City walk: Jewish life in Berlin Mitte
Duration: 4 hours with a break
Meeting point: hotel / by agreement
Start: between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.
End: hotel or downtown
Historical background:
By decree in 1671, the Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm, allowed Jewish communities to settle down in Berlin and in the Mark Brandenburg region. 50 wealthy families from Vienna settled outside the city walls of Berlin. The guilds were closed to them. In addition to taxes, they had to pay an annual protection fee. Also a marriage permit had to be paid additionally. However, they were allowed to have a cemetery. When the Nazis got in power in January 1933, around 170,000 Jews were in Berlin. After World War II only about 3,000 still lived in the city. 
Tour discription:
We start our walk at the remains of the oldest Jewish cemetery, which is located on Große Hamburger Straße. In front of it stands the sculpture “Jewish Victims of Fascism” by Will Lammert. Around the corner we reach the New Synagogue (1866) with its three golden domes. We have a view into the Heckmann-Höfe to see the ruins of the synagogue. Next exit is Auguststrasse, where we can find many galleries with contemporary art. The former buildings of the Jewish Girls' School and the Jewish Hospital were also located here. We continue our walk to Koppenplatz. A table, two chairs, one of them overturned: a memorial by Kai Biedermann reminding us the deportation of the Jewish population of this neighborhood by the Nazis in 1938. Now we walk to the Otto Weidt Workshop for the Blind in the Schwarzenberg Höfe. Cool grafittis and street art is sprayed everywhere on the courtyard's walls. Around the corner Hackesche Höfe is greeting us with a colored Art Nouveau facade. The "Chameleon" variety theater, a cinema, restaurants, cafés and nice shops characterize the ensemble with eight courtyards. We end our walk in Rosenstrasse at the monument to the women's protest against the Nazis of February and March 1943 designed by Ingeborg Hunzinger.

Historical background:

By decree in 1671, the Great Elector, Friedrich Wilhelm, allowed Jewish communities to settle down in Berlin and in the Mark Brandenburg region. 50 wealthy families from Vienna settled outside the city walls of Berlin. The guilds were closed to them. In addition to taxes, they had to pay an annual protection fee. Also a marriage permit had to be paid additionally. However, they were allowed to have a cemetery. When the Nazis got in power in January 1933, around 170,000 Jews were in Berlin. After World War II only about 3,000 still lived in the city. 

Tour discription:

We start our walk at the remains of the oldest Jewish cemetery, which is located on Große Hamburger Straße. In front of it stands the sculpture “Jewish Victims of Fascism” by Will Lammert. Around the corner we reach the New Synagogue (1866) with its three golden domes. We have a view into the Heckmann-Höfe to see the ruins of the synagogue. Next exit is Auguststrasse, where we can find many galleries with contemporary art. The former buildings of the Jewish Girls' School and the Jewish Hospital were also here located. We continue our walk to Koppenplatz. A table, two chairs, one of them overturned: a memorial by Kai Biedermann reminding us the deportation of the Jewish population of this neighborhood by the Nazis in 1938. Now we go to the Otto Weidt Workshop for the Blind in the Schwarzenberg Höfe. Cool grafittis and street art is sprayed everywhere on the courtyard's walls. Around the corner Hackesche Höfe is greeting us with a colored Art Nouveau facade. The "Chameleon" variety theater, cinema, restaurants, cafés and nice shops characterize the ensemble with eight courtyards. We end our walk in Rosenstrasse at the monument to the women's protest against the Nazis of February and March 1943 designed by Ingeborg Hunzinger.