Max Jacob

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The Jacob family had lived in Werder since 1909/10. The two sons Hans (born 10.10.1910) and Kurt (born 15.01.1912) were born here. Their older sister Käte (born 05.05.1909) was born in Jüterborg - the previous place of residence.
Paula Jacob died on 30.12.1912 in Werder.
On 25.05.1915 Max Jacob married Else Jacob, with whom he also raised his three children. There were no children from this second marriage.

Margarethe Stern

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Johanna Margarethe Stern, née Lippmann, was born in Berlin on January 6, 1874, the daughter of Theodor Lippmann and Caecilie Gerschel.

Later in her life, she married Samuel Siegbert Stern, who like her was of the Jewish faith, and had four children with him: Hilde Sophie, Hans Martin, Louise Henriette and Annie Regina.

Siegbert Stern was a co-founder of the ladies' coat factory „Graumann & Stern“, which had been in existence since 1888. The success of this company enabled the couple to buy the Stern villa in Neubabelsberg in Potsdam in 1918.

Ruth Hamburger

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Born on November 11, 1906 in Görlitz, she grew up as the daughter of factory owner Ernst Hamburger and his wife Clara Zipora. Ruth had two brothers, Fritz and Rudolph. Her father died early and her older brother Fritz fell in the First World War in 1914. From then on, Ruth lived with her niece Eva, Fritz's daughter, whose mother was not a teenager. In 1930, the family moved to Fürstenberg/Havel, where Ruth's mother bought a villa and converted it into a guesthouse. Ruth and her niece Eva lived there and most of the guests were young.

Wilhelm Kann

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Wilhelm Kann was born into a well-known Jewish banking family in 1880 and exerted a considerable influence on Jewish life in Potsdam during his varied life.

His grandfather of the same name opened the W. Kann banking house at Nauener Strasse 32 (now Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse 113) in 1842, after moving to Potsdam from Eberswalde with his family, wife and three children in 1840. The shop was located opposite the old synagogue and the Jewish community center.

Israelite Educational Institution Wilhelm-Auguste-Viktoria-Foundation

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The German-Israelitic Community Association (DIGB) in Steglitzer Strasse in Berlin founded a home for feeble-minded but educated children in 1907 to mark the silver wedding anniversary of the imperial couple. A new foundation was established for this purpose, the Wilhelm-Auguste-Victoria Foundation. The special thing about this home was that it was the only school that took in physically disabled Jewish children. Sally (Samuel) Bein was appointed head of the school. The Potsdam Department for Church and Education approved the home and school for 20 children on September 5, 1908.

Residence of Alfred Guttmann

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On July 30, 1873, Alfred Guttmann was born in Posen (now Poznań, PL). His parents were the merchant Albrecht Guttmann (1845–1919) and Ernestine Guttmann, née Haenisch. After leaving school, he studied medicine and singing from 1894–1898 and received his doctorate from Berlin University in 1898. Alfred Guttmann also studied psychology and musicology in Berlin from 1901. After volunteering for the First World War, he worked as a front-line doctor for three and a half years. He not only practiced medicine, but also appeared as a concert performer from 1894.

New Synagogue Potsdam

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The construction of the new synagogue in Potsdam is a controversial topic. It is about erecting a religious building in a historical and political metropolis. The challenges of reviving Jewish life in Germany become clear through these discussions, and in 2012 the plan was concretized and the state government made a plot of land in the city center available. Several architectural competitions were held. The synagogue was to have not only a religious, but also a cultural center. However, the first designs met with resistance.