THE JEWISH CEMETERY
GROSSE HAMBURGER STRASSE, BERLIN
JEWISH COMMUNITY
OF BERLIN
JEWISH CEMETERY AT GROSSE HAMBURGER STRASSE
The Berlin Jewish Community, founded after the edict of admission
issued by the Great Elector (Friedrich Wilhelm) on 21 May 1671,
laid out a burial ground in the Rosenthaler Quarter in front of the
Spandauer Tor, at Grosse Hamburger Strasse 26, near the Oranienburger Strasse. Today it is the oldest cemetery in the inner city which is
recognizable as such. A granite plaque at the southern boundary wall
to the Oranienburger Strasse, where the entrance used to be, tells us
that the first person to be buried here, in 1672, was one Gumpericht
Jechiel Aschkenasi.
Between then and 1827 some 12,000 mortals found their last resting
place in this cemetery of just 0.59 hectares. They were not only members of Berlin’s Jewish community, but also those of Spandau, Nauen,
Kremmen, Zehdenick and Oranienburg. The best known personality buried here is the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786),
whose gravestone has had to be restored four times, the last one being
in 1990. In the first third of the 20th century there were still about
2,800 burial sites to be found in the cemetery, including those of Veitel
Heine Ephraim (1703-1775), jeweller, coin dealer, and Frederick the
Great’s court banker; and of Jacob Herz Beer (1769-1825), father of
the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer.
INFORMATION
Sponsored by
We should like to draw the attention of our visitors to the cemetery to
the following points:
Gentlemen should cover their heads. A kippah may be borrowed at
the entrance to the cemetery.
Please remember during your visit that each dead person is present
in his/her grave, as it says in the Song of Solomon 5,2: “I sleep, but
my heart waketh.” Thus everything that honours the dead is allowed,
and everything that disturbs the rest of the dead is forbidden. Please
do not step on the graves and do not sit on the gravestones, for these
places must not be desecrated, and the graves do belong to those who
are buried in them.
You can find further information on the Jewish Cemeteries at Schönhauser Allee and Weissensee via Internet at:
www.jewish-cemeteries-berlin.eu
JEWISH CEMETERY
GROSSE HAMBURGER STRASSE, BERLIN
OPENING TIMES:
Summer: 01.04. – 30.09.
Winter: 01.10. – 31.03.
10117 Berlin
Große Hamburger Straße 26
Mon – Fri
Sun
Mon – Fri
Sun
Phone: +49 (0) 30 – 88 02 8 - 0
Closed on Shabbat (Saturday) and jewish holidays
7:30 – 17:00
8:00 – 17:00
7:30 – 16:00
8:00 – 16:00
The ruthless destruction and desecration of the tombs in 1943/44 on
the orders of the Gestapo was the darkest chapter: a slit trench was
cut through the centre of the site and the sides reinforced with historic
gravestones, after the remains of the dead had been thrown out.
In the GDR period the cemetery was used as a park, and in 1988 the
few surviving graves that had been let into the wall of an adjacent
house were transferred to the Weissensee cemetery. In memory of the
tragic events a symbolic grave for Moses Mendelssohn and a sarcophagus made of damaged gravestones were left at the spot.
Since the large-scale renovation work of 2007/2008 the grounds at
Grosse Hamburger Strasse are again recognizable as a cemetery. In
December 2009 the work of restoring the original historic gravestones
that were still in the Weissensee cemetery was completed. They included the epitaph of Gumpericht Jechiel Aschkenasi, who was buried
in 1672.
1
Epitaph for Reisel (Rahel) Fraenkel, d. 11th Nisan 5454 (6 April 1694), daughter of Rabbi Bermann and wife of Benjamin Fraenkel
2
Epitaph for Benjamin Fraenkel, d. 21st Adar I 5451 (22 March 5451)
3
Grave of Moses Mendelssohn, b. 6 September 1729 Dessau; d. 4 January 1786 Berlin
4
Fragments of Baroque sarcophagus tombs
5
Epitaph (name and dates illegible)
6
Fragment of epitaph for wife of (name and dates
illegible)
7
Fragment of epitaph
8
Fragment of epitaph for (name illegible), (?) Kislev 5557 (December 1796)
9
Epitaph for Chajjim ben Schemaja Landsburg, d. 23rd Iyar 5559 (28 May 1799), Rabbi
17
Epitaph for Mordechai Model Riess, d. 10th Elul 5435 (1 September 1675), rabbi and purchaser of the cemetery grounds, 2nd burial in the cemetery; memorial plaque above the gravestone endowed in 1884
18 Epitaph for Baruch ben Menachem Raustitz, called Benedict Veit, d. 19th Nisan 5449 (9 April 1689), son-in-law of Gumpericht Jechiel Aschkenasi (see no. 13)
19 Epitaph for Aharon Jizchak Isaak Katz, d. 20th Tammuz 5494 (21 July 1734), Community Chairman
20 Epitaph for Naftali Hirsch ben R. Model R…, d. 2nd Elul 5475 (30 August 1715)
21 Epitaph for (name illegible), d. (1st or 21st) Iyar 5441 (19 April or 9 May 1681)
22 Epitaph for Mrs. (name and date of death illegible), wife of Aharon Katz (see no. 19)
23 Epitaph for Mrs. (name and date of death illegible)
24 Epitaph for Ferke Katz, buried 2nd Tevet 5467 (7 December 1706), daughter of Rabbi Josef Lipschitz and wife of Löw Katz
10 Epitaph for Esther Landsburg, d. 2nd Tishri 5569
(23 September 1808), daughter of Löw Katz and
wife of Chajjim Landsburg
11 Fragment of epitaph for wife of (name and
dates illegible)
12 Epitaph for the bachelor Se’ew Wolf ben
R. Me’ir, Plotzker Family of Posen, d. 29th
Sivan 5470 (27 June 1710)
13
Epitaph for Gumpericht Jechiel Aschkenasi,
d. 4th Iyar 5432 (1 May 1672), 1st burial in
the cemetery; memorial plaque above the
gravestone endowed in 1885
5
3
14 Epitaph (name and dates illegible)
15 Epitaph for Pess(?), (dates illegible), daughter of
Rabbi Benjamin and wife of Jehuda Löb Segal
1 2
16 Epitaph for Rebbitzin Peril (surname and date
of death illegible)
Große Hamburger Straße
4
6
7
8
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
24
23
22
21
20
19