The Judengraben is a very important project built by King Frederick II at the end of the 18th century. The ditch was intended to transport felled tree trunks from the Potsdam and Templin forests towards the city canal. It was built so that the logs would not have to be transported by water past the island of Hermannswerder. So this ditch has nothing to do with the Nazi era, it takes its name from the „court Jew“ Daniel Itzig. Itzig was born on March 18, 1723 and died on May 21, 1799. He was active at the royal court as a merchant and received a great deal of recognition as a result.

There had been a synagogue in Fürstenberg/Havel since the 18th century. The first evidence of prayers in Fürstenberg dates back to 1764. In the same year, the Jewish community began to ask the duke for permission to buy a house due to increasing membership numbers. They received permission on May 28, 1777, and after 11 years the synagogue was put on record as the purchased house was in need of repair due to water damage. In 1788, a new synagogue was built on a plot of land in the western part of the town.

The Ziegler family

Heinrich Ziegler, born in 1884, was an important Jewish doctor. He worked at the maternity clinic and as a school doctor. However, after the National Socialists came to power in 1933, he lost these public positions because of his Jewish origins, even though he had served in the First World War. This dismissal was part of the systematic discrimination and exclusion of Jewish citizens by the Nazi regime. From then on, Ziegler was only able to treat private patients, which severely limited his professional opportunities.

Dr. jur. Josef Eilbott was born on April 11, 1885 in Zweibr<cken. His parents were Adolf Eilbott and Barbara Betty Eilbott, née Kern. Josef Eilbott was married to Meta, née Steppacher, born on September 3, 1890 in Tübingen. Meta´s parents were the merchant Adolf Steppacher, born on November 27, 1849 in Ichenhausen and deceased on November 21, 1926 in Munich, and Karolina (Lina) Steppacher, née Frank, born on January 16, 1867 in Rödelsee, died on December 2, 1935 in Munich.

The Spanish War Memorial was built in honor of fallen German communist fighters in the Spanish Civil War. The civil war took place from July 1936 to April 39 and was triggered by a military revolt in Spanish Morocco. Shortly afterwards, General Franco appointed himself the new head of state and was immediately recognized in Germany and Italy. Among the German fighters were also many Jewish fighters who stood up against fascism. Today, the memorial is in Friedrichshain to commemorate the fallen fighters.

The entrepreneur Benno B. Thorsch co-founded the Dresden camera factory Guthe & Thorsch in Niedersedlitz in 1919.

Benno Thorsch was forced to give up his company Kamera-Werkstätten Guthe & Thorsch and leave Germany in 1938 due to his Jewish descent.

He took over a business in Detroit in 1938; he later opened the City Camera Exchange studio near Hollywood with his son Bernward.

The following entry can be found in the directory of the committee of Viennese merchants from the year  ???? : 1875 - Schlesinger Heinrich, Commissions- und Agenturgeschäfts - Inhaber, Firma: Schlesinger & Kanitz, VII. Dreilaufergasse 13.

The old cemetery was located "On the heath"; it is said to have served as a burial ground for the Israelite community "for a very long time. Its area covers 25.37 acres. Today, around 21 gravestones or fragments are still preserved, most of which date from the second half of the 19th century.

In the autumn of 1945, the British-Jewish aid organization Jewish Relief Unit (JRU) was looking for a convalescent home for boys and girls who had escaped the Nazi genocide. The choice fell on Lüneburg, as a small post-war Jewish community had already established itself there, which could be involved in the care of the children.