Adass Yisroel Community Cemetery

The Israelite synagogue community Adass Yisroel, Berlin was founded in 1869. The reason was the increasing social and ideological assimilation of large parts of the Jewish community. This community, for all its open-mindedness, attached great importance to a law-abiding life and the preservation of Jewish tradition. The splendid design of the new synagogue in Oranienburger Street was a point of contention, and when an organ was also built in, many believers felt that this was a break with Jewish tradition. This led to the secession and the founding of Adass Yisroel. It was then also maintained its own synagogue.

Traditionally, Jüdische cemeteries and graves are designed simply and uniformly. At the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee very early prüchtige grave mahle and mausoleums were created. The inscriptions on the gravestones also changed more and more. Whereas until then only Hebrew signs had been used, the use of German script became more and more common. The Orthodox Jews of the Adass Yisroel community saw this as a break with tradition and founded and consecrated their own cemetery in 1880. Here lie buried the most important personalities of Orthodox Judaism in Berlin.

This cemetery had survived the Nazi period without major damage. At times of the GDR, however, he was geschändet and largely destroyed. Gravestones and even entire graves were removed and taken away. It was not until the 1980s that attempts were made to restore the cemetery. Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, this was achieved to a good extent. Because of the poor condition, the cemetery is only accessible by appointment for relatives of those buried there.