt Tuholsky, James Simon. These and other great artists and writers, bankers and industrialists, philanthropists and politicians were Berliners and glorified world culture and science with their names.

The rise of the Nazis to power in the 33rd led to the tragedy of the Jewish people – the Holocaust. During the Nazi years, 6 million people in Europe were killed simply because of their Jewish nationality. 55,000 of them were taken to death camps in Berlin.

Berlin remembers this terrible crime of Nazi Germany. Examples of this memory, very bright and unforgettable, can be found today in different parts of the city.

We'll see:

• One of the most beautiful and largest synagogues in Europe is the New Synagogue.
• Holocaust Memorial;
• Jewish schools;
• Otto Weidt Museum;
• stumbling blocks;
• Trains to Life, Trains to Death at Friedrichstrasse Station

and other places of memory of ordinary and famous Jews of Berlin. The tour can be complemented by a visit to the Jewish Museum, outstanding for its concept and architecture of Daniel Libeskind.