A Portrait of Jewish Life in Berlin

Although associated today mainly with the Holocaust, both before and after the War, Berlin has been a center for creativity–in arts, humanities, and science as well as in Jewish thought.

Philosopher and scholar Moses Mendelssohn arrived in Berlin in 1743, and urged Jews to integrate into secular society. As the 18th century drew to a close, Berlin became the center of the Haskalah, or Jewish enlightenment. In 1845, the Society for Reform in Judaism, was founded in Berlin. And the Weimar years (1919-1933) were the golden age of Berlin Jewry.

Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the city has returned to being a global center for artists, creatives, and others seeking to experience the open minded and supportive environment that Berlin offers. This has led to an influx of Jews from around the world– ex-Hasidim, Israelis, Russian speakers, Americans, and others–together creating new communities and forms of Jewish life and thought.

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