Weißensee Jewish Cemetery

Despite the persistent rain this week, I took a walk this afternoon in Weißensee Cemetery, Germany's oldest and Europe's largest Jewish cemetery. Approximately 100, 000 jews are buries here. The majority of grave stones I saw dated the deceased around the turn of the century.

An abridged Wikipedia entry:

The grave plots are arranged into 120 different sections, each with their own geometric shape and the lavish way in which the more wealthy figures in it chose to fashion their mausolea using the latest art nouveau designs is immediately noticeable.

The outskirts of the plot is predominantly reserved for the upper and middle classes while the centre is reserved for the less well off, in areas which are harder to reach, often covered in foliage.

After WWII , Jews from all parts of Berlin continued to use the cemetery until 1955; from 1955 until reunification only the small Jewish community in East Berlin used it.

During the DDR, the cemetery was neglected and many of the graves were left unattended (because most of the community were murdered during, or had fled from, the Holocaust) and became overgrown with weeds.

It has been estimated by the cemetery officials that the cost to fully repair the damage caused by years of neglect is 40 million €. In the year of its 125th opening anniversary, appeals to local government were made to increase funding, so that a bid can be made to reach the UNESCO world heritage list.

As I understand it, it's a custom in Judaism to place a rock on a grave stone as a means to show respect to a friend. I saw lots of rocks and very few flowers. The amazing thing is that graves that are over a century old have newly placed rocks on them.


It was difficult to capture the sheer enormity of the cemetery. Hopefully these pics give an idea.








I was really struck though that despite decay (or probably because of it) the grounds were quite green and beautiful.