Jewish Children's Home e.V. (Berlin)

The former Jewish children's home in Fehrbelliner Straße, now the Prenzlauer Berg district center, is an open monument with a historical story. The building was built in 1864 as a residential house. In 1910, it was purchased by the Jüdisches Kinderheim e.V. and converted into a daycare and educational center for Jüdische children and young people. Contemporary witnesses reported that they had attended the after-school care center or kindergarten in the 1920s and 30s. In the 1920s, the children in the home were mainly cared for during the day. A few years later, in the 1930s, there were already a few children who lived in the house all week and were only sent home on Saturday.  All contemporary witnesses reported that the house had provided „protection and security“ for them. As a result of increasing deprivation and disenfranchisement of Jewish citizens, which also led to the exclusion of children and adolescents from schools and training centers and to their parents being less and less able to care for them, the children's home was expanded into a larger shelter in 1936. The children were then often permanently housed. In 1942, the last children and caretakers were expelled from the building and deported to concentration camps.

For more than 20 years, the district center has been trying to come to terms with the history of the building, also with the help of contemporary witnesses. If interested, it is possible to dive into the history of the house with a guided tour or to visit the permanent exhibition of the Jewish photographer Abraham Pisarek, who took photographs of the children's home at that time.