Jewish Cemetery Potsdam

The Jewish cemetery in Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, is the largest of its kind in the state and one of the few cemeteries where burials still take place according to Jewish customs. Jews had lived in Potsdam since 1690. Initially, their deceased were buried in Berlin. It wasn't until October 1743 that they received permission to establish their own cemetery at what is now Pfingstberg, and King Frederick II provided them with a plot of land far outside the city at what was then called Eichberg. 

The first simple mortuary was replaced over time by new buildings in 1856 and 1881. The funeral hall with its Tahara house, which still stands today, as well as the small house for the cemetery gardener, were built in 1910 and 1911 according to designs by Carl Börnstein and Emil Kopp.
During the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938, the buildings were severely damaged and fell into increasing disrepair in the following decades.
During World War II, metal railings and other metal parts of the graves were melted down. The last gravestones were placed around 1942, after which all further markings were abandoned. After the war, the grounds were inadequately maintained by the municipal cemetery administration and later by the state-owned Parks and Burials Department. The residential building was used as accommodation for on-call staff. The funeral chapel served, among other things, as storage space for park benches, coal, wood, and coffins belonging to the civil defense reserve, as well as a private cellar and garage.

In 1990, the Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments assumed responsibility for the cemetery and initiated a multi-year restoration program. This included, among other things, the renovation of the cemetery wall and the restoration of the funeral chapel to its original design. The ceremonial rededication took place on June 30, 1995.
Since 1999, the cemetery complex, with its two buildings – the funeral hall and the gardener's cottage – and its 532 historic graves, has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is managed, restored, and maintained by the Lower Monument Protection Authority of the City of Potsdam.

The oldest surviving gravestone dates from the year the cemetery was founded. The last burial in the historical section of the cemetery took place in 2003, that of John Gersman, a Holocaust survivor from Potsdam. In the fourth burial section, a large memorial stone commemorates the Jews who were expelled from Potsdam between 1933 and 1943 or who did not survive their deportation to the extermination camps. A memorial plaque in the chapel commemorates the Jewish soldiers who fell in the First World War.