Jewish cemetery Weißensee

Special programme for the protection of historic buildings and monuments "Dach und Fach" 1996-2003

With the special programme for the protection of historical monuments "Dach und Fach" ("Roof and Shelter") of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) for the protection and preservation of historical monuments, which was launched in 1996, more than 40 valuable tombs with a total volume of approx. 1.7 million Euros could be protected and restored until the funding programme was discontinued in 2003.

Among the restored gravesites are:
1996: Sigmund Aschrott (Field C 2), Katz-Lachmann (Wall W.T.), Albert Ascher Michaelis (Wall C 1); 1997: Mecklenburg (Wall V 1); 1998: Jacques Heymann Goldschmidt (Field S 2); 1999: Oswald Berliner (Wall W.T.), Theodor David (Field J 2), Adolph Ehrlich (Wall C 1), Moritz Israel (Field M 1); 2000: Lewinsohn-Netter (Field B 2); 2001: Albert Pinkuss (Field S 4); 2002: Otto Adam (Field K 2), Siegmund Borchardt (Field C 2); 2003: Georg Wilhelm Arnstaedt (Field S 2).

Honorary gravesites

In addition to the places in the honorary row, with which the Jewish Community of Berlin honored meritorious members, 16 honorary graves of the State of Berlin are designated in the Weissensee Cemetery, which show the contribution of Jewish fellow citizens to the common good of the city of Berlin in past centuries.

These include: Dr. Hans Aronson (1865-1919), scientist, physician, founder of the Aronson Prize, Wall Field A 5; Herbert Baum (1912-1942 murdered), resistance fighter, Field P I/Honorary Place; Oskar Cassel (1849-1923), honorary citizen, lawyer, member of the Prussian Parliament, Field G 1-Honorary Place.Samuel Fischer (1859-1934), bookseller, publisher, box J 4; Adolf Jandorf (1870-1932), founder of a department store (among others the KaDeWe), Mauerplatz the KaDeWe), Wall Field T 2; Berthold Kempinski (1843-1910), wine merchant, hotelier, Field T 2; Prof. Dr. Louis Lewin (1850-1929), pharmacologist, toxicologist, Field M 1; Lina "Suppen-Lina" Morgenstern (1830-1909), founder of several charitable institutions; Field U 1/Row 11; Rudolf Mosse (1843-1920), publisher, editor of newspapers and magazines, Mauer Field M 1; Benno Orenstein (1851-1926), co-founder of the Orenstein company

The field of honour

At the beginning of the First World War, the Jewish community had a field of honour for the fallen Jewish soldiers laid out behind the new mourning hall in 1914/15 according to a design by the community's master builder Alexander Beer (1873-1944). The 49 x 90 meter large area is enclosed by a wall made of Rüdersdorf limestone. A total of 394 Jewish soldiers from the First World War, including those who died from the late effects of their injuries - the last burial of a war invalid was in 1941 - found their final resting place here.

The three-meter-high central monument, erected in 1926 in the form of a mighty altar with the resting lion above the inscription on the front, was donated by the Reichsbund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten (RjF).

Monument preservation programme of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) 2006-2012

After the special program for the preservation of monuments "Dach und Fach", since 2006 funding for the restoration of gravestones at the cemetery has come from the program for the preservation of monuments of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) for the preservation of substance and restoration of cultural monuments of national importance. Here, the maximum funding for monuments in the new federal states and East Berlin is seven years, so that the cemetery will receive support for restoration work until 2012. A total of 36 valuable graves could be secured and restored with the programme with a total volume of approx. 0.98 million euros.

The restoration focus was along the main paths on the walls of the east side (fields P 2 and U 2) and the northwest side (fields A 1, B 1, and C 1) at the rows of hereditary tombs, whose existence was severely endangered and threatened by collapse. The threat of collapse was mainly caused by a heavy growth of trees between the wall and the tombstones, the roots of which had forced themselves between the tombstones and the wall like a wedge and had caused entire tombstones to collapse.

Another restoration focus was the securing and preservation of late 19th century metalwork grave markers, of which there are few surviving examples in the cemetery that were not scrapped - like much other metalwork - in the actions to bolster metal reserves for the war economy of 1942/43.

Restored graves include:
2006: Alexander Löwenherz (Field A 3); 2007: Simon Bing (Wall A 1); 2008: Louis Steinthal (Field B 1); 2009: Adolph Behrendt (Wall U 2); 2010: Ephraim Cohn (Field C 1); 2011: Hermann Rosenfeld (Wall W.T.); 2012: Gustav Frenkel (Wall B 1).

Gravestone designs by renowned architects and artists

The design of the largest mausoleum in the cemetery for the banker Sigmund Aschrott (field C 2) goes back to Bruno Schmitz (1858-1916), who also designed the largest German monuments: the Kyffhäuser Monument, the Kaiser Wilhelm Monument at the Porta Westfalica and the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig.

The merchant Ascher Albert Michaelis and his wife Cäcilie, née Friedemann (1827-1907), together with other members of the Meyer and Michaelis families, rest under an elaborate tomb architecture (Wall Field C 1). In 1884, the architect August Orth (1828-1901) designed this grave structure in the style of the Italian High Renaissance, which is excellently adapted to the corner position.

The design for the Eugen Panofsky hereditary grave was created by the sculptor Franz Naager (1870-1942) and the Berlin city building councilor Ludwig Hoffmann (1852-1932), who helped to determine the Berlin building industry in this function from 1896 to 1924. The wall tomb, designed in sparse Renaissance forms, successfully combines the desire for representation with dignified restraint.

The Gustav Frenkel Inheritance Funeral (Wall B 1) is the first realized project by architect Alfred Messel (1853-1909), who later achieved fame with his department store buildings for Wertheim on Leipziger Platz (destroyed in World War II), among other things.

The design for the Becker family's hereditary burial ground (Wall Field E 2), built in clear, cubist forms, was by the Dresden architect Martin Dülfer (1859-1942), who is best known for his theatre buildings, e.g. the municipal theatre in Duisburg.

One of the most artistically significant burial grounds in the cemetery was created by the architect Walter Gropius (1883-1969) for the merchant Albert Mendel (Field P 4).

Otto Stichling (1866-1912) is represented as an artist with various gravestones in Berlin cemeteries, in Weißensee his work includes the gravestones for the banker Alfred Cohn (Field R 2) - the design was shown at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition in 1904 - and Ignaz Wolfsohn (Wall Field M 2) as well as for Henriette Kalischer (Field J 2, no illustration).

Twelve gravestone designs by the sculptor Hans Dammann (1867-1942) are known for Weißensee, including the gravestone for the theatre director Carl Bieber (Field H 4). The design of the lateral festoons, which are made of tufts of oak and laurel leaves, is remarkable. The tomb was restored in 2007 with federal and state funds.

back to overview to the time shades

1. Special programme for the protection of historic buildings and monuments "Dach und Fach" 1996-2003
2. Honorary gravesites
3. The field of honour
4. Monument preservation programme of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) 2006-2012
5. Gravestone designs by renowned architects and artists