In the 1920s Berlin's Jewish community was the largest in Germany, numbering 200,000 at its height. From the early 1930s until 1945, the community was all but obliterated through immigration, persecution and finally the Holocaust.
On this morning walking tour you'll see the sites of the first synagogue in Berlin; the Boys School, founded by Moses Mendelssohn in the 1780s; the Old Cemetery site on Gross Hamburger Strasse; and the spectacular New Synagogue, now rebuilt as a museum about the pre-war Jewish community and about the synagogue itself.
While you walk, you'll learn about the years of persecution from 1933 to 1945 by visiting the site of the main detention center used by the Nazis (the former Old People's Home). You'll hear about Otto Weidt and his workshop, and how he helped save the lives of many members of the Jewish community. You'll also see the site of the Women's Protest in 1943, perhaps the only mass protest against the Holocaust that ever took place.
This tour is recommended in the Goldapple Guide to Jewish Berlin by Andrew Roth.
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