Grosse Hamburger Strasse

Memorial Sculpture, Grosse Hambuger Strasse, BerlinGrosse Hambuger Strasse was one of the main streets in the Jewish quarter prior to the rise of the Nazi Party and the outbreak of World War II . There were several schools, shops, an old peoples home and a Jewish cemetery. Following the rise of Hitler, the area came under the control of the Nazis who were quick to turn it into a collection point for Jews.

Memorial Sculpture

Near the Memorial Tablet is also the haunting  sculptures which depicts a group of Jews being led to their deaths.

Simple Jewish Memorial Tablet

Jewish Memorial Tablet, Grosse Hambuger Strasse, BerlinA simple memorial tablet now stands on the site of the first Jewish Home for the Aging in Berlin . The Nazi's had turned the home into a detention centre and a collection point for Jews. They were held there before being sent to death camps at Auschwitz and Theresienstadt.  The Memorial , which marks the site,  is visited by many people and often they will place a pebble on the tablet as part of the Jewish custom and a sign of respect.

The Jewish Cemetery

The cemetery originally known as Alter Judischer Friedhof, was Berlin's oldest Jewish cemetery and was established in 1672.
In 1942 virtually all the gravestones in the cemetery were destroyed by the Gestapo. Following the fall of the Nazis in 1945, the cemetery was turned into a park , but sadly there are only a few broken Baroque gravestones (maseba) near the original cemetery wall which remain.
Today the cemetery contains the single marked grave of Felix Moses Mendelssohn (1729-1786) one of Germany's greatest philosophers. The gravestone was erected In 1990 by members of the Jewish community.