This tour traces the complex, 800-year history of the Jewish population in Berlin. In the company of a social, cultural, or political historian, we will explore the triumphs that Jewish thinkers, artists, public figures and common people achieved in this city while also investigating the tragedies that they suffered.

Although Jews first arrived in Berlin in the 13th century, the first synagogue—the so-called Old Synagogue—was only established in 1714 in the wake of the Friedrich Wilhelm I’s tentative steps toward religious toleration. We will begin our walk there to build up an image of Jewish history during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.

We will pass numerous sites of historical and contemporary significance—including synagogues, schools, and the old Jewish cemetery—and explore the cultural and commercial successes of Berlin’s Jews, successes that reached their peak in the Weimar years (1919-1933). As we chronicle this history, however, we will also discuss the insidious parallel growth of anti-Semitism during the same period, which burst dramatically and disastrously to the surface after the ascendance of the Nazis in 1933.

As we discuss this dark period of Berlin's history we'll also include sites that recall secret resistance to the Third Reich. Our walk will conclude with visits to two sites that emphasize the complexity of Jewish history in Berlin and the efforts of contemporary German society to find appropriate means of commemoration. They perfectly encapsulate the purpose of this walk, which is to understand the social, intellectual and cultural achievements of the Jewish community in Berlin while simultaneously underlining its trials and tragedies.