Continuation of our Tour of Jewish Berlin-More Raw Notes

Ironically when Jews were forced to sell or abandon their property the clothing business was affected and there was a shortage of traditional German clothing like lederhausen. It just shows how much a part of the fabric of German life the Jewish community really was and how the Nazis didn't just exterminate a "foreign" community but part of the organic Germany.

Correction: the number of 200,000 represents the number of Jews in all of Germany. Only 11,000 are in Berlin but that is the biggest concentration of Jews.

We stopped for a quick lunch at a bagel place (Bagels & Bialy's)where I had a berry smoothie and Kim had a savoury tart with salad and humous. Carpe Diem is a company that makes organic lemonade type drinks but that isn't what I ordered. A bialy is a Russian flat pastry with various fillings.

After our brief lunch we went to the nearby Hackescher area which developed outside of the city walls. There are lots of beautiful courtyards. They served as a form or protection. There also is a lively market area in the area.

At this point the clouds lifted and it became quite hot in the mid-afternoon sun, but there was still somewhat of a breeze. We kept on, approaching Alexanderplatz which is located in the former medieval Berlin.

We saw the site of the first synagogue that was set up by the Jews that came to Berlin after 1671, following their earlier expulsion. They needed permission to build it and were subject to restrictions including as to height relevant to other structures. Before 1671 there were private synagogue like prayer rooms and some were big enough to accommodate large numbers. But it was significant that a public synagogue was allowed. The site was bombed during the last stages of the war and the rubble removed by the East German government. It wasn't affected by the earlier Kristallnacht.

The on site memorial on Rosenstrasse was done by an East German showing how non-Jewish women protested what the Nazis were done. Some of the women weren't considered Jewish under the Nazi racial laws which didn't recognize converts as Jews and many protesters wanted their Jewish husbands released. Amazingly many men indeed were released at a point in 1943 when 1,000 people were protesting. Most who were released survived the war.



This incident is another example of people standing up to the Nazi government who were not arrested or worse. You either can view this as a good thing or use it to ask why others didn't engage in the same sort of civil disobedience.
The story also is interesting because it took place at the time of the siege of Stalingrad when many German soldiers died for lack of supplies. The Holocaust was an important war aim and not incidental. Otherwise trains needed to supply soldiers who were freezing to death wouldn't have been used instead to transport Jewish civilians to the eastern death camps. So intense was Hitler's hatred of Jews that he compromised the lives of his own soldiers.

By the way the medieval Jewish community was expelled due to the blood libel that Jews killed Christian children to harvest their blood for use in making Passover matzo.

We then toured a museum in honour of Otto Weidt's Workshop for the blind. He employed many deaf and blind Jews during the war and tried to protect them, moving many into hiding. Some of the hiding spots are still visible. The exhibit has explanation is braille as well as in German and English.

Because Wiedt's business was for profit and arguably related to the war effort, he had some clout, and in one instance he traveled to Auschwitz and secured the release of a Jewish employee who had survived the selection process. In doing so he offered his brushes for sale to the camp administrators. Alice Licht survived the war and emigrated to the US afterwards. Another person he saved went to England and later to the US. She has since returned to Germany in her 90's.

He did have a circle of helpers in his effort. For example, some procured food and others provided shelter. Others warned him of pending roundups of Jews and still others provided false identity papers.


Of course others in hiding were denounced by their fellow citizens, arrested by the Gestapo and then deported and murdered.

Some of the museum comprises the original workshops and other portions have been added on.

Before leaving the area we explored a number of the courtyards that were full of shops and restaurants. Some were decorated in an art deco style and each one seemed to lead to another. Alex left us there for a bit to explore while he went to get the car.

At that point and with only a couple of minutes to spare I found the Kruck chocolate store. It all looked amazing but I was afraid it would melt if we walked around with it. So we would bought a bar of dark chocolate with chili to eat right now. Excellent with an after zing!

I'm now quite tired, but Alex is now dropping us off at the Jewish Museum where we will do a self-guided audio tour after he first orients us and explains the architecture. There will be some sites along the way and we also welcome some air conditioned time sitting in the car. (The museum also is air conditioned.) Apparently the guided tour is so good that it won an award so it's best to be refreshed to be able to absorb it.

We will make our way back to our hotel by subway from there. If we don't do it the museum now we will miss it altogether as tomorrow is our last full day and we are going to the Potsdam area where the various monarchs had their palaces.