Phillyatty

Could you recommend a tour company and/or guide?

StCirq

What is Jewish sightseeing?

tower

Dear St Cirq:

You're surely one of the brightest and most informative posters on this forum. I always read your posts when I see them. The information on the Dordogne I've gleaned from you has been most valuable on my visits therein. I know I've thanked you before, but I'll say it again...Thank you...

All that being said, I would guess that you know exactly what the OP means.

stu

Hi Phillyatty:

The remnants of Jewish life in Berlin and the associated sightseeing you're asking about, IMO, quite possibly does not require a guide or a tour company. It can be done by yourselves...that is each relevant site can be reached by public transportaion , walking or by taxi. Having visited Berlin several times, even during the divided years, I don't think we've missed anything of even the slightest importance.

Just to get you started, try these sites...I will then add a some little known, fairly remote sites to this list for you. I will also post pix. Please write to us at address below.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...jw/berlin.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Museum_Berlin

Stu Tower
[email protected]

Pegontheroad

There's a company called "Berlin Walks" that does a tour called "Jewish Life in Berlin," which takes you through the pre-war Jewish community, including the Old Cemetery and the former Boys' School.

There are several sites of interest to visitors interested in Jewish history in Berlin: a Jewish War Memorial stands at the corner of Lewetzov and Jagow streets. It commemmorates the Jews who were deported--many to their deaths. The memorial is a life-size sculpture of a freight car with victims being dragged into it.

It stands on the site of a former synagogue destroyed by the Nazis.

There's also a Jewish cemetery and the partially rebuilt "New Synagogue." The house where the Wannsee conference was held is now a memorial to the Holocaust.

The Judisches Museum opened in 2001. I haven't seen it, but it sounds spectacular.

Michael

There is a guide book called BerlinWalks which has one of its walks in the Jewish neighborhood. I have an early edition but it is still valid for the historical places.

StCirq

Dear tower:

Sorry, but I even asked my Jewish SO what he thought "Jewish sightseeing" meant, and he couldn't pinpoint it, either. Obviously, it might mean seeing sites related to Jewish life there before and during WWII, but it also suggests sightseeing with other people of the Jewish faith. Or it could refer to seeing the parts of the city that have vibrant Jewish communities today, or visiting synagogues, or kosher restaurants, or all of the above, or.....

If someone asked about Catholic sightseeing or gay sightseeing or something similar, I'd also need more specific information before I thought the question could be properly answered.

tower

Philly:

Thank you Peg!...here are the associated photos
below:

>>>a Jewish War Memorial stands at the corner of Lewetzov and Jagow streets. It commemmorates the Jews who were deported--many to their deaths. The memorial is a life-size sculpture of a freight car with victims being dragged into it.<<<
(***In the Moabit District...one of the most dramatic/chilling of all the memorials...we took a taxi from the KaDaWe department store on Ku'damm...about a fifteen minute drive)

>>>the partially rebuilt "New Synagogue."<<<
(***The Oranienbergerstrasse synagogue, called the Neue Shul..."New Synagogue"..1866...it plays a role in the Berlin/1904 chapters of one of my novels))

>>>The house where the Wannsee conference was held is now a memorial to the Holocaust.<<<
(***Take train to Potsdam and get off at Wansee...about 20 minutes ride from the S-bahn Station next to the zoo, just a block north of Ku'damm...also go on to visit Potsdam, a lovely city with the San Souci Palace, etc.)

>>The Judisches Museum opened in 2001. I haven't seen it, but it sounds spectacular.<<<
(***It is!)

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Wansee0502
(sorry for the out-of-focus of the Wansee sign)


I can't say "enjoy", Philly...but I do hope that your visit is meaningful and illuminating.


Stu Tower

tower

.... note that it's Wannsee..two n's...one of my captions was in error.

stu

noe847

We found a visit to the House of the Wannsee Conference to be quite moving - I'd say it was the most valuable thing I've done on my three visits to Berlin (one week each time). The audiotapes were engrossing. We were there for 6 hours, and still managed to miss a few things. Although it is in the direction of Potsdam, we would not have had time to combine the two (Potsdam could easily take a full day). http://www.ghwk.de/engl/kopfengl.htm

The Jewish Museum is quite dramatic. http://www.juedisches-museum-berlin....N/homepage.php

We combined seeing the Jewish Museum with a visit to the nearby Berlin Gallery (Modern art by Berlin artists). http://www.berlinischegalerie.de/ind...L=1&id=270

tower

St. Cirq:


Explanation certainly a good one and is fully accepted. However, none of the other responders seemed to have difficulty with the question, and they each came through with flying colors. OP is off to a good start in scheduling her Jewish sightseeing.

By the way, how did you perceive "Thin's" tasteless "Bloomingdale's" remark above?

stu t.

billbarr

A few years ago, I visited Sachsenhausen camp, a short distance from Berlin.

I did so on behalf of an old, kindly, Jewish gentleman who for many, many years treated me like one of his family. Sadly, his own family perished in WW2 and when he heard I was going to Berlin, he asked me to visit Sachsenhausen. He had a small item he wanted me to deposit in the camp that had belonged to his youngest brother who was murdered there. It was a pleasure to do this for him.

In the camp, there is a very good small museum plus two wooden cabins with exhibitions about Jewish prisoners, their lives and dreadful existence in that place. But, it was almost a celebration of Jewish life in such an awful environment. That pleased me.

Perhaps you may wish to visit.

Bill

travelgourmet

<i>uncalled for remark...funny as a broken kneecap. You ought to be ashamed. But you probably won't be.</i>

Oh, come on. It wasn't that funny. But it was a pretty innocuous joke. Indeed, I would almost guess it as a self-deprecating joke, along the lines of jokes about Jews and Chinese food.

To the OP: Obviously the Jewish Museum and the Holocaust Memorials are the biggies. Beyond that, I found most of the &quot;sites&quot; to be of the &quot;Jews lived here&quot; variety, and not overly interesting.

tower

Thin: as I said, I didn't expect you to be the least bit contrite..historically, therein lies the problem.

The harmless Jewish &quot;joke&quot;, the ugly &quot;caricature cartoon&quot; all fostered by Hitler's rise to power in the 30's, served to further inflame the already ridiculed, harrassed and imprisoned Jewish population of Germany and in most countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

If you did ,indeed, visit the Jewish Museum and various Holocaust memorials in Germany (or in the USA), you would know this all too well.

Whenever in L.A., pay a visit to the Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance....if that doesn't work, you're hopeless.

stu

travelgourmet

Huh??? Thin didn't even respond...

I think you are responding to me. And what can I say. Label me an anti-semite if you want. Perhaps I am not culturally aware. Might want to tell my wife (card-carrying Jew). Or my numerous (card-carrying Jew) friends. Or even my (Jewish) great-grandmother.

Not everything is as nefarious as we would imagine.

A silly joke about Bloomies, the sort of joke told a hundred times a day in a place like New York is hardly cause for concern.

StCirq

tower:

I really am far too busy at work today, not to mention planning my own trip for August, to get lured into what you clearly want to become an argument, whether it be in regard to my original post or to Thin's comment.

divine54

why is it that as soon as anything jewish is concerned the threads get nasty.
i must say i was also puzzled when it red the thread's headline....

for sure there are jokes related to any religious group.
but one gets immediately the label anti-semite.

just relax a bit!

div

tower

div: Sad to see that even intelligent Fodor people just don't get it. Sad, indeed.

St. Cirq...I said I fully accepted your clear explanation. Thin's comment is unacceptbable..no further argument intended.

Travel Gourmet, it's the context...here we are seriously trying to help an OP regarding Holocaust, and Jewish memorial sites in Berlin (sobering indeed)...I even posted relevant pix..no place for even the slightest &quot;innocuous&quot; reference such as yours or Thins..card carrying or not. Perhaps elsewhere, like the Fodor's Lounge, but as I say, not in this milieu.

Phillyatty

I originally posted this message and feel that I can be the one to say &quot;play nice!&quot;

In every city, there is history and culture that would be most appealing to a Jewish traveler. I just wanted to be pointed in the right direction----plain and simple!

Thanks to all who posted in a helpful way.

Cowboy1968

You will find a summary of interesting sites on the website of the Berlin tourist information:
http://tinyurl.com/4vqbwq

The Jewish visitor center of Berlin also has some up-to-date information and a city guide on its website:
http://tinyurl.com/485pyn

chtiet

Another off the beaten path and worthwhile location is the Weissensee cemetery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weissensee_Cemetery