Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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New Synagogue (Neue Synagogue)
A shiny gilded dome marks the New Synagogue, now a museum and cultural center. Con-
secrated in 1866, this was once the biggest and finest synagogue in Germany, with seating
for 3,200 worshippers and a sumptuous Moorish-style interior modeled after the Alham-
bra. It was desecrated by Nazis on Crystal Night (Kristallnacht) in 1938, bombed in 1943,
and partially rebuilt in 1990. Only the dome and facade have been restored—a window
overlooks the vacant field marking what used to be the synagogue. On its facade, a small
plaque—added byEast Berlin Jewsin1966—reads “Never forget”
(Vergesst esnie).
Atthat
time East Berlin had only a few hundred Jews, but now that the city is reunited, the Jewish
community numbers about 12,000.
Inside, past tight security, the small but moving permanent exhibit called Open Ye the
Gates describes the Berlin Jewish community through the centuries (filling three big rooms
on the ground floor and first floor, with some good English descriptions). Examine the
cutaway model showing the entire synagogue (pre-destruction) and an exhibit of religious
items. Stairs lead up (past temporary exhibits, with a separate entry fee) to the dome, where
there's not much to see except the unimpressive-from-the-inside dome itself and ho-hum
views—not worth the entry price or the climb.
CostandHours:
Mainexhibit-€3.50,dome-€2,temporaryexhibits-€3,€7combo-ticket
covers everything, audioguide-€3; March-Oct Sun-Mon 10:00-20:00, Tue-Thu 10:00-18:00,
Fri 10:00-17:00—until 14:00 in Oct and March-May, closed Sat; Nov-Feb Sun-Thu
10:00-18:00, Fri 10:00-14:00, closed Sat; Oranienburger Strasse 28/30, enter through the
low-profile door in the modern building just right of the domed synagogue facade, S-Bahn:
Oranienburger Strasse, tel. 030/8802-8300 and press 1,
www.cjudaicum.de
.
Nearby:
A block from the synagogue (to the right as you face it), walk 50 yards down
Grosse Hamburger Strasse
to a little park. This street was known for 200 years as the
“streetoftolerance”becausetheJewishcommunitydonatedlandtoProtestantssotheycould
build a church. Hitler turned it into the “street of death”
(Todesstrasse),
bulldozing 12,000
graves of the city's oldest Jewish cemetery and turning a Jewish nursing home into a de-
portation center. Because of the small but growing radical Islamic element in Berlin, and a
smattering of persistent neo-Nazis, several police officers and an Israeli secret agent keep
watch over this park and the Jewish high school nearby.
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Prenzlauer Berg
Young,in-the-knowlocalsagreethatPrenzlauerBerg(PRENTS-low-erbehrk)isoneofBer-
lin's most colorful neighborhoods (roughly between Helmholtzplatz and Kollwitzplatz and
along Kastanienallee, U2: Senefelderplatz and Eberswalder Strasse; or take the S-Bahn to
Hackescher Markt and catch tram #M1 north). Tourists call it “Prenzl'berg” for short, while
