France, Germany, Poland & the Czech Republic

BERLIN-Brandenburg Tor




BERLIN-The Rebuilt Reichstag

100 Years of Europe's Largest
Department Store "The Ka De We"
near the Ku'Damm in "City-West" two blocks

west from the "G.Kirche"(Gedächtniskirche)

placemark below:
The Ka De We & "City West" Shopping &

Entertaining Mile area are bookended by the new Potsdamer Platz, two miles directly west of the "Bahnhof Zoo Placemark below at the end of the Tiergarten area.

The best of the City West is generally found in a straightly line between the Kempinski/ Ku'Damm mark below and the new exciting Potsdamer Platz Development, with hotels, theaters, cinemas, commercial headquarters and cultural centers (with its 3 of its main towers shown above).


My Berlin Neighborhood 1993-1999

The reconstructed façade of the "Neue Synagogue" in

Oranienburgstrasse - Berlin's renewed Jewish Quarter in "Mitte" - the old center. These 2 blocks in Mitte include an unmarked Jewish school, a Jewish café, restaurant and bookstores, as well as the site of Berlins "Erste" or First Synagogue - no longer standing, and small second functional synagogue. The first Jewish cemetery, with only one marked grave - that of Felix Mendelssohn, is on the same street. This is where Berlin's more "popular" Jewish neighborhood was.

The wealthy and usually highly asimilated Jews built Berlin's other opulent synagogue on Fasanstrasse (see map above, across the "Kempinski" on the long and fashionable Fasanstrasse). This structure now functions as a museum, lecture hall, and alternate Jewish community center to the "Neue Synagogue" . This Jewish center was separated by the Wall for 40 years, and occassional ceremonies of the once grand synagogue it was are again taking place here, with Berlin's newish, small, but slowing growing Jewish community..

The area is a sad reminder of the Arianization process which took all jewish owned busuiness and turned them "pure" (or "Aryan"), The Kempinski for one, one of the Ku'Damm's most famous cafe and hostelries was "aryanized" in 1933/1934, as was the "KaDe We" Department Store, also Jewish owned until the mid 30s, s were in fact virtually all of Berlin's great department store - many now operating again since the 1950s.

Many of the vaudeville type theaters, and cafés, of which the "Ku'Damm" was the center-Berlin's mini-Broadway from the 1890s to the mid 1930s continue to operate, almost all in rebuilt spaces, operated since the 1950s by foundations for or bought from the 1 0r 2 survivors their deceased (exterminated) owning families, or by relatives living in America who later took them one or sold them.

Wertheim's, KaDeWe, the Kempinski, Café Kranzler and many other establishments live on, often with changed names now, but you will find a plaque on each business (rebuilt or new) which will give details olf the "Aryanization" of these business. Most of them are, considering the fact that they provided entertainment, hostelries, cafés and the like, are NOT AT ALL SURPRISINGLY in the historically open-minded, afluent and intellectual area in this City-West area from the Ku'Damm to the Potsdamer Platz via the Tauntzienstrasse Area.

There are also two functioning synagogues in the adjoining blocks. But like the "Aryaninization" plaques, & the Jewish "places", synagogues and any Jewish monuments, are never conspicuously marked or mentioned unless you really mke an effort to finf them and are not too obvious about your interests.

The New Synagogue and the Fasanenstrasse Center are obviously too big to hide. But all Jewish-related places (including cemiteries & schools) are under 24 hour armed police patrol by the German Police for protection, and rarely display the Star of David to avoid violence.

This has not prevented heavy destruction of Berlin's (and Europe's) two main cemiteries: Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensew which require verbal Jewish identidication, and head dress - yamukkas (kippas) for men. Unfortunately, Nazi skinheads are still plentiful.

MOVING ON TO SOMETHING MORE CHEERFUL,....