Weißensee Cemetery
Entrance building.
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1880 |
| Location | Weißensee, Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Type | Jewish cemetery |
| Size | 42 ha (100 acres) |
| No. of graves | 115,000 |
The Weißensee Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in the neighborhood of Weißensee in Berlin, Germany. It is the second largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. The cemetery covers approximately 42 ha (100 acres) and contains approximately 115,000 graves. It was dedicated in 1880.
The main entrance is at the end of the Herbert-Baum-Straße. In 1924, a second entrance was constructed off Indira-Gandhi-Straße.
Directly in front of the entrance is a Holocaust memorial, a commemorative stone, surrounded by further stones, each with the names of concentration camps. Next to this, there is a memorial to Jews who lost their lives during World War I (which was dedicated in 1927) and also a commemorative plaque to those who fought Nazism.
The plot of land was bought by the Jewish community of Berlin (German: Jüdische Gemeinde zu Berlin), comprising - besides congregants of orthodox and reform affiliation - mostly observants of mainstream Judaism (in today's term described at best as conservative Judaism). The old Jewish cemetery in Große Hamburger Straße, opened 1672, had reached its full capacity in 1827. The second cemetery in Schönhauser Allee, opened in the same year, reached its capacity in the 1880s, offering only few remaining gravesites in family ensembles mostly reserved for widows and widowers next to their earlier deceased spouses. Weißensee Cemetery was designed by renowned German architect Hugo Licht in the Italian Neorenaissance style. It was inaugurated in 1880. The surrounding walls and main building (where the archives are kept and the cemetery is administered) were constructed with a distinctive yellow brick. A second building (built in 1910) was destroyed during World War II.
The grave plots are arranged into 120 different sections, each with its own geometric shape. The lavish way in which the more well-to-do individuals and families interred here chose to fashion their mausoleums using the latest art nouveau designs is immediately noticeable.
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